Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Swiss Cottage
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, your ignition remains off and so does the motor. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the system draws it in. Caught before your engine has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Swiss Cottage. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
Swiss Cottage, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do at once
Do these:
- So nobody can turn the ignition on, take the keys away.
- Put your hazards on if you are at all near moving traffic.
- Which fluid, and roughly how much quantity? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and our engineers will know.
- Ring right where you are. Say a NW3 3 postcode or the closest street name, and no one has to search for you.
Never:
- Shifting your vehicle even a short way is no reason to start your motor.
- The ignition stays off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to run the pump.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel won't weaken it.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short distance down Avenue Road.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, at the roadside.
On a forecourt in Swiss Cottage, whether it is the BP or another one, ask the staff to help you push the vehicle away from the pump. On that drive, the car stays exactly as it was left.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Meant for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the motor. From a dedicated tank it is fed directly to the exhaust, cleaning what your engine lets out. Nothing in a fuel pump is designed for this fluid — and no part of it was intended to travel through one.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Frognal last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
From there it causes two kinds of harm. It attacks certain metals used in fuel systems, working on any part it touches till it's cleared from the system. And when the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that clog filters and settle in tiny passages. A motor left standing in Swiss Cottage with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and every injector as it passes; water gives none of that, and that is a separate form of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Esso and you have a fault of thin fuel. No damage is done while it stays put, mixed into your diesel — only once your motor works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It does not burn, and so it can't just be run through. Deposits and corrosion stay through the following tankful, and AdBlue separates back out of the diesel, so watering it can't work. That is why the flush matters so much, and turning the key "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other mistake — in Primrose Hill or the centre of Swiss Cottage alike.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Never run? Then the AdBlue waits only inside your tank, the easiest section of the entire system to empty, anywhere the vehicle has stopped across Greater London.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Swiss Cottage?
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, occasionally behind a single flap — may look the same. Nobody intends it; many designs allow it. A container picked up when driving home and poured in at home, instead of at the filling station, is the usual route.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. Rushing, outside Holy Trinity CofE Primary School, NW3, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, a parent refills your car. In the evening, a bottle is tipped in on a drive near Adelaide Road. Otherwise, in dim light by The North Star, your car is topped up by a driver opening that flap the first time.
Hired cars, brand-new motors, fleet motors, or the second car in a home with one of each: the least known vehicles see it the most. Same mistake, an identical first step — keep it off — anywhere you happen to be in Swiss Cottage or the remainder of Greater London.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Swiss Cottage, and the motor started?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. Through your filter, through the lines, and — with any running time — into the high-pressure pump and every injector: that is how far it travels.
You may see your engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Swiss Cottage Open Space or halfway across Swiss Cottage. Once safe, stop then switch everything off — without restarting to test. More of that is pulled through with each start.
On the M1, under 5 miles from Swiss Cottage, the first junction is where to leave, and somewhere safe is where to stop — not carrying on.
Hopping across Swiss Cottage to the car park by Swiss Cottage Library is one thing; driving for Westminster, under 5 miles away, is another, since each mile carries the AdBlue further in. So distance matters. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out once the motor has been run. When it's noticed early, long-term damage is very unusual.
Swiss Cottage: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
Anywhere it has stopped around Swiss Cottage — a filling station, a lay-by, a drive, a road beside Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre — the van travels to the car. Before anything else we ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether your motor has been run, because those replies settle the work.
Next, emptying the tank right there takes out the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue together. What remains from AdBlue won't wash away by itself, so the whole system gets a full flush, which counts far more with urea than with petrol. After that, the filter: flushed, or replaced if it has to be. After that clean diesel, and then a check of your car. If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
The last step is to bleed your system on new diesel. Starting the engine comes next, and then you drive off from where the vehicle is parked, by South Hampstead or on a drive in Swiss Cottage. Before we leave, our engineers check it's running correctly with fresh diesel in. Our technicians do it all wherever the vehicle has ended up, and it never has to be taken to a garage. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Swiss Cottage itself
Swiss Cottage is a suburban area in northwest London, situated near the River Thames and the Regent's Canal. Swiss Cottage sits at an elevation of 59 metres, close to the city centre and neighbouring areas such as South Hampstead and Belsize Park. Swiss Cottage is predominantly composed of flat dwellings, accommodating a population of approximately 17,250 residents. Swiss Cottage is well connected to central London, being just 3.1 miles from the city centre and 3.5 miles from Westminster.
Swiss Cottage and Greater London: AdBlue drains across the area
The teams that answer AdBlue jobs in Swiss Cottage also cover the locations around it, South Hampstead, Belsize Park and St Johns Wood among them, and most of Greater London beyond, across the NW postcode area. Close to a border, or anywhere awkward to explain? Asking is better than assuming, so ring.
A van that comes to you fits Swiss Cottage, a residential suburb: there's no need to take your vehicle to us, because we empty it on the spot, in a drive, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Swiss Cottage?
Because each jobs differ, a single price wouldn't be honest. The price shifts first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that got in. After that it depends on where the vehicle is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight space behind The Hampstead Figure.
What went in, how much, and if the engine ran: every Swiss Cottage enquiry begins by asking precisely those, ahead of any figure, never after. Given those replies, the range narrows to a single fixed figure.
You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. While the van is travelling, check your insurance: plenty include misfuelling.
In Swiss Cottage and still beside the car?
In that case, do nothing — that's the most helpful move there is. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, across Swiss Cottage or anywhere within Greater London, after you ring 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether the engine ran.