St Margarets at Cliffe: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, leave your engine off then leave the ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when your fuel system draws it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around St Margarets at Cliffe, is normally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before the engine has run. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around St Margarets at Cliffe
Things to do:
- Pocket the keys, and that prevents someone switching the electrics on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt tells us the fluid and the quantity, and so don't throw it out.
- The van locates you quickest with a postcode starting CT15 6, or just the name of a street nearby, and so phone from the spot.
Things not to do:
- Moving the vehicle just a short way is no reason to fire up your engine.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Adding extra diesel does not help: AdBlue settles out rather than blending.
- Even a short way up High Street is too far to drive it.
- Beside the road, don't attempt draining it yourself.
Moving the car off the island is a job for staff to help with, whichever St Margarets at Cliffe forecourt you're on, the Shell included. Stopped on your own driveway? Then it stays exactly as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the engine. From a separate tank it goes straight to the exhaust, treating what your motor emits. Nothing in a fuel pump is designed for this fluid — and no part of it was intended to travel through one.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, once poured in, will not. The behaviour is nothing like fuel's. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and collects below it — the very place the pickup sucks from. A motor filled on a drive in East Langdon yesterday evening and left unstarted is the straightforward case. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though once the motor runs, that is what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that crystallises in filter elements and narrow passages; and, since it attacks some metals, every part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it remains in there. Lines carrying AdBlue spell harm overnight for a car parked in St Margarets at Cliffe. Only in the tank, it stays the same. Then there's the water: it offers no lubrication to the parts that rely on it most — the injection pump and every injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger fault?
Petrol put into a diesel on Tesco's forecourt leaves your fuel watery — that's the main issue. It mixes with the diesel, and while it is in your tank it does no damage; the harm comes from running your engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It can't simply be run through, because it doesn't burn. It doesn't stay mixed, so it cannot be weakened. 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 Martin or the middle of St Margarets at Cliffe.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on any fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue stays in it — wherever around Kent your vehicle has stopped.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around St Margarets at Cliffe: how it ends up there
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of motors sits right next to your diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It usually takes place outside the house, from a container grabbed en route home, rather than at the forecourt.
Mostly, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside St Margaret's-at-Cliffe Primary School. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Cripps' Lane. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at The Smugglers, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
Rented cars, new motors, company motors, or the second vehicle in a family with one of each: the least known vehicles get it most. Wherever across Kent, St Margarets at Cliffe included, the slip doesn't change, and nor does the first response: keep it switched off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around St Margarets at Cliffe, and the engine started?
Then that tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Via the filter, through the pipework, and — given any running — into the injection pump and every injector: that is how far it has gone.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, dropping power, dashboard warnings or stalling: each may show up, perhaps part way across St Margarets at Cliffe or coming back from Alexander Field. No starting it again to check: stop when it is safe, then switch everything off. Each start pulls more of it through.
On the M20, under 10 miles from St Margarets at Cliffe, the next junction is where to leave, and somewhere sensible is where to stop — not driving on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue deeper into your system. That's why crossing St Margarets at Cliffe to park near St. Margaret of Antioch and a drive of under 25 miles towards Canterbury are such separate jobs. Let us know about how far it had come.
Wherever your car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after your engine has been running. Permanent damage is very rare if it is noticed soon.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in St Margarets at Cliffe: what it takes
The car stays where it is, whether that is a street near 5th Dover (St Margaret's) Scout Group, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt around St Margarets at Cliffe, and the van comes to it. Three answers shape the job, so before anything else we ask what was put in, about the amount, plus whether your engine has turned over.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave together after the tank is emptied, right there. A full flush counts far more after AdBlue than with petrol, because residue won't clear away by itself. Clean diesel goes in after the filter is cleaned — or swapped, if it needs to be — and after that your car is tested. If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our technicians arrive. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
The last step is to bleed the system on fresh diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you set off from where the car is parked, at Martin Mill or on a driveway around St Margarets at Cliffe. Before we leave, our engineers confirm it is running smoothly with new diesel in. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to go to a workshop. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours once the job is done.
About St Margarets at Cliffe
St Margarets at Cliffe is a village in Kent, situated on the coast near the White Cliffs of Dover, with an elevation of around 84 metres. St Margarets at Cliffe has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant, and the village is close to nearby places like Nelson Park and West Cliffe. St Margarets at Cliffe is located near the port city of Dover and is about 15 miles from Canterbury, making it a part of the wider East Kent landscape. St Margarets at Cliffe remains a small, residential community with a population of around 1593 people.
St Margarets at Cliffe and Kent: AdBlue drains across the area
Our teams that answer AdBlue call-outs around St Margarets at Cliffe also cover the spots round it, Nelson Park, West Cliffe and Martin Mill among them, and most of Kent beyond, across the CT postcode area. Assuming doesn't help by a county line or anywhere hard to describe; phone and check.
A mobile service suits St Margarets at Cliffe, a coastal village: there's no need to bring the vehicle to us, because our engineers empty it on the spot, on a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around St Margarets at Cliffe?
Because each jobs differ, a flat figure wouldn't be fair. Three things move the price: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the vehicle is. That last one turns on whether a van can get to it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight spot behind Saint Francis Church.
Ahead of any quote, never after, each call from St Margarets at Cliffe begins with three questions: the liquid, the quantity, and if it ran. Those replies turn a range into a straight quote.
Quoted by phone before the engineer heads out, the job is settled that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
In St Margarets at Cliffe and still alongside the car?
Then, the best thing to do with your car is to leave it. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around St Margarets at Cliffe or anywhere in Kent.