The Brents: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Engine off, ignition off: that is where you begin if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. Being water-based, it won't ignite and won't blend with diesel; damage only starts when your pump begins pulling it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in The Brents, is generally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your engine has been run. Nothing comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
The Brents, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do straight away
Do:
- Keys out — then no one can switch anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- The empty bottle or your receipt shows us the product and the quantity, and so do not throw it out.
- Our van finds you fastest with a postcode starting ME13 7, or simply the name of a street nearby, and so call from the car.
Things not to do:
- Not even for a second, and not to roll your vehicle: the motor stays off.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Adding more diesel does not help: AdBlue settles out rather than blending.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, including a short way along North Lane.
- No draining it yourself, at all, on the roadside.
At a forecourt around The Brents, whether it is the Tesco or another one, ask the attendants to help you push your car away from the pump. On that drive, the car stays exactly where it was left.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your engine. Stored in a separate tank, it's squirted into the exhaust to treat the gases. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. The intake sucks fuel from the deepest part of your tank, and that's exactly where AdBlue settles: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. A vehicle filled on a driveway in Ospringe yesterday evening and left unstarted counts as the simple case. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though once your motor runs, that's what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of that tank.
Once it is drawn in, the harm comes in two forms. It eats at certain metals used in fuel systems, attacking whatever it reaches until it is removed from your system. And once the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that clog filters and settle in narrow channels. Lines holding AdBlue spell damage overnight for a car parked around The Brents. Only inside that tank, it stays the same. Then there's the water: it offers no protection to the parts that need it most — the injection pump and each injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger problem?
An issue of thin fuel is what you end up with after filling a diesel with petrol at the Sainsbury's. Damage just comes from driving on it. Mixed into your diesel and left in your tank, it causes none.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It can't simply be run through, because it does not burn. Crystals and corrosion stay after the following tankful, and AdBlue separates again from your diesel, and so watering it can't help. That is why the flush counts more, and trying the engine "to see" costs more here than nearly any other mistake — in Oare or the heart of The Brents alike.
As with petrol, there is good news. If the engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in your tank, and your tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in Kent the vehicle is standing.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in The Brents?
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue cap and the diesel cap, occasionally behind one flap — can appear the same. Nobody intends it; plenty of designs allow it. A bottle picked up when heading home and tipped in outside the house, instead of at the forecourt, is the usual route.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. Rushing, outside St Mary of Charity CofE (Aided) Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, someone tops up the vehicle. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Thomas Road. Another pattern: darkness, the car park outside Sun Inn, and someone opening that flap the first time.
The least known cars see it most — hire cars, brand-new ones, company ones, and the spare vehicle in a home with both fuel types. Same slip, same first step — leave it switched off — anywhere you happen to be in The Brents or the rest of Kent.
The Brents: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Your filter and pipework have had it pulled along, and any running time takes it on to the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Watch for lumpy running, smoke, falling power, lights on your dash, or a cut-out — returning from Faversham Recreation Ground, perhaps, or midway across The Brents. When safe, stop then switch it off — with no restarting to see. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Exit the M2, under 3 miles from The Brents, by the first junction and park somewhere safe, not carrying on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue further in. That's why crossing The Brents to park near 6/13 Faversham Scout Group and a drive of under 10 miles for Canterbury are very different jobs. Tell us about how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the cleaning where the vehicle has ended up, and once the engine has been started there is more of it. Permanent damage is very rare if it is spotted soon.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves in The Brents
Wherever it has stopped in The Brents — a forecourt, a lay-by, a driveway, a street beside Shepherd Neame Visitor Centre — the van comes to the car. Before anything else we ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether the engine has run, since those answers determine this work.
Then that tank is cleared where the car stands, and so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. What remains from AdBlue will not flush out unaided, and so the whole system gets a careful flush, which counts far more with urea than with petrol. Next, the fuel filter: flushed, or changed if it has to be. Then fresh diesel, and then a check of the car. About half an hour on site is typical for most jobs when the motor has not run. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a live forecourt is no issue, and it is hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
The last step is to prime the fuel system on clean diesel. You drive off as soon as our engineers have started it, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a driveway around The Brents or in a space at Faversham. Our engineers confirm it runs smoothly on new diesel before we leave. The whole job is done where the car is, so it never needs to be taken to a garage. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About The Brents, briefly
The Brents is a coastal locality in Kent, situated near the cities of Canterbury and Faversham. The Brents lies at a low elevation of around 7 metres, close to the coast and within commuting distance of London. The Brents has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by terraced homes. The Brents is part of a network of nearby places, including Davington and Preston, that contribute to the local community.
The Brents and Kent: AdBlue drains across the area
Faversham, Davington and Preston are among the places around The Brents that the same teams serve, along with most of Kent further out, throughout the ME postcode area. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of guessing.
A mobile service suits The Brents, a coastal area: there's no need to take the vehicle to us, since our technicians empty it there, on a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around The Brents: the cost of fixing it
Not one flat price would be fair, since each job is different. Whether your engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what changes the cost. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the location of the vehicle, because an open driveway is simpler for a technician to reach safely than a tight spot behind Faversham Guildhall.
With that in mind, each call from The Brents opens with the identical trio — which fluid went in, how much, if it ran — ahead of a quote. Those replies turn a range into a straight price.
Quoted by phone before the van sets out, the job is paid for on the day — card or phone, no deposit. While the van is travelling, check your insurance: plenty include misfuelling.
Alongside your car in The Brents, right now?
Then, the best thing to do with your vehicle is to not touch it. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Say it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, across The Brents or wherever in Kent.