Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Stepney
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, leave your engine off and keep the ignition off. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor mixes, and no harm starts till the engine pulls it through. If the engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally emptied and carefully rinsed where the car sits in Stepney. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Stepney, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do straight away
Do:
- Keys out — then nobody can switch anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- The empty bottle or your receipt tells us the fluid and the quantity, so do not throw it out.
- Give us a postcode starting E1 3, or whatever street lies closest, and the van finds you directly — so call wherever you stand.
Never do these:
- Not even for a second, and not to roll your vehicle: your motor remains off.
- Plenty of diesels power their fuel pump the instant the ignition goes on, and so keep the car off.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue won't blend, and so it is wasted.
- Do not drive it anywhere, not even a short stretch along Mile End Road.
- By the road, don't attempt draining it yourself.
Get the people behind the counter to help you move the car away from the pumps if you're on a forecourt in Stepney, whether it's the BP or somewhere else. At your own drive, do not move it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not your motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. Nothing in an injection pump is made for this fluid — and no part of it was meant to travel that way.
Tipped in with your diesel, it stays separate instead of mixing — quite unlike fuel. It sinks, because it is denser than diesel, and settles low where the pickup takes its fuel from. Simplest of all: a vehicle that got AdBlue in Mile End last night and has not turned since. The liquid waits at the foot of that tank, untouched — though it will be the first thing through once your engine runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that crystallises in filter elements and narrow channels; meanwhile, because it eats at some metals, each part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it stays in there. Where the AdBlue has reached the lines, leaving it overnight around Stepney leaves it worse. In your tank only, time does nothing. The water in it does damage of its own: your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's regularly worse than petrol
A fault of thinned fuel is what you get from fuelling a diesel with petrol at the Asda. Harm just comes from running on it. Mixed into the diesel and sitting in the tank, it causes nothing.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable liquid. It cannot just be run through, since it does not burn. Deposits and corrosion stay after the following fill, and AdBlue splits back from your diesel, and so thinning it can't help. That is why the flush matters so much, and trying your engine "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other mistake — in Frank Whipple Estate or the heart of Stepney alike.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If your motor has not run, the AdBlue is still inside that tank, and that tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in Greater London the vehicle is standing.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Stepney
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, occasionally behind one flap — may look the same. No one means it; many layouts invite it. Mostly it's not the filling station: someone picks up a container driving home and tips it in outside the house.
A few familiar ways account for the majority of them. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside John Scurr Primary School the top-up is hurried. Near Stepney Green, someone tips a container in at home after work. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap refills your car after dark, parked in the car park by The Horn of Plenty.
It takes place most in the vehicles people know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever in Greater London, Stepney as well, the slip doesn't change, and nor does the first response: leave it switched off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Stepney?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. It has been sucked through the filter and the lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors.
Maybe returning from Stepney Green Gardens, or midway across Stepney, your engine might go lumpy, smoke, lose pace, light up the dash or stall. When safe, pull over then switch everything off — without restarting to test. Every start pulls more of it through.
On the M11, under 10 miles from Stepney, the next junction is where to exit, and anywhere sensible is where to stop — not driving on.
A quick hop across Stepney to the car park by Studio Yukari is one thing; driving towards London, under 3 miles away, is another, since each mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So distance counts. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
There's more to rinse out once the motor has run, and our engineers do all of it where the vehicle has come to a stop. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage if it is noticed soon.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves in Stepney
A road by Al Huda - Cultural Centre and Mosque, a driveway, a layby or a forecourt: wherever the car has stopped in Stepney, we travel to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and if the engine has run, since those answers settle the work.
On the spot, the tank is then drained, and both the polluted diesel and the urea leave at once. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing matters: the whole system is cleaned right through since residue won't wash out unaided. After that, the filter: flushed, or replaced when it must be. Then fresh diesel, then a test of the vehicle. About half an hour on site is usual for most jobs where your engine hasn't run. Quiet enough to use outside a house at night, and safe on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
The final step is to prime the fuel system on clean diesel. At that point our engineers start it and you set off, whether from a parking space outside Bethnal Green or a drive in Stepney. Before leaving, our engineers make sure it's running correctly with clean diesel in. The whole job is done where your car is, so it never has to go to a garage. The insurer will want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — both yours once this job is done.
About Stepney itself
Stepney is a locality in the East End of London, situated approximately 3.5 miles from the city centre and 1.9 miles from the nearest city, London. Stepney sits at a low elevation of around 14 metres above sea level, in a densely populated area surrounded by other localities such as Bethnal Green, Globe Town, and Ratcliff. Stepney is predominantly composed of flat dwellings, reflecting its urban character. Stepney has a population of around 13956 people, according to approximate estimates.
AdBlue drains across Greater London, Stepney included
Over the E postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue jobs around Stepney reach much of Greater London too, Bethnal Green, Globe Town and Ratcliff included. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of guessing.
No towing is needed. In Stepney, a neighbourhood, a van that comes to you works: the car is emptied where it stands, whether on a drive, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Stepney: the cost of fixing it
Not one flat price could be honest, since every job is different. Three things move the cost: whether the motor has run and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the vehicle is. That last one comes down to whether a van can reach it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight spot behind Genesis Cinema.
Before a figure, not after, every call from Stepney opens with the same three questions: the fuel, the quantity, plus whether it ran. Given those replies, the range narrows to a single firm number.
Priced by phone before the van sets out, it is settled that day — card or phone, no deposit. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
Stepney: still next to the vehicle?
Not touching the car is, then, the most useful move open to you. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, about how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Stepney or anywhere around Greater London.