AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Slyfield? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, leave the motor off and keep the ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. The trouble begins once it is sucked through the lines — it will not burn, and it won't blend with diesel. Caught before the engine has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Slyfield. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Slyfield: the first few minutes
To do:
- Pocket your keys, which stops anyone switching the power on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and roughly what quantity, save the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Tell us a postcode starting GU1 1, or whatever street lies nearest, and the van reaches you directly — so ring wherever you stand.
Things not to do:
- Moving the vehicle just a few yards is no reason to start the engine.
- The ignition stays off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to start the fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel will not thin it.
- Keep it where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way down Moorfield Road.
- Draining your tank on your own by the road isn't one to try.
The staff working at any Slyfield forecourt — the Esso among them — will usually lend a hand pushing it aside if you ask. Stopped on your own drive? Then it remains exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the engine. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it's sprayed into the exhaust, and there it treats the fumes. Not one side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and a pump cannot take urea.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It does not mix in. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and collects underneath it — the same place the pickup draws from. Simplest of all: one that had AdBlue in Bellfields overnight and hasn't been started since. The liquid waits at the base of the tank, undrawn — but it will be first through if the motor runs, before any diesel at all.
Once it is sucked in, the harm takes two forms. It attacks certain metals found in fuel systems, attacking whatever it reaches till it is cleared from your system. And when the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and settle in tiny channels. Lines carrying AdBlue spell harm overnight for a vehicle sitting in Slyfield. Only in the tank, it stays stable. Then there's the water: it offers no protection to the parts that need it the most — the injection pump and each injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the Sainsbury's and you have a fault of thin fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and while it's in that tank it causes no damage; the damage comes from running your engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a problem of the wrong substance altogether. It does not burn, and so it can't just be run through. 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 matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the car is in Merrow or the middle of Slyfield.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Wherever across Surrey the vehicle has stopped, an unstarted engine means the AdBlue still in the tank: the easiest part of any fuel system to clear.
Slyfield: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It is not deliberate. Plenty of cars keep the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel one, occasionally under a single flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. Most of the time it happens 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 is rushed outside Burpham Primary School, because the dash flashed with a warning while the kids were dropped off. Near Thornberry Way, a driver pours a container in on the drive after work. Or someone new to that flap tops up your vehicle in dim light, parked in the car park by Anchor and Horseshoes.
The least familiar cars see it most — hire cars, brand-new cars, fleet cars, and the other vehicle in a home with both fuel types. Keep it switched off: that is the first response to the same mistake, wherever around Slyfield or the rest of Surrey you are.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Slyfield?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in your tank. It's been sucked through your filter and your lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure pump and your injectors.
Expect lumpy running, exhaust smoke, lost power, warnings on the dash, or a stall — coming back from Riverside Park Nature Reserve, say, or part way across Slyfield. When safe, pull over and turn everything off — without turning it on again to test. More of it is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M25, under 10 miles from Slyfield, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
Distance matters: every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into your system, so driving towards Westminster, under 50 miles away, gives a much bigger job than crossing Slyfield to the car park by Lockwood Adults & Community Care. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after the engine has been run. Spotted early, it very rarely leaves permanent damage.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves in Slyfield
Anywhere it has stopped around Slyfield — a forecourt, a layby, a driveway, a road by Blue Spider — our van travels to your vehicle. Before anything else our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and if your motor has run, because those replies determine the work.
Then that tank is cleared where the vehicle waits, and so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A full flush counts far more after AdBlue than after petrol, because what remains won't wash out on its own. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we arrive. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
The final step is to prime the fuel system on clean diesel. Whether it's a parking bay by London Road (Guildford) or a driveway in Slyfield, that is where our engineers start the car and you head off. It's tested on new diesel to confirm it runs properly before our technicians head off. No workshop is needed at any stage, with the entire job done on the spot. The insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Slyfield, for a moment
Slyfield is a suburban area in Surrey, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 32 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Slyfield lies approximately 25 miles from London and is close to nearby places such as Abbotswood, Jacobs Well, and Burpham. Slyfield has a population of around 1426 residents, making it a small but established community. Slyfield is characterized by its quiet, residential atmosphere, typical of many suburban areas in the South East of England.
AdBlue drains across Slyfield and Surrey
Abbotswood, Jacobs Well and Burpham are among the towns near Slyfield that the same vans reach, together with much of Surrey further out, throughout the GU postcode area. Phone and ask instead of guessing when you're close to a county line, or somewhere awkward to explain.
No moving is needed. In Slyfield, a residential suburb, a van that comes to you fits: the car is drained where it stands, whether in a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
Slyfield: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There is no fair single price, since the jobs are not the same. What shifts the price is, first of all, whether your engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue went in; and finally where the vehicle is and whether our van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight space behind Burpham Village Hall.
That's why every call from Slyfield starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and if it has run. Those answers shrink a range right down to a single figure.
You get that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
Slyfield: still beside the car?
Then, touch nothing — that's the most helpful step available. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Slyfield or anywhere across Surrey.