AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Shadoxhurst? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. The harm starts once it's sucked through your lines — it won't burn, and it will not combine with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Shadoxhurst, is generally all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before your engine has run. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank in Shadoxhurst
Things to do:
- Pocket your keys, and that prevents someone switching the electrics on.
- Put your hazards on if you're at all close to moving traffic.
- Which product, and roughly what quantity? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and our engineers can see.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting TN26 1, or the name of the nearest street, gets the van to you without a search.
Never do these:
- Do not start the engine, even for a moment to move your car.
- Your ignition stays off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to run the pump.
- Adding extra diesel does not help: AdBlue settles out instead of thinning.
- Never drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short distance along The Street.
- By the road, don't attempt emptying it yourself.
The staff working at any Shadoxhurst forecourt — the Tesco among them — will normally help pushing it clear if you ask. Stopped on your own drive? Then it stays just as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not the motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. From a dedicated tank it is fed directly to your exhaust, treating what your engine emits. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
It doesn't blend. Once it's poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves not at all like fuel. Heavier than diesel, it drops and pools underneath it — the same place the pickup draws from. Easiest of all: a vehicle that got AdBlue in Shirkoak overnight and hasn't turned since. The liquid waits at the foot of that tank, undrawn — though it will be the first thing through if the engine starts, before any diesel at all.
Two kinds of damage come from there. It attacks certain metals used in fuel systems, working on any part it touches till it's removed from the system. And once the water goes, the urea forms crystals that block filters and lodge in tiny passages. Pipes holding AdBlue mean harm overnight for a car parked in Shadoxhurst. Only inside your tank, it stays the same. The water in it causes harm of its own: your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more significant than petrol
A problem of thin fuel is what you get from filling a diesel with petrol at the BP. No damage comes as long as it stays unused, blended into your diesel — only once your engine works on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is simply the wrong one. Since it doesn't burn, running it through is not an option. Nor can it be thinned, since it splits back out — and the next fill won't clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters more here, and turning the key "to see", in the heart of Shadoxhurst or out in Chilmington Green, does more harm than nearly any other error.
As with petrol, there's good news. Never started? Then the AdBlue waits just in your tank, the simplest bit of the whole system to empty, wherever your car has stopped in Kent.
Shadoxhurst: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It is not deliberate. Plenty of cars have the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel inlet, occasionally under one flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. It usually happens at home, from a container bought on the journey home, rather than at the filling station.
A couple of familiar ways account for the majority of them. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Chilmington Green Primary School the refill is rushed. Near Church Lane, someone tips a bottle in at home after work. Or a driver new to that flap refills the car in dim light, stopped in the car park by Kings Head.
The least known cars see it the most — rentals, new ones, fleet ones, and the spare motor of a home with both fuels. Leave it switched off: that is the first step to the same slip, anywhere in Shadoxhurst or the rest of Kent you happen to be.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Shadoxhurst, and the engine started?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. With any running, it travels to the injection pump and every injector, after passing through the fuel filter and lines.
Maybe returning from Cherry Garden Wood, or part way across Shadoxhurst, the motor might run lumpy, smoke, drop power, light up your dash or cut out. Stop when it is safe. Switch off. Leave it off rather than restarting it to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M20, under 5 miles from Shadoxhurst, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
A quick hop across Shadoxhurst to the car park by Shadoxhurst Methodist Church is one matter; heading towards Canterbury, under 25 miles away, is another, because every mile carries the AdBlue further in. So mileage matters. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
We do all of the flushing where the car has come to a stop, and once your engine has been started there is more of it. Lasting damage is very uncommon when it's noticed soon.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves in Shadoxhurst
The vehicle remains where it is, whether that's a street near St Peter & St Paul, a drive, a layby or a forecourt around Shadoxhurst, and the van comes to it. Three replies shape the work, so before anything else we ask which fluid got in, roughly what quantity, and whether the engine has turned over.
Then your tank is cleared where the car stands, and so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. What remains from AdBlue won't flush away unaided, and so the whole system gets a careful flush, which counts much more with urea than with petrol. After that, the fuel filter: cleaned, or replaced when it must be. Then fresh diesel, then a test of the car. About half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when the motor has not run. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Fresh diesel goes in to bleed the fuel system, and that's the last step. After that our engineers fire it up and you set off, whether from a parking bay outside Ham Street or a drive around Shadoxhurst. Before leaving, our engineers make sure it's running properly with new diesel in. The whole job is done where your car is, so it never needs to be taken to a garage. Your insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Shadoxhurst itself
Shadoxhurst is a small village in Kent, situated inland at an elevation of around 40 metres, and is located approximately 49 miles from London. Shadoxhurst has a population of around 731 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Shadoxhurst is close to nearby places such as Stubbs Cross, Bromley Green, and Kingsnorth, and is about 17 miles from the city of Canterbury. Shadoxhurst remains a quiet rural community with a strong sense of local identity.
AdBlue drains across Shadoxhurst and Kent
Over the TN postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue call-outs in Shadoxhurst serve most of Kent too, Stubbs Cross, Bromley Green and Kingsnorth included. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask instead of assuming.
A mobile service suits Shadoxhurst, a rural village: there's no need to bring your vehicle to us, since our engineers empty it on the spot, on a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Shadoxhurst
Because each jobs differ, a flat figure would not be fair. Whether the motor has been running, and for how long, comes first in what changes the price. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the location of your car, since an open drive is simpler for our van to get to safely than a tight spot behind St Francis.
That's why each call from Shadoxhurst starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and if it's run. With them, the range shrinks to a single fixed figure.
The quote is given on the call, before anyone sets off; payment happens on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Look at your insurance whilst we are on the way: plenty carry misfuelling cover.
Beside the vehicle around Shadoxhurst, still?
Then, do nothing — that is the most helpful step available. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Shadoxhurst or anywhere in Kent.