AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Rochester? Keep It Switched Off
If AdBlue has got into your diesel tank, leave the engine off then keep your ignition off. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. The trouble starts once it's pulled through the lines — it will not ignite, and it will not blend with diesel. If your motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and thoroughly cleaned where your car sits around Rochester. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Rochester: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- Take the keys out, and so no one switches your ignition on.
- If you are anywhere near moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and roughly what quantity, save the receipt or the empty bottle.
- The van locates you quickest with a postcode starting ME1 1, or simply the name of a street nearby, so call from the car.
Not to do:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift the vehicle: your engine remains off.
- Many diesels run their fuel pump the moment your ignition comes on, so leave it off.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue won't blend, so it is pointless.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short stretch along High Street.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, at the verge.
At a forecourt around Rochester, whether it's the Texaco or another one, ask the attendants to help you push your car away from the petrol pump. If you're on your own drive, leave the car just where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Kept in a dedicated tank, it is injected into the exhaust stream to treat the gases. Nothing in a fuel pump is made for this liquid — and none of it was meant to travel through one.
Tipped in with the diesel, it stays separate instead of mixing — entirely unlike fuel. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and pools below it — the very place the pickup sucks from. Once your pump runs, the AdBlue is first to go through. Before then it sits beneath your diesel, and that is how a vehicle topped up in Chatham last night and not switched on stays the straightforward one, provided nobody turns the key.
After it's drawn in, the harm takes two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that crystallises in filters and tiny passages; and, because it attacks certain metals, every part it reaches suffers for as long as it stays inside. By daybreak, a car sitting around Rochester with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; where it is only inside your tank, it doesn't. And there's the water: it offers no lubrication to the components that rely on it most — the injection pump and every injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger issue?
Put petrol in a diesel at the Morrisons and you have an issue of thin fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and while it's in your tank it does no damage; the damage comes from running the engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. Since it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Deposits and corrosion remain through the next tankful, and AdBlue separates again from the diesel, so watering it can't work. That is why the flush counts so much, and turning the key "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other slip — in Borstal or the heart of Rochester equally.
As with petrol, there's good news. If the motor has not run, the AdBlue is still inside your tank, and the tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Kent the vehicle is sitting.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Rochester?
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel cap, occasionally under a single flap — may appear the same. No one means it; many designs allow it. Most of the time it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the pump.
A few familiar ways cover the majority of them. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Rochester Riverside Church of England Primary School the refill is rushed. A driver tips the container in outside their house, just off Northgate, as the day ends. Another pattern: dim light, a pub car park outside The Kings Head Hotel, and a driver opening that flap for the first time.
Hired motors, brand-new cars, fleet motors, or the spare vehicle in a family with one of each: the least known vehicles get it the most. Anywhere across Kent, Rochester as well, the mistake doesn't change, and neither does the first response: leave it off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Rochester?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. The fuel filter and lines have had it sucked along, and some running carries it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Perhaps returning from Rochester Castle Gardens, or midway across Rochester, your engine might go rough, smoke, lose power, light up the dash or stall. No starting it again to test: stop when it is safe, then switch it off. More of that is pulled through with each start.
Rochester sits under 3 miles from the M2; if you were on it, exit by the next junction and stop safely instead of carrying on.
Distance counts: each mile carries the AdBlue further in, so driving for Southend-on-Sea, under 15 miles away, makes a much bigger job than hopping across Rochester to the car park by Rochester Cathedral. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once the motor has been started, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where your car has ended up. Lasting damage is very uncommon when it's caught early.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves in Rochester
The vehicle remains put, whether that's a street beside Guildhall Museum, a drive, a layby or a forecourt around Rochester, and the van comes to it. The work rests on three replies, which we get before all else — what got in, the amount, and if your engine has turned over.
Then that tank is drained where the vehicle sits, and so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing matters: the whole system is flushed right through since residue will not wash out unaided. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Not run? Then expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Fresh diesel goes in to bleed the fuel system, and that's the last step. You head off as soon as we have started it, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a driveway around Rochester or in a space at the nearest station. Our engineers confirm it runs smoothly on fresh diesel before we go. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Rochester itself
Rochester is a town situated on the coast of Kent, where the River Medway meets the sea. Located near the mouth of the river, it is part of a larger urban area that includes several neighbouring towns. Rochester has a significant history and was once a city, although it lost this status in the late 20th century. The town is close to London, making it an important location in the southeast of England.
AdBlue drains across Kent, Rochester included
Troy Town, Strood and Frindsbury are among the places near Rochester that the same teams reach, along with most of Kent beyond, throughout the ME postcode area. Assuming doesn't help by a county line or anywhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
No moving is needed. In Rochester, a coastal town, a van that comes to you works: the vehicle is drained where it stands, be it in a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Rochester: the cost of fixing it
No flat price could be honest, because each job differs. Three things move the cost: whether the motor has run and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the car is. That last one turns on whether a technician can get to it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight gap behind Rochester Christmas Market.
Which fluid went in, what quantity, and whether the engine ran: each Rochester call opens by asking exactly those, ahead of a figure, not afterwards. Their answers narrow the range right down to one figure.
You get that price by phone, before anybody sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your policy whilst we're on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Rochester: still beside the car?
In that case, do nothing — that's the best step there is. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, in Rochester or anywhere within Kent, after you phone 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran.