Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in South Darenth
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. The harm starts once it is sucked through your lines — it will not burn, and it will not combine with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around South Darenth, is usually what AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it is caught before your motor has run. First, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
What to do right now, South Darenth: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Things to do:
- So no one can turn the ignition on, take your keys out.
- If you are at all near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Hold on to your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what was put in and about how much.
- Call just where you are. Quote a DA4 9 postcode or the closest street name, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Things not to do:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to shift your car.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Adding more diesel doesn't help: AdBlue settles out rather than thinning.
- Even a short way down Horton Road is too far to drive the vehicle.
- Emptying the tank yourself by the road is not worth trying.
The attendants on duty at any South Darenth filling station — the Harvest Energy included — will usually help pushing it aside if you ask. If you are on your own drive, leave it precisely where it stands.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not your motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. From a dedicated tank it goes directly to the exhaust, cleaning what your motor emits. Neither side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and an injection pump can't deal with urea.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, after tipped in, will not. Its behaviour is not at all like fuel's. Heavier than diesel, it drops and collects below it — the very place the pickup draws from. A car topped up on a drive in Darenth yesterday evening and left unstarted is the straightforward one. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up yet — but once your engine turns, that is what goes first, directly from the bottom of the tank.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps working on the components it reaches for as long as it remains there. Lines holding AdBlue mean damage by morning for a car parked in South Darenth. Just inside the tank, it stays stable. The water in it does harm of its own: the high-pressure pump and your injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
A problem of thinned fuel is what you get from fuelling a diesel with petrol from the Shell. Harm only comes from running on it. Blended into the diesel and left inside your tank, it does none.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable liquid. It can't just be run through, because it does not burn. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it can't be diluted. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is 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 Green Street Green or the middle of South Darenth.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest job on any fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever in Kent the vehicle has stopped.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in South Darenth
It's not on purpose. Many vehicles have the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel inlet, occasionally under a single flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. A container picked up when heading home and tipped in outside the house, rather than at the forecourt, is the typical story.
Mostly, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside Horton Kirby Church of England Primary School. After work, a container goes in on a driveway near East Hill. Another version: darkness, the car park outside The Jolly Miller, and someone opening that flap the first time.
Rented motors, new vehicles, company vehicles, or the spare vehicle in a home with one of each: the least known cars see it the most. Leave it off: that's the first response to the same mistake, anywhere around South Darenth or the rest of Kent you happen to be.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in South Darenth, and your engine started?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. It has been drawn through the filter and your lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors.
Perhaps coming back from South Darneth FC, or midway across South Darenth, the motor may run lumpy, smoke, drop pace, flash the dash or cut out. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart it to check. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
Exit the M25, under 3 miles from South Darenth, at the next junction and stop somewhere safe, not carrying on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue further into your system. That is why crossing South Darenth to park near St George's Catholic Church and a drive of under 25 miles for London are very different jobs. Let us know about how far it had come.
There is more to flush once your engine has been run, and our technicians do all of it where the car has come to a stop. Very seldom does it leave long-term damage when it is spotted soon.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves around South Darenth
Wherever it has come to rest in South Darenth — a forecourt, a lay-by, a drive, a road beside Horton Kirby & South Darenth Village Hall — our van comes to your vehicle. Which fluid went in, roughly how much, plus if the engine has turned over: our engineers check first, since those shape the job.
Next, draining the tank on the spot removes the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. A careful flush counts much more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what remains will not wash away by itself. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our engineers are there. Explosion-proof pumps make a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the street at night.
Fresh diesel goes in to bleed the fuel system, and that's the last step. Firing it up comes next, and then you drive off from where the car is parked, by Farningham Road or on a driveway around South Darenth. The check before we head off is that it runs properly on fresh diesel. The entire job is done where your car is, so it never needs to go to a workshop. At the end, you are given the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer.
About South Darenth, for a moment
South Darenth is a village situated on the River Darent in Kent, with a mix of terraced housing and other residential properties. South Darenth sits at an elevation of around 24 metres, close to the nearby villages of St Margarets, Sutton at Hone, and Horton Kirby. South Darenth is located near the southern outskirts of London, approximately 17.7 miles from the city centre. South Darenth has a population of around 2509 people, living in a range of housing types, predominantly terraced homes.
South Darenth and Kent: AdBlue drains across the area
St Margarets, Sutton at Hone and Horton Kirby are among the places around South Darenth that the same teams serve, together with much of Kent further out, over the DA postcode area. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than assuming.
No towing is needed. In South Darenth, a village, a mobile service fits: the vehicle is drained on the spot, whether on a drive, a side street, a car park or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around South Darenth: the cost of fixing it
There is no fair single quote, since the jobs are not the same. The price changes first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it rests on where your car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind St John's Jerusalem.
Ahead of a figure, never afterwards, each enquiry from South Darenth opens with three questions: the liquid, the quantity, plus whether it ran. Those answers turn a range into a straight quote.
Before a van heads out, you are told our price on the phone. Then you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Check your insurance whilst we are on the way: plenty include misfuelling cover.
In South Darenth and still alongside your car?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Phone 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, about how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in South Darenth or anywhere around Kent.