AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Shippon? Don't Start It
Motor off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is simply urea in water. Being water-based, it won't burn and won't blend with diesel; damage only starts once your pump begins drawing it. Caught before your engine has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Shippon. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Shippon
Things to do:
- Keys out — then no one can power anything on.
- If you're at all close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Which fluid, and roughly what quantity? Save the bottle or the till receipt, and we can know.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting OX13 6, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Don't start your motor, even for a moment to shift your car.
- Turning the key to ignition by itself sets your pump going on plenty of diesels. Avoid it.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Keep it where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way down Elm Tree Walk.
- Do not try to drain the car yourself at the roadside.
Rolling your car off the island is a job for attendants to help with, wherever Shippon forecourt you're on, the Marcham Road Service Station included. Parked on your own drive? Then it remains exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the motor. From a dedicated tank it goes straight to the exhaust, treating what the engine emits. No part in an injection pump is designed for this liquid — and none of that was intended to go that way.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It does not mix in. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and collects below it — the same place the pickup sucks from. Easiest of all: one that had AdBlue in Cothill overnight and hasn't turned since. The liquid waits at the foot of that tank, untouched — though it will be first through once your motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
It does two kinds of damage from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that hardens in filters and tiny channels; and, since it eats at some metals, each part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it remains inside. Pipes carrying AdBlue spell harm by morning for a vehicle sitting in Shippon. Only inside that tank, it stays the same. Water protects nothing. The injection pump and each injector depend on diesel flowing past them, so the water part damages them by itself.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's regularly worse than petrol
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Tesco's forecourt leaves the fuel thin — that is the whole issue. Harm only comes from driving on it. Blended into the diesel and sitting inside that tank, it causes nothing.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is simply the wrong one. It cannot simply be run through, since it doesn't burn. It does not stay mixed, so it cannot be diluted. 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 almost anywhere else, whether the car is in Northcourt or the middle of Shippon.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue remains in it — wherever around Oxfordshire your vehicle has stopped.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Shippon
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many motors sits right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it is not the filling station: someone buys a bottle heading home and tips it in at home.
It tends to occur in a couple of familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside St Nicolas Church of England Primary School, Abingdon the top-up is rushed. Close to Willow Tree Close, a driver tips a bottle in at home in the evening. Or the car is topped up in the car park outside Prince of Wales, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It takes place most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Keep it off: that's the first step to an identical slip, wherever in Shippon or the remainder of Oxfordshire you are.
Shippon: started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. Through the filter, through the lines, and — with any running time — into the injection pump and every injector: that is how far it travels.
Rough running, smoke, lost power, dashboard lights or stalling: each may appear, perhaps part way across Shippon or coming back from Miele Water Park. When safe, stop then switch it off — with no turning it on again to see. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
If you were on the Wheatley Spur, under 10 miles from Shippon, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
A quick hop across Shippon to the car park by Saint Mary Magdalene is one matter; driving for Oxford, under 10 miles away, is something else, since each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So distance counts. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after your engine has been running. Very rarely does it leave lasting damage when it is spotted soon.
Shippon: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
We come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped around Shippon: a side street close to Monument to Prince Albert, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and whether your motor has run, because those answers settle this work.
On the spot, the tank is then emptied, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea come out as one. Your system is flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Testing your vehicle comes at the end, once clean diesel is added and the fuel filter is cleaned or, where needed, replaced. About half an hour on site is typical for most jobs where the motor hasn't run. Low-noise enough to use outside a house at night, and fine on a busy forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
The last step is to prime your system on new diesel. Whether it's a parking space by Radley or a driveway in Shippon, that is where we start the car and you drive off. It is checked on new diesel to confirm it runs properly before our technicians leave. Our engineers do it all wherever your car has stopped, and it never has to go to a garage. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers want.
About Shippon itself
Shippon is a small village in Oxfordshire, situated on the banks of the River Thames at an elevation of around 63 metres. Shippon lies just outside Oxford, about 5 miles from the city centre, and is part of the wider South East region. Shippon has a mix of old and new housing, with detached homes being the predominant type, and is close to nearby places like Wildmoor and Gozzards Ford. Shippon is also within commuting distance of London, approximately 52 miles away.
Shippon and Oxfordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Our vans that answer AdBlue calls in Shippon also cover the spots about it, Wildmoor, Gozzards Ford and Caldecott among them, and most of Oxfordshire beyond, across the OX postcode area. Ring and check instead of guessing if you are close to a border, or somewhere tricky to explain.
No moving is needed. In Shippon, a village, a van that comes to you fits: the vehicle is emptied on the spot, be it on a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Shippon?
There's no honest single price, since the jobs are not the same. Three things change the cost: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the car is. That last one turns on whether our van can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight gap behind Monk.
Before any figure, never after, each enquiry from Shippon opens with the same three checks: the liquid, the amount, plus if it ran. Their replies narrow a range right down to one figure.
The quote is given on the call, before anyone sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. As our engineer is travelling, check your insurance: many cover misfuelling.
In Shippon and still alongside your car?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with the car is to leave it. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, in Shippon or wherever within Oxfordshire, once you phone 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether it ran.