Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Studd Hill
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then keep your motor off — and the ignition as well. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. As it is water-based, it will not burn and won't blend with diesel; trouble only starts when your pump begins drawing it. In Studd Hill, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before the engine runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where the vehicle is. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Studd Hill: the first few minutes
To do:
- Pull your keys out, and so nobody switches your ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt shows us the product and the quantity, and so don't throw it out.
- Give us a postcode starting CT6 8, or whichever street lies nearest, and the van finds you directly — so call from wherever you are.
Do not do these:
- Do not start your engine, even for a moment to move the vehicle.
- The ignition remains off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to run the fuel pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Never drive the car anywhere, not even a short stretch along Hampton Close.
- By the road, do not try draining it on your own.
Moving the vehicle off the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever Studd Hill forecourt you're on, the Esso included. Stopped on your own drive? Then it stays exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Meant for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the engine. From a dedicated tank it is fed directly to your exhaust, cleaning what your motor lets out. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once poured in, won't. Its behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It sinks, since it's denser than diesel, and settles low where the intake draws its fuel from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Swalecliffe last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
Two kinds of damage come from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps running on the components it hits for as long as it stays there. If the AdBlue is in the pipework, leaving it overnight around Studd Hill leaves it worse. Inside that tank alone, time does nothing. And there's the water: it brings no lubrication to the parts that need it most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Top up a diesel with petrol in error at the Sainsbury's, and this problem is thinned fuel. No harm comes while it stays unused, blended into the diesel — only once your engine runs on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a problem of the wrong substance altogether. It cannot simply be run through, because it doesn't burn. Whether your car sits in Bullockstone or the centre of Studd Hill, turning it over "to see" does more harm in this case than almost any other slip, and the flush matters more. Why: it won't stay blended, so watering it down fails; and deposits and corrosion survive the following fill.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue remains in it — wherever around Kent the vehicle sits.
Studd Hill: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of cars rests right next to the diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Most of the time it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
A few familiar ways account for most cases. Rushing, outside Hampton Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, someone tops up your car. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Hampton Gardens. One more pattern: darkness, a pub car park by The Hampton Inn, and someone opening that flap the first time.
Rented motors, brand-new motors, company vehicles, or the second vehicle in a family with both fuels: the least familiar vehicles see it most. An identical mistake, same first response — keep it off — wherever you happen to be around Studd Hill or the rest of Kent.
Studd Hill: started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in your tank. The fuel filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and any running time takes it on to the high-pressure pump and each injector.
You may notice the motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Purchas Wood or halfway across Studd Hill. When you safely can, stop then switch it off — with no turning it on again to test. Each start pulls more of it through.
Exit the M2, under 10 miles from Studd Hill, by the first junction and park safely, rather than driving on.
A quick hop across Studd Hill to the car park by Studd Hill Community Centre is one matter; driving for Canterbury, under 10 miles away, is another, because every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So distance counts. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once the motor has been started, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where the car has come to a stop. When it is caught quickly, lasting damage is very rare.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Studd Hill: what it takes
Anywhere it has come to rest around Studd Hill — a forecourt, a layby, a drive, a road beside St Andrews Church — our van comes to your vehicle. Before anything else our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether your engine has run, because those answers determine the work.
Then your tank is drained where the car sits, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A careful flush counts much more after AdBlue than with petrol, since residue won't clear out by itself. After that, your filter: flushed, or changed if it must be. After that fresh diesel, and then a test of your vehicle. Roughly half an hour on site is usual for most jobs where the motor hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Bleeding the system with clean diesel comes last. Starting it comes next, and then you head off from where the vehicle is parked, at Chestfield & Swalecliffe or on a drive around Studd Hill. Before we leave, our technicians confirm it's running correctly with new diesel in. Our technicians do it all wherever the car has ended up, and it never has to be taken to a garage. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Studd Hill and where it is
Studd Hill is a coastal suburban area in Kent, situated near the city of Canterbury and close to several nearby places including Hampton, Greenhill, and West End. Studd Hill has a relatively low elevation of around 6 metres above sea level, and its population of approximately 3563 people live in predominantly detached housing. Studd Hill is located within commuting distance of London, at around 53.5 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Kent, Studd Hill included
AdBlue jobs in Studd Hill go to vans that cover the places near it — Hampton, Greenhill plus West End — and much of Kent further out, throughout CT postcodes. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask rather than assuming.
A van that comes to you suits Studd Hill, a residential suburb: there's no need to bring the vehicle to us, because our engineers drain it on the spot, on a drive, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
Studd Hill: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no honest single price, since the jobs are not the same. Whether the motor has been running, and for how long, comes first in what changes the cost. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the location of the vehicle, since an open drive is simpler for our van to get to safely than a tight space behind St Andrews Christian Centre.
What went in, what quantity, and whether the engine ran: each Studd Hill enquiry opens by asking exactly that, before a figure, never afterwards. With them, a range narrows to a single fixed figure.
Our quote is given during the call, before a van leaves; payment comes 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.
Still next to your car in Studd Hill?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, then, the most useful thing you can do. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus whether it ran is all we ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest throughout Kent, Studd Hill included.