Sway: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then keep the motor off — and your ignition too. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. As it is water-based, it will not ignite and won't blend with diesel; trouble only comes when your pump starts pulling it. In Sway, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the motor runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. No step comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Sway: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- Remove the keys, which stops anyone switching the electrics on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you're anywhere close to moving traffic.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and roughly what quantity, keep your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting SO41 6, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Do not:
- No starting the engine — not briefly, not to reposition your vehicle.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Even a short way down Station Approach is too far to drive it.
- No emptying it yourself, either, on the verge.
The staff working at any Sway forecourt — the Shell included — will usually help rolling it clear if you ask. At your own drive, don't touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not your engine. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
Tipped in with your diesel, it stays separate rather than mixing — entirely unlike fuel. The intake sucks fuel from the deepest part of your tank, and that is precisely where AdBlue settles: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. Once your system runs, the AdBlue is first to go through. Until then it waits beneath your diesel, and that is how a car filled in Tiptoe yesterday and never started stays the simple case, as long as no one turns the key.
It causes two kinds of harm from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that hardens in filter elements and tiny passages; and, since it attacks certain metals, every part it touches suffers for as long as it remains inside. Lines carrying AdBlue spell damage by morning for a vehicle sitting around Sway. Only inside your tank, it stays the same. Water protects nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel flowing past them, so the water content harms them in its own right.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger issue?
Top up a diesel with petrol by mistake at the Esso, and the problem is diluted fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and while it is in your tank it causes no harm; the damage comes from running the motor on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely wrong liquid. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Whether the vehicle is in Mount Pleasant or the centre of Sway, firing it up "to see" costs more with AdBlue than almost any other error, and the flush matters for more. Why: it will not stay blended, so diluting it is impossible; and deposits and corrosion outlast the following fill.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest job on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue remains in there — anywhere around Hampshire the vehicle sits.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Sway
It is not on purpose. Plenty of cars have the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, now and then under one flap, and mixing them up is easy after dark. A bottle bought when heading home and poured in outside the house, rather than at the forecourt, is the usual route.
Mostly, it occurs in one of a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside St Luke's Church of England Primary School. Near Rowan Close, a driver pours a bottle in at home after work. Otherwise, after dark outside The Silver Hind, the car is refilled by a driver using that flap for the first time.
It takes place most in the cars motorists know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever you're around Sway or the remainder of Hampshire, it's the same slip and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Sway?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. The fuel filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and some running time takes it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Expect lumpy running, smoke, lost power, lights on the dash, or a stall — returning from Set Thorns Inclosure, say, or part way across Sway. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
On the M27, under 10 miles from Sway, the first junction is where to leave, and somewhere safe is where to park — not driving on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. That is why a hop across Sway to park near St Luke's Church and a drive of under 15 miles towards Southampton are such separate jobs. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Once your engine has run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has ended up. When it is spotted quickly, permanent damage is very unusual.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel around Sway: what it takes
A road beside Sway Village Hall, a driveway, a layby or a filling station: anywhere the car has stopped around Sway, our engineers come to it. Three replies decide the job, so first our technicians ask which fluid was put in, about what quantity, plus if the engine has turned over.
Then the tank is cleared where the vehicle waits, so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush counts: the fuel system is flushed right through since what remains will not flush out by itself. After that, the filter: cleaned, or changed if it must be. After that clean diesel, and then a test of the car. If the motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our engineers are there. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Priming the fuel system with new diesel comes last. Whether it's a parking bay outside the nearest station or a drive in Sway, that is where our engineers fire it up and you drive off. It's checked on fresh diesel to be sure it runs smoothly before our technicians go. No workshop is required at any point, with the whole job done on the spot. Afterwards, you are given the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Sway itself
Sway is a village situated on the banks of the Avon Water in Hampshire, with a mix of rural and riverside environments. Sway sits at an elevation of 44 metres, surrounded by nearby places such as Durns Town and Birchy Hill. Sway has a population of approximately 1487 residents, predominantly living in detached housing. Sway is located near the city of Southampton, about 12 miles away, and is around 81 miles from London.
AdBlue drains around Sway and across Hampshire
Throughout the SO postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue call-outs around Sway serve most of Hampshire as well, Durns Town, Birchy Hill and Mead End among them. Ring and check rather than guess when you are by a county line, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
A mobile service suits Sway, a village: there's no need to take the vehicle to us, since we empty it on the spot, in a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Sway: the cost of fixing it
No flat price could be honest, because every job differs. What changes the cost is, first, whether your engine has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and then where the vehicle is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Arnewood Court.
What went in, how much, plus whether the engine ran: every Sway call begins by asking precisely that, ahead of a quote, never after. Once they are known, a range turns into one fixed figure.
Before anyone sets off, you hear our price by phone. And payment is on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
Alongside the car around Sway, still?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to your car. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Sway or anywhere within Hampshire, once you phone 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.