AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Selsdon? Keep It Switched Off
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then keep your engine off — and the ignition as well. In plain terms, AdBlue is simply urea in water. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when your fuel system pulls it in. In Selsdon, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, right where your car is. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Selsdon
To do:
- Pull the keys out, and so nobody switches your ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- So you can tell us which liquid it was and roughly what quantity, save the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Tell us a postcode starting CR2 8, or whichever street is closest, and our van finds you directly — so call from wherever you are.
Never do these:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift your vehicle: your motor remains off.
- Plenty of diesels run their fuel pump the moment the ignition goes on, so leave the car off.
- Do not top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short distance up Benhurst Gardens.
- By the road, do not try emptying it on your own.
The attendants on duty at any Selsdon forecourt — the Shell among them — will usually help pushing it clear if you ask. Parked on your own driveway? Then it stays just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. No part inside a fuel pump is made for this liquid — and no part of that was meant to travel through one.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, after tipped in, will not. The behaviour is not at all like fuel's. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. When the pump runs, the AdBlue is first to go through. Until then it waits underneath your diesel, which is why a car filled in South Croydon last night and never started stays the straightforward case, as long as no one touches the key.
It does two kinds of damage from there. What remains once the water goes is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle in tiny passages and block filters. Worse, it eats at some metals in the fuel system, and carries on till it's cleared out. A car left sitting around Selsdon with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. The water in it does harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's often worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Esso and you have a fault of thin fuel. Mixed through the diesel and left unused, it's harmless for now; running the engine is the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. It does not burn, so it cannot just be run through. It does not stay mixed, 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 matters 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 Hamsey Green or the middle of Selsdon.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest part on a fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever in Greater London the vehicle sits.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Selsdon?
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of vehicles sits right next to the diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
It tends to occur in a couple of familiar ways. The top-up gets hurried outside Greenvale Primary School, because the dash flashed with a warning while the kids were taken off. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Greystone Close. Or the car is topped up in the car park outside The Sir Julian Huxley, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
The least familiar cars see it the most — hire cars, new cars, fleet cars, and the other car in a family with one of each fuel types. Wherever you are around Selsdon or the remainder of Greater London, it's the same slip and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Selsdon: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Through the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — given any running — on to the high-pressure pump and each injector: that is how far it has gone.
You may notice your motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Selsdon Recreation Ground or halfway across Selsdon. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
Selsdon sits under 10 miles from the M25; if you were on it, exit by the first junction and stop safely instead of carrying on.
Hopping across Selsdon to the car park by Croydon High Sports Club is one thing; driving for Westminster, under 15 miles away, is something else, because every mile carries the AdBlue further in. So mileage counts. Let us know about how far it had come.
There's more to flush once the engine has been started, and we do all of it where your car has stopped. Spotted quickly, it very rarely leaves long-term damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Selsdon?
A road by Selsdon Community Centre, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station: wherever the vehicle has stopped around Selsdon, our engineers come to it. The work rests on three replies, and our engineers ask for before all else — which fluid got in, the quantity, and if the engine has turned over.
Next, draining that tank right there takes out the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue together. A careful flush counts much more after AdBlue than with petrol, because residue won't wash away on its own. A test of the vehicle follows last, after fresh diesel is added and the filter gets flushed or, where needed, swapped. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our engineers turn up, if the engine has not run. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a busy filling station is no problem, and it is quiet enough for a residential street after dark.
The last step is to prime the system on clean diesel. Whether it is a parking bay at Sanderstead or a drive around Selsdon, that is where our technicians fire it up and you set off. Our technicians confirm it runs smoothly on fresh diesel before we leave. As the job is done in its entirety where the vehicle is, a workshop never comes into it. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Selsdon and where it is
Selsdon is a suburban area in south London, situated approximately 11.9 miles from central London and 154 metres above sea level. Selsdon is characterised by its semi-detached housing stock and is located near the suburbs of Forestdale, Sanderstead, and Farleigh. Selsdon has a population of around 5235 people and is a relatively quiet residential community.
Selsdon and Greater London: AdBlue drains across the area
Our teams that answer AdBlue calls around Selsdon also cover the locations round it, Forestdale, Sanderstead and Farleigh among them, and most of Greater London beyond, across the CR postcode area. Ring and check rather than guess if you are by a border, or anywhere tricky to explain.
Selsdon is a residential suburb, and a mobile drain suits it: whether your car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it is, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Selsdon?
Because each jobs vary, a single figure would not be fair. Three things change the cost: whether your engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the car is. That last one turns on whether our van can get to it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight gap behind Selsdon Library.
For that reason, each call from Selsdon begins by asking the same trio — which fluid went in, what quantity, whether the engine ran — ahead of a figure. Those replies shrink a range right down to one figure.
Priced on the call before the engineer heads out, the job is paid for on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van gets there.
Selsdon: still alongside the vehicle?
Then, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to not touch it. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus whether it ran is everything our technicians ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder throughout Greater London, Selsdon included.