Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Selsey
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then keep the engine off — and the ignition too. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. The harm starts once it's pulled through the pump — it won't burn, and it won't blend with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Selsey, is generally all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before the motor has run. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Selsey
Do these:
- Remove the keys, and that stops someone turning the electrics on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you're anywhere near moving traffic.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and about how much, save the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting PO20 0, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Don't:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift your vehicle: the engine remains off.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue won't mix, and so it is pointless.
- Don't drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short way along Lewis Road.
- Don't try to drain the vehicle yourself by the kerbside.
The attendants working at any Selsey forecourt — the Asda included — will usually help rolling it clear if you ask. On your own driveway, do not move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not your engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. From a dedicated reservoir it is fed directly to your exhaust, treating what the engine lets out. A fuel pump isn't designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Tipped in with your diesel, it keeps separate rather than blending — quite unlike fuel. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Keynor Estate overnight and has not been started since. The AdBlue sits at the base of your tank, untouched — though it would be first through if the engine runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. It attacks some metals found in fuel systems, working on whatever it reaches till it's cleared from the system. And when the water evaporates, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and lodge in narrow passages. A car left standing around Selsey with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank isn't. The water in it does harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is often worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error over at the Esso, and this problem is diluted fuel. No harm is done as long as it sits put, mixed into your diesel — only when the motor runs on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable substance. Not burning, it can't just be run through. Nor can it be watered down, because it separates again — and the following fill will not rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters more with AdBlue, and trying your engine "to see", in the heart of Selsey or out in Highleigh, does more harm than nearly any other mistake.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Emptying a tank is the easiest part on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever in West Sussex the vehicle has stopped.
Selsey: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many vehicles waits right next to your diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it is never the forecourt: a driver picks up a container heading home and tips it in outside the house.
Usually, it happens in one of a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside Medmerry Primary School. In the evening, a bottle is tipped in on a drive near Large Acres. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap tops up the vehicle after dark, parked in the car park by The Neptune Inn.
The least familiar vehicles see it most — rentals, new ones, company ones, and the other vehicle in a home with both fuels. An identical slip, an identical first response — keep it off — wherever you are in Selsey or the rest of West Sussex.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Selsey?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Via the filter, through the pipework, and — given any running time — into the injection pump and every injector: that is how far it has gone.
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power, dashboard lights or cutting out: any might show up, maybe midway across Selsey or coming back from Selsey Cricket Club.. No restarting to check: pull over when it is safe, then turn it off. More of it is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the Waterlooville Bypass, under 15 miles from Selsey, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
A quick hop across Selsey to the car park by Selsey Pavilion is one thing; heading for Chichester, under 10 miles away, is something else, since each mile carries the AdBlue further in. So distance counts. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Once the motor has been run, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has ended up. Spotted soon, it very rarely leaves lasting damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Selsey?
Wherever it has stopped in Selsey — a forecourt, a lay-by, a drive, a road beside Selsey Football And Social Club — the van comes to the vehicle. Three replies decide the work, so before anything else our engineers ask what went in, roughly the amount, and whether the motor has turned over.
Right there, the tank is then emptied, and both the contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one. The system is rinsed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. After that, your filter: flushed, or replaced when it has to be. Then clean diesel, and then a test of your vehicle. Engine not run? In that case expect roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live forecourt is no fault, and it's quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
New diesel goes in to bleed your system, and that's the last step. You head off as soon as our technicians have started it, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a driveway around Selsey or in a bay at Bognor Regis. Before we leave, our technicians check it's running smoothly with fresh diesel in. No garage is needed at any stage, with the whole job done on the spot. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers ask for.
About Selsey itself
Selsey is a coastal town in West Sussex, situated on a low-lying peninsula with an average elevation of around 7 metres. Selsey lies approximately 7 miles south of Chichester and 60 miles from London, with its residents enjoying views of the English Channel. Selsey has a mix of housing types, but detached homes are particularly prevalent in the area. Selsey is close to several nearby places, including East Beach, Norton, and Church Norton.
AdBlue drains across West Sussex, Selsey included
AdBlue call-outs around Selsey are passed to teams that cover the places near it — East Beach, Norton as well as Church Norton — and most of West Sussex beyond, throughout PO postcodes. Assuming doesn't help close to a border or somewhere tricky to pin down; phone and ask.
No moving is needed. In Selsey, a coastal town, a van that comes to you works: the vehicle is emptied where it stands, be it on a driveway, a side street, a car park or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Selsey: the cost of fixing it
Since the jobs vary, a flat price wouldn't be honest. Whether the motor has run, and for how long, comes first in what changes the price. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the location of the car, because an open drive is easier for a van to reach safely than a tight spot behind Selsey Town Hall.
That's why each call from Selsey starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it has run. Those answers turn a range into a straight price.
You get that quote on the phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
Still beside your car around Selsey?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, then, the best move you can do. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, in Selsey or wherever in West Sussex, after you call 0333 366 0103 to say it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether it ran.