--- title: Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank Richmond canonical: https://www.petrolinadieselcar.co.uk/adblue-in-diesel/richmond-greater-london/ location: Richmond county: Greater London latitude: 51.456000 longitude: -0.301000 service: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank updated: 2026-10-14 --- # Richmond: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, leave your engine off and keep the ignition off. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. The harm begins once it is sucked through your pump — it will not ignite, and it will not combine with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Richmond, is usually what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your motor has run. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else. ## AdBlue in the diesel tank around Richmond: the first few minutes Do these: - Remove the keys, and that stops anyone turning the electrics on. - Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close. - Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what got in and roughly how much. - Call right where you are. Quote a TW10 6 postcode or the closest street sign, and no one has to search for you. Not to do: - Don't start the engine, even for a moment to shift your car. - Do not switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. - No more fuel added. The AdBlue won't blend, and so it's pointless. - Keep the vehicle where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short distance along Richmond Hill Court. - No emptying it yourself, at all, at the verge. The attendants working at any Richmond forecourt — the Shell included — will normally lend a hand pushing it clear if you ask. On your own driveway, don't move it at all. ## AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does 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. Not one side suits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and an injection pump cannot deal with urea. Poured in with the diesel, it stays apart instead of mixing — entirely different from fuel. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Twickenham last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has drawn it in. From there it does two kinds of damage. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps labouring on the components it hits for as long as it remains there. Overnight, a vehicle sitting around Richmond with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; if it's only inside that tank, it doesn't. The water in it does harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing. ## AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol Put petrol in a diesel at the Texaco and you have a problem of thin fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it is in your tank it causes no harm; the damage comes from running the engine on it. The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable liquid. It does not burn, and so it cannot just be run through. Whether your vehicle sits in North Sheen or the centre of Richmond, firing it up "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other slip, and the flush matters more. Why: it will not remain mixed, and so diluting it is impossible; and deposits and corrosion outlast the following fill. The same good news applies as with petrol. If your engine has not run, the AdBlue is still in your tank, and your tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Greater London your car is sitting. ## How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Richmond? Plenty of vehicles place the AdBlue filler beside the diesel one, now and then under one flap, and in dim light the two can look identical. Nobody intends it. Mostly it's not the filling station: someone picks up a bottle heading home and tips it in at home. It tends to occur in a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside The Vineyard School. A driver tips the bottle in at home, right off Ellerker Gardens, as the day ends. Or the car is topped up in the car park outside The Victoria Inn, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before. Hired motors, new vehicles, company vehicles, or the spare car in a home with both fuels: the least familiar vehicles get it most. Wherever you're around Richmond or the rest of Greater London, it is the same mistake and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off. ## Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Richmond? In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. The fuel filter and lines have had it pulled along, and any running takes it on to the high-pressure pump and each injector. Perhaps returning from Gothic Gardens, or midway across Richmond, your motor may run rough, smoke, drop pace, flash the dash or stall. Pull over when it is safe. Turn off. Leave it off rather than testing it again. Every start pulls more of that through. Richmond sits under 3 miles from the M4; if you were on it, exit at the first junction and stop safely instead of driving on. How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Richmond to the car park by Celia Johnson is a very different job from a run towards Westminster, under 10 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with each mile. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us. Once the engine has been started, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the car has ended up. Permanent damage is very rare if it is caught early. ## What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Richmond? Our technicians come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Richmond: a side street close to Edwin Chadwick, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Three replies decide the job, and so before anything else our engineers ask what went in, roughly what quantity, and whether your engine has turned over. The contaminated diesel and the urea come out together after the tank is drained, on the spot. Your system is cleaned thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Testing your vehicle follows at the end, after clean diesel is added and the filter gets flushed or, where necessary, replaced. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when your engine hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. The last step is to prime your system on fresh diesel. Whether it is a parking space outside the nearest station or a driveway in Richmond, that is where our engineers fire it up and you head off. We make sure it runs smoothly on fresh diesel before we leave. No garage is required at any point, with the entire job done then and there. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards. ## About Richmond itself Richmond is a town situated on the riverside in south-west London, with a mix of old and new buildings, including many flats. Richmond sits at an elevation of 38 metres, close to the River Thames, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Petersham, St Margarets, and Cole Park. Richmond is located approximately 8.3 miles from central London and 8.1 miles from Westminster, making it a popular residential area. Richmond has a population of around 27,000 people, with a high proportion of flats as the predominant type of housing. ## AdBlue drains across Greater London, Richmond included The vans that answer AdBlue jobs in Richmond also cover the spots about it, Petersham, St Margarets and Cole Park among them, and most of Greater London beyond, across the TW postcode area. Ring and check instead of guessing if you're close to a county line, or anywhere awkward to pin down. A van that comes to you suits Richmond, a riverside town: there's no need to bring the car to us, since our engineers drain it on the spot, in a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt. ## AdBlue in a diesel tank around Richmond: the cost of fixing it No flat figure would be fair, since each job differs. The cost shifts first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that got in. After that it depends on where your car is and whether our van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Bernado O'Higgins. Before a figure, not afterwards, each call from Richmond begins with three questions: the liquid, the amount, plus if it ran. Their replies narrow the range down to one number. Before anyone sets off, you hear our price by phone. And payment is on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing in advance. As the van is on the way, check your policy: plenty cover misfuelling. ## In Richmond and still alongside your car? Then, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to not touch it. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Say it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel handles it, across Richmond or wherever in Greater London.