Rowly: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, your ignition remains off and so does the engine. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. As it is water-based, it won't ignite and won't blend with diesel; damage only comes once the pump begins drawing it. If your motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally emptied and thoroughly purged where the car sits in Rowly. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
What to do straight away, Rowly: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do these:
- Take the keys out, and so nobody switches your ignition on.
- Put the hazards on if you are at all close to moving traffic.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt shows us the product and the amount, and so do not throw it away.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting GU6 8, or the name of the nearest street, gets our van to you without a search.
Do not:
- Moving your car even a short way is no reason to start the motor.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel won't thin it.
- Keep the car where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short distance down Strathavon Close.
- No draining it yourself, either, at the roadside.
Rolling the vehicle away from the island is a job for staff to help with, whichever Rowly forecourt you're on, the Shell or any other. At home, the car remains just where it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your motor. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it's sprayed into the exhaust, where it treats the fumes. No part inside a fuel pump is designed for this fluid — and no part of that was intended to go through one.
Poured in with the diesel, it keeps separate instead of mixing — entirely unlike fuel. It drops, since it is denser than diesel, and settles down where the pickup takes its supply from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Elmbridge Village last night, and has not been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
It causes two kinds of harm from there. It attacks certain metals used in fuel components, working on any part it touches until it's removed completely. And once the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that clog filters and lodge in narrow channels. Lines carrying AdBlue mean damage by morning for a car parked in Rowly. Only in your tank, it stays the same. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and each injector as it flows; water gives none of that, and that is a separate form of damage.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's regularly worse than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Asda's forecourt leaves the fuel watery — that's the main fault. No harm is done while it stays put, mixed into your diesel — only once your engine works on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong liquid. It cannot just be run through, since it doesn't burn. Whether your vehicle is in Cranleigh or the heart of Rowly, turning it over "to see" costs more in this case than nearly any other mistake, and the flush matters more. Why: it won't stay blended, so diluting it fails; and crystals and corrosion survive the next tankful.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Wherever around Surrey the car has stopped, an unrun motor leaves the AdBlue yet inside the tank: the simplest bit of a fuel system to clear.
Rowly: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Many vehicles place the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel one, now and then behind one flap, and in dim light the two may appear identical. Nobody means it. Mostly it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the pump.
Mostly, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside Cranleigh Church of England Primary School. A driver pours the container in outside their house, just off Rowly Drive, as the day ends. Else, after dark outside the pub in the village, your vehicle is topped up by a driver opening that flap the first time.
It comes up the most in a rental, a new car, a fleet motor, or the other car in a family with one of each fuels — the vehicles drivers use the least. Wherever around Surrey, Rowly as well, the slip doesn't change, and neither does the first step: keep it off.
Rowly: started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. It's been pulled through the fuel filter and your lines, and if your engine ran for any time, it has reached your high-pressure pump and your injectors.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, dropping power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: any may appear, perhaps part way across Rowly or coming back from Smithwood Common. No starting it again to check: stop when it is safe, then turn it off. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Exit the M25, under 15 miles from Rowly, at the next junction and park somewhere safe, rather than driving on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue further in. That is why crossing Rowly to park near Trevor Abbot Sports Centre and a drive of under 50 miles for Chichester are such distinct jobs. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Once the motor has been run, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has ended up. Spotted early, it very seldom leaves permanent damage.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves in Rowly
The vehicle remains where it is, whether that is a street near Woodland Fitness Studio, a driveway, a layby or a filling station in Rowly, and our van travels to it. The job rests on three replies, and we get first — what was put in, the quantity, and whether the engine has run.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave as one after that tank is drained, right there. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush counts: the whole system is flushed all the way through because residue won't flush away unaided. Clean diesel goes in after your filter is cleaned — or swapped, if it needs to be — and after that the car is tested. Engine not run? In that case count on roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Quiet enough to use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Priming your system with fresh diesel comes last. Whether it's a parking space at Chilworth or a driveway around Rowly, that is where we start the car and you head off. Before leaving, we make sure it is running properly with fresh diesel in. The whole job is done where your car is, so it never has to go to a workshop. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Rowly itself
Rowly is a small village in Surrey, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 58 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Rowly lies near several notable places, including Ridgebridge Hill, Stroud Common, and Palmers Cross, and is approximately 29 miles from London. Rowly has a population of around 660 residents, who live in a tranquil riverside setting. Rowly is also close to the city of Chichester, which is about 25 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Rowly and Surrey
Over the GU postcode area, the vans taking AdBlue call-outs around Rowly reach much of Surrey as well, Ridgebridge Hill, Stroud Common and Palmers Cross among them. Guessing doesn't help close to a border or somewhere tricky to pin down; phone and ask.
Wherever your vehicle sits — a drive at home, a side street, a parking area, a filling station — we drain it there, and there's no need to bring it to us; that suits Rowly, a village, well.
Rowly: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Every job is different, and so not one fixed quote would be fair. Whether your engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the cost. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the position of the car, because an open drive is simpler for a van to get to safely than a tight gap behind School Chapel.
For that in mind, every enquiry from Rowly begins with the same trio — which fluid was put in, how much, whether the engine ran — before a quote. Those replies turn a range into a straight price.
Our quote is quoted during the call, before anyone leaves; settling up happens on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
In Rowly and still next to the car?
Right now, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to not touch it. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Call 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Rowly or anywhere across Surrey.