AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Redhill? Don't Start It
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then leave your motor off — and your ignition too. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. As it is water-based, it will not burn and won't blend with diesel; damage only starts when the pump begins pulling it. In Redhill, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before the motor runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
What to do right now, Redhill: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Things to do:
- Pocket the keys, which stops someone switching the power on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you're anywhere close to moving traffic.
- Which fluid, and about how much volume? Save the bottle or your receipt, and our technicians will see.
- Our van finds you fastest with a postcode starting RH1 1, or simply the name of a street nearby, and so call from the spot.
Don't do these:
- No starting the motor — not for a second, not to shift the car.
- Turning your key to ignition by itself sets your pump running on plenty of diesels. Avoid it.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short distance along Station Road.
- Do not try to drain the car yourself by the roadside.
Rolling your car off the island is a job for staff to help with, wherever Redhill forecourt you're on, the BP included. If you're on your own drive, leave it exactly where it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It drops, because it is heavier than diesel, and pools down where the pickup draws its fuel from. A motor topped up on a drive in Holmethorpe yesterday evening and left unstarted counts as the straightforward case. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though once your motor turns, that is what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of the tank.
Two kinds of damage follow from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps working on the parts it hits for as long as it remains there. A vehicle left standing around Redhill with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank is not. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and each injector as it passes; water gives no lubrication, which is a separate form of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger issue?
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Esso's forecourt makes your fuel thin — that's the whole problem. No damage is done while it stays put, blended into your diesel — only once the motor works on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely wrong liquid. It does not burn, so it can't just be run through. It does not stay mixed, and so it can't be weakened. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Mead Vale or the middle of Redhill.
As with petrol, there is good news. Anywhere in Surrey your vehicle has come to rest, an unrun motor means the AdBlue still in the tank: the simplest bit of any fuel system to empty.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Redhill
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of cars sits right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it is not the filling station: a driver buys a container heading home and tips it in at home.
A couple of familiar ways account for the majority of them. The refill is hurried outside St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, after the dash lit up with a warning as the children were dropped off. Someone tips the bottle in at home, right off Queensway, as the day ends. Or someone new to that flap tops up the vehicle in dim light, stopped in the car park by The Junction.
Hired cars, brand-new vehicles, company cars, or the second car in a home with one of each: the least known cars get it most. Wherever across Surrey, Redhill as well, the mistake does not change, and neither does the first step: leave it off.
Redhill: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left your tank. With any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and each injector, after passing via your filter and pipework.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, dropping power, dashboard lights or stalling: any might show up, perhaps part way across Redhill or returning from Fairfax Avenue Ball Games Area. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the car to check. Every start pulls more of that through.
Leave the M25, under 3 miles from Redhill, by the next junction and stop somewhere safe, not driving on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue further into your system. That's why a hop across Redhill to park beside Saint Matthew and a drive of under 25 miles for Westminster are such different jobs. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Wherever the car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after your engine has been run. Very seldom does it leave lasting damage if it's spotted soon.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel in Redhill: what it takes
The car remains where it is, whether that's a road beside The Belfry Shopping Centre, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station in Redhill, and our van travels to it. Three replies decide the job, so before anything else our technicians ask which fluid went in, about the amount, and whether your motor has turned over.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out together when the tank is emptied, on the spot. What remains from AdBlue won't flush out unaided, so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which counts much more with urea than for petrol. After that, the filter: cleaned, or changed when it must be. After that clean diesel, then a check of your car. About half an hour on site is usual for most jobs where the motor hasn't run. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Last, the system is primed with clean diesel. You head off as soon as our technicians have started it, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a driveway around Redhill or in a bay at the nearest station. Before we leave, our engineers make sure it's running correctly with new diesel in. The entire job is done where your car is, so it never needs to go to a workshop. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers want.
About Redhill
Redhill is a town in Surrey, situated on the banks of the River Mole, with a mix of residential and commercial areas. Redhill sits at an elevation of 88 metres, approximately 18.5 miles south of London, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Coles Meads, Wray Common, and St Johns. Redhill has a population of around 27,507 people, predominantly residing in flat-type housing. Redhill is connected to the nearby city of Westminster, which is about 18.1 miles away.
Redhill and Surrey: AdBlue drains across the area
The teams that answer AdBlue jobs in Redhill also cover the locations about it, Coles Meads, Wray Common and St Johns among them, and most of Surrey beyond, across the RH postcode area. Close to a boundary, or anywhere tricky to pin down? Checking beats guessing, so phone.
Redhill is a riverside town, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it stands, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Redhill: the cost of fixing it
No single price could be honest, because every job differs. Three things move the price: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the car is. That last one comes down to whether a van can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight spot behind Belfry Shopping Centre.
Before a quote, never afterwards, each call from Redhill opens with three questions: the fuel, the amount, plus whether the engine ran. With those replies, the range narrows to one fixed figure.
Before a van sets off, you are told the quote on the phone. And payment is on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
Still alongside the car around Redhill?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to your car. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, across Redhill or anywhere in Surrey, once you ring 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if the engine ran.