Stubbington: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does your engine. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. It does not burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when the fuel system pulls it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Stubbington, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before the motor has been run. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
Stubbington, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do right away
Things to do:
- Keys out — that way nobody can power anything on.
- If you are anywhere near moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- So you can tell us which liquid it was and about what quantity, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Our van finds you fastest with a postcode starting PO14 2, or simply the name of a street close by, so phone from the car.
Do not do these:
- No starting your engine — not briefly, not to shift the vehicle.
- Plenty of diesels power their pump the instant your ignition goes on, so keep it off.
- Do not top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short distance down Stubbington Green.
- Draining that tank on your own by the road is not one to try.
Rolling the car off the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever Stubbington forecourt you're on, the Asda or any other. Stopped on your own drive? Then it remains just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the engine. Stored in a separate tank, it's injected into the exhaust to treat the gases. No part inside a fuel pump is designed for this fluid — and none of it was intended to travel through one.
Poured in with the diesel, it stays separate rather than mixing — entirely unlike fuel. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and pools below it — the very place the pickup draws from. Easiest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Little Posbrook overnight and has not been started since. The AdBlue sits at the foot of your tank, untouched — but it will be first through if your engine runs, before any diesel at all.
Once it's pulled in, the harm comes in two forms. What remains once the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they lodge in tiny passages and clog filters. Worse, it eats at certain metals in a fuel system, and keeps going until it is flushed out. If the AdBlue has reached the lines, leaving it overnight around Stubbington leaves it worse. Inside that tank alone, time costs nothing. And there's the water: it brings no protection to the parts that rely on it most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger problem?
Top up a diesel with petrol in error at the another forecourt nearby, and this problem is diluted fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it's in the tank it causes no damage; the damage comes from running your motor on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. It cannot simply be run through, because it does not burn. It doesn't stay mixed, so it cannot be thinned. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Woodcot or the middle of Stubbington.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If the 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 Hampshire your car is standing.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Stubbington: how it ends up there
It's not deliberate. Plenty of vehicles keep the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel inlet, occasionally behind one flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. A bottle picked up when driving home and poured in outside the house, instead of at the forecourt, is the typical story.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Crofton Anne Dale Junior School. Someone tips the bottle in outside their house, just off Park Lane, as the day ends. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park outside The Red Lion, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
It takes place most in the motors people know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Same mistake, an identical first step — keep it off — anywhere you happen to be around Stubbington or the rest of Hampshire.
Stubbington: started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left your tank. It's been drawn through the fuel filter and the fuel lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors.
Perhaps returning from Stubbington Green, or part way across Stubbington, your engine may go lumpy, smoke, lose pace, light up the dash or cut out. Once safe, pull over and turn everything off — with no restarting to test. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
If you were on the M27, under 3 miles from Stubbington, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue further in. That is why crossing Stubbington to park near Stubbington War Memorial and a drive of under 10 miles towards Portsmouth are very separate jobs. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out once your engine has been run. When it's noticed soon, permanent damage is very uncommon.
Stubbington: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
We come to the car, wherever it has stopped around Stubbington: a side street near Stubbington Mall, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Which fluid was put in, roughly how much, and if the motor has been run: our engineers check before all else, since those shape the work.
Next, draining that tank right there removes the polluted diesel and the AdBlue together. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing matters: the whole system is cleaned right through since what remains won't wash out by itself. Testing the vehicle comes at the end, after clean diesel goes in and the fuel filter gets cleaned or, where needed, replaced. If the engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we arrive. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
Lastly, the fuel system is bled with new diesel. After that our engineers start it and you drive off, whether from a parking space outside Fareham or a driveway around Stubbington. We make sure it runs properly on new diesel before we leave. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to be taken to a workshop. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers ask for.
About Stubbington and where it is
Stubbington is a coastal village in Hampshire, situated near the city of Portsmouth and overlooking the Solent Strait. Stubbington has a population of around 2225 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Stubbington sits at a low elevation of 11 metres above sea level, close to nearby places such as Peel Common and Hill Head. Stubbington is located approximately 66.6 miles south-west of London.
AdBlue drains across Stubbington and Hampshire
AdBlue call-outs around Stubbington are passed to teams that serve the towns near it — Peel Common, Hill Head plus West End — and much of Hampshire further out, across PO postcodes. Assuming doesn't help by a county line or anywhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
Stubbington is a coastal village, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it stands, so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Stubbington?
Each job is different, and so no fixed price would be fair. Three things change the cost: whether your engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the car is. That last one comes down to whether a van can get to it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight spot behind Stubbington Library.
Ahead of a quote, never afterwards, each enquiry from Stubbington begins with three questions: the liquid, the quantity, plus whether it ran. Their replies narrow a range down to a single number.
You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
Stubbington: still next to the vehicle?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with the car is to leave it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and if it ran are everything we ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest throughout Hampshire, Stubbington included.