Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Stratford New Town
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. As it is water-based, it will not burn and won't blend with diesel; damage only starts when your pump starts pulling it. Caught before the motor has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Stratford New Town. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Stratford New Town, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do straight away
Do:
- Take the keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- Which fluid, and roughly what amount? Save the bottle or the till receipt, and our engineers will see.
- Give us a postcode starting E15 1, or whatever street lies closest, and the van reaches you straight — so call wherever you stand.
Don't:
- Moving the vehicle even a few yards is no reason to start the engine.
- Turning your key to ignition alone sets your pump going on many diesels. Skip it.
- Adding more diesel does not work: AdBlue settles out rather than thinning.
- Even a short stretch along Parkway Crescent is too far to drive the car.
- No emptying it yourself, either, on the verge.
The staff on duty at any Stratford New Town forecourt — the TotalEnergies among them — will usually lend a hand pushing it aside if you ask. Stopped on your own drive? Then it stays just as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the engine. From a separate tank it goes straight to the exhaust, cleaning what your motor emits. A fuel pump isn't made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
It doesn't combine. After it is poured into the tank, AdBlue acts nothing like fuel. Heavier than diesel, it drops and collects below it — the very spot the intake draws from. Simplest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Stratford Marsh overnight and hasn't turned since. The AdBlue sits at the foot of the tank, undrawn — though it would be first through if your engine runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
It causes two kinds of harm from there. It attacks some metals used in fuel components, attacking any part it reaches until it is cleared from the system. And once the water evaporates, the urea turns into crystals that block filters and lodge in narrow passages. A vehicle left standing around Stratford New Town with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. The water in it causes harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Asda's forecourt makes your fuel watery — that is the whole problem. It mixes with your diesel, and while it's inside that tank it causes no harm; the damage comes from running your motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. It does not stay mixed, and so it can't be thinned. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the car is in Hackney Marsh or the middle of Stratford New Town.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Never run? Then the AdBlue waits only in your tank, the easiest bit of the entire system to clear, anywhere your vehicle has stopped across Greater London.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Stratford New Town?
After dark, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel cap, now and then under a single flap — can look the same. Nobody intends it; many layouts allow it. Usually it is not the forecourt: someone picks up a container heading home and pours it in at home.
Mostly, it happens in one of a few familiar ways. Rushing, outside Colegrave Primary School, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, a parent refills your car. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Liberty Bridge Road. Or the car is topped up in the car park outside The Eagle, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
It crops up the most in a hire car, a new car, a company vehicle, or the other vehicle of a family with both fuel types — the vehicles drivers know least. Same mistake, an identical first step — keep it switched off — wherever you happen to be around Stratford New Town or the rest of Greater London.
Stratford New Town: started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. It has been sucked through the filter and the lines, and if the motor ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure pump and your injectors.
Watch for rough running, exhaust smoke, falling power, lights on your dash, or a stall — returning from Major Road Open Space, perhaps, or midway across Stratford New Town. No restarting to test: stop once it is safe, then turn everything off. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Leave the M11, under 3 miles from Stratford New Town, by the next junction and park safely, not carrying on.
Hopping across Stratford New Town to the car park by Leyton House Working Mens Club And Institute is one matter; heading towards London, under 5 miles away, is another, because every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So distance counts. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
There is more to rinse out once the engine has been started, and our technicians do all of it where your car has come to a stop. Lasting damage is very rare when it's caught quickly.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves in Stratford New Town
A street beside Major Road Baptist Church, a driveway, a layby or a forecourt: anywhere your vehicle has stopped around Stratford New Town, we come to it. Which fluid was put in, roughly how much, plus if the motor has been run: we ask before all else, because those decide the work.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave together after that tank is drained, right there. A careful flush counts much more with AdBlue than after petrol, because residue will not wash away by itself. Testing your vehicle follows last, once fresh diesel goes in and your filter is flushed or, if necessary, replaced. Not run? In that case expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Quiet enough to use outside a house at night, and safe on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
The last step is to bleed the fuel system on new diesel. You set off as soon as our technicians have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a driveway in Stratford New Town or in a bay at Stratford International. It is tested on new diesel to confirm it runs properly before our engineers leave. We do it all wherever the car has ended up, and it never needs to be taken to a garage. Afterwards, you are given paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer.
About Stratford New Town
Stratford New Town is a suburban area in east London, situated near the Olympic Park and the River Lea. Stratford New Town sits at a low elevation of around 8 metres, close to the nearby areas of Maryland and Stratford. Stratford New Town has a high population density, with a mix of old and new residential developments, predominantly consisting of flats. Stratford New Town is located near Temple Mills, an area with a rich industrial heritage.
AdBlue drains around Stratford New Town and across Greater London
Over the E postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue call-outs in Stratford New Town serve most of Greater London too, Maryland, Stratford and Temple Mills among them. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask rather than guessing.
No moving is needed. In Stratford New Town, a residential suburb, a van that comes to you fits: your car is drained where it stands, be it on a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Stratford New Town
There is no honest single price, because the jobs aren't the same. The price shifts first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it turns on where the car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight spot behind Community Road Tenants And Residents Social Club.
For that in mind, every call from Stratford New Town opens by asking the same trio — which fluid was put in, how much, if the engine ran — before a figure. Those replies narrow the range down to one number.
Before anyone sets off, you hear our quote on the phone. And payment is on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Check your policy while we're on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
In Stratford New Town and still alongside the vehicle?
In that case, touch nothing — that is the most helpful step available. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Say it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, in Stratford New Town or anywhere within Greater London.