Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Shelley
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and nothing happens till your motor sucks it round. If your motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and thoroughly cleaned where your car sits in Shelley. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Shelley, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
Things to do:
- Pocket your keys, which prevents anyone switching the power on.
- If you're anywhere near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt shows us the product and the quantity, and so do not throw it out.
- The van locates you fastest with a postcode starting CM5 0, or just the name of a street nearby, so phone from the spot.
Never do these:
- Not even for a second, and not to roll your vehicle: your motor remains off.
- Many diesels power their fuel pump the instant your ignition goes on, so keep it off.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue won't mix, so it is pointless.
- Don't drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short distance down Moreton Road.
- Draining your tank on your own by the road isn't one to try.
Get the people behind the counter to help you move the car away from the island if you are on a forecourt around Shelley, whether it is the BP or somewhere else. At your own driveway, don't move it at all.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. A fuel pump is not made to take it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It drops, because it's heavier than diesel, and settles low where the pickup takes its fuel from. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Marden Ash overnight and hasn't turned since. The liquid sits at the foot of the tank, undrawn — but it would be first through if the engine runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
After it's pulled in, the damage takes two forms. What is left once the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in narrow passages and clog filters. Worse, it attacks some metals in the fuel system, and keeps going till it is cleared out. A vehicle left standing around Shelley with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. Water protects nothing. The high-pressure pump and each injector need diesel flowing through them, and so the water content damages them in its own right.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
An issue of thin fuel is what you get from filling a diesel with petrol at the Esso. Harm just comes from running on it. Blended into your diesel and left inside your tank, it does nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. It does not stay mixed, and so it cannot be thinned. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether your car is in Hallsford Bridge or the middle of Shelley.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Anywhere in Essex your car has come to rest, an unstarted engine means the AdBlue yet inside the tank: the easiest part of a fuel system to empty.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Shelley: how it ends up there
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, occasionally under a single flap — may appear the same. Nobody intends it; many layouts invite it. It usually happens outside the house, from a container grabbed en route home, not at the forecourt.
A couple of familiar ways cover the majority of them. The top-up gets hurried outside Ongar Primary School, after the dash flashed with a warning while the children were taken in. Someone tips the bottle in at home, just off Clare Mews, as the day ends. Else, after dark by The Kings Head, the vehicle is topped up by someone opening that flap the first time.
The least familiar cars get it most — rentals, new cars, company cars, and the spare vehicle in a home with one of each fuels. Leave it off: that is the first step to the same slip, wherever around Shelley or the rest of Essex you are.
Shelley: started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. It's been sucked through the filter and the fuel lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors.
Expect lumpy running, smoke, lost power, warnings on the dash, or a stall — returning from Great Stony Park, say, or part way across Shelley. Pull over when it is safe. Turn off. Keep it off rather than restarting it to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Exit the M11, under 5 miles from Shelley, at the next junction and park somewhere safe, rather than driving on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Shelley to the car park by Chipping Ongar Leisure Centre is a very different job from a run towards Chelmsford, under 10 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with every mile. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to flush once the motor has been run, and our engineers do all of it where the vehicle has come to a stop. When it is noticed soon, long-term damage is very unusual.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Shelley?
Anywhere it has stopped around Shelley — a forecourt, a layby, a driveway, a street by St Peters, Shelley — the van comes to your vehicle. Which fluid got in, roughly how much, and if the engine has been run: our engineers ask before all else, because those shape the work.
Then that tank is emptied where the vehicle sits, and so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A careful flush matters much more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what remains will not wash out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live forecourt is no issue, and it's quiet enough for a residential street after dark.
Priming your system with new diesel comes last. At that point our technicians fire it up and you head off, whether from a parking space at Ingatestone or a drive in Shelley. Before we go, our engineers make sure it's running smoothly with new diesel in. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to go to a workshop. At the end, you are given the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Shelley, briefly
Shelley is a village in Essex, situated on the riverside in the eastern part of the county, with an elevation of around 67 metres. Shelley lies approximately 21.5 miles from London and 9.9 miles from Chelmsford, near other villages such as Chipping Ongar and High Ongar. Shelley has a population of around 1877 people, predominantly living in semi-detached houses. Shelley is surrounded by the countryside of the Essex landscape, with nearby Greensted also being a neighbouring village.
AdBlue drains across Essex, Shelley included
Chipping Ongar, High Ongar and Greensted are among the places near Shelley that the same vans reach, together with much of Essex beyond, throughout the CM postcode area. Phone and ask rather than guess if you're by a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down.
Anywhere the vehicle sits — your drive at home, a residential street, a car park, a filling station — our technicians empty it on the spot, with no need to bring it to us; that suits Shelley, a village, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Shelley: the cost of fixing it
Each job is different, and so no fixed quote is honest. Whether your engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what changes the price. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the location of the car, since an open drive is simpler for our van to get to safely than a tight spot behind Chipping Ongar Library.
Ahead of any figure, not after, each enquiry from Shelley begins with three checks: the liquid, the amount, and whether it ran. Their answers shrink the range right down to a single number.
Our quote is given on the call, before a van leaves; 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.
Next to the car in Shelley, right now?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to your car. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Call 0333 366 0103 and tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Shelley or anywhere across Essex.