South-end: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, leave your engine off then keep the ignition off. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the system draws it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around South-end, is generally all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before the engine has been run. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in South-end: the first few minutes
To do:
- Keys out — then no one can power anything on.
- If you are anywhere close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the receipt shows us the product and the quantity, so don't throw it away.
- Give us a postcode starting SG10 6, or whichever street lies nearest, and the van finds you directly — so ring from wherever you stand.
Things not to do:
- Moving the vehicle even a few yards is no reason to fire up your motor.
- Many diesels power their pump the moment the ignition comes on, so leave the car off.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue won't blend, so it is pointless.
- Even a short stretch down Bourne Lane is too far to drive the vehicle.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, at the verge.
At a forecourt around South-end, whether it is the the nearest petrol station or another one, ask the staff to help you roll your car clear of the pump. Stopped on your own driveway? Then it stays just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. No part inside a fuel pump is designed for this liquid — and none of that was intended to travel that way.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Green Tye last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
After it's drawn in, the harm comes in two forms. What remains when the water goes is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle in tiny passages and block filters. Worse, it eats at some metals in a fuel system, and carries on until it is cleared out. Lines carrying AdBlue spell damage overnight for a car sitting around South-end. Just in the tank, it stays the same. And there is the water: it offers no protection to the parts that need it the most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's often worse than petrol
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Pace's forecourt leaves the fuel thin — that's the main fault. Mixed into the diesel and left unused, it is harmless at that stage; running your engine does the damage.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is simply the wrong one. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. Nor can it be watered down, since it separates again — and the following fill will not rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters more with AdBlue, and trying your engine "to see", in the heart of South-end or out in Hadham Cross, does more harm than almost any other mistake.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Emptying a tank is the easiest job on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue remains in it — anywhere across Hertfordshire the vehicle sits.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in South-end
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many vehicles sits right next to your diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It mostly occurs at home, from a container grabbed on the journey home, rather than at the filling station.
Usually, it occurs in one of a few familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Widford School the top-up is hurried. Near Slough Road, someone tips a container in at home after work. One more pattern: darkness, a pub car park outside the pub in the village, and someone using that flap for the first time.
The least familiar cars get it most — rentals, new ones, fleet cars, and the other motor in a home with one of each fuels. An identical mistake, an identical first response — leave it switched off — wherever you are in South-end or the rest of Hertfordshire.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around South-end, and the engine started?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. It's been drawn through your filter and the lines, and if the motor ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, dropping power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: any might appear, maybe midway across South-end or returning from Mill Wood. When safe, pull over then turn everything off — without restarting to test. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
On the M11, under 5 miles from South-end, the next junction is where to leave, and anywhere safe is where to park — not carrying on.
A quick hop across South-end to the car park by Turtle is one thing; heading towards Chelmsford, under 25 miles away, is another, since each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So mileage matters. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Once the engine has been run, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where your car has stopped. Long-term damage is very uncommon if it is spotted soon.
South-end: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
Our engineers come to the car, wherever it has stopped in South-end: a side street near Large Upright Internal/External Form, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The job rests on three replies, and we ask for first — what went in, the quantity, and whether the engine has run.
Next, emptying the tank on the spot removes the polluted diesel and the AdBlue in one go. Residue from AdBlue will not wash out unaided, and so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which counts much more here than for petrol. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. About half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when your motor hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Clean diesel goes in to prime the system, and that's the final step. You drive off as soon as we have started it, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a drive around South-end or in a bay by Harlow Mill. Before we go, we check it's running correctly with fresh diesel in. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never has to go to a garage. At the end, there is the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About South-end and where it is
South-end is a small village in Hertfordshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 85 metres. South-end lies approximately 24 miles north of London and is close to the nearby villages of Perry Green and Allens Green. South-end has a population of around 514 people and is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock. South-end is also near to Nether Street and the city of Chelmsford, which is 17.8 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Hertfordshire, South-end included
AdBlue call-outs in South-end are passed to teams that serve the places around it — Perry Green, Allens Green as well as Nether Street — and much of Hertfordshire further out, across SG postcodes. Phone and ask instead of guessing if you are close to a county line, or somewhere awkward to pin down.
South-end is a rural village, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it sits, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
South-end: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Because each jobs vary, a flat figure would not be fair. Three things change the cost: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the car is. That last one turns on whether a technician can get to it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight space behind The Arch.
That's why every call from South-end starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and if it has run. Their replies shrink the range right down to one number.
You hear that price by phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Check your insurance whilst we are on the way: plenty carry misfuelling cover.
South-end: still next to the car?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with the vehicle is to not touch it. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, across South-end or anywhere within Hertfordshire, after you phone 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.