AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Tower Hill? Don't Start It
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, your ignition stays off and so does your motor. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. The trouble starts once it is sucked through your pump — it will not ignite, and it will not blend with diesel. In Tower Hill, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before the motor runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where the vehicle is. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Tower Hill: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- So nobody can turn the ignition on, pull the keys out.
- If you're at all close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Hold on to the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and roughly how much.
- Our van locates you quickest with a postcode starting RH4 2, or simply the name of a street nearby, so phone from the car.
Do not do these:
- Not even for a second, and not to roll the vehicle: the motor stays off.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue will not mix, and so it is wasted.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short stretch along Tower Hill Road.
- Do not try to drain the car yourself by the kerbside.
On a forecourt in Tower Hill, whether it's the BP or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle away from the petrol pump. 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 the engine. From a dedicated tank it is fed directly to the exhaust, treating what the engine lets out. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
It does not combine. After it's poured into the tank, AdBlue behaves not at all like fuel. Denser than diesel, it sinks and pools below it — the same place the intake draws from. When the system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Until then it sits beneath the diesel, which is how a car topped up in Dorking last night and never switched on stays the simple case, as long as no one touches your key.
Two kinds of harm come from there. It attacks certain metals found in fuel systems, attacking any part it touches until it is cleared completely. And when the water evaporates, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and lodge in tiny channels. A motor left standing in Tower Hill with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank isn't. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and every injector as it flows; water gives no lubrication, which is a separate form of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error at the Esso, and the problem is thinned fuel. Damage just comes from driving on it. Mixed into your diesel and sitting in your tank, it does none.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Since it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Nor can it be thinned, because it splits again — and the following tankful won't clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and turning your key "to see", in the centre of Tower Hill or out in Deepdene, does more harm than almost any other mistake.
As with petrol, there is good news. Never run? Then the AdBlue waits just inside that tank, the easiest section of the whole system to empty, wherever your car has come to rest across Surrey.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Tower Hill
After dark, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel cap, occasionally behind a single flap — can look the same. Nobody intends it; plenty of designs invite it. It usually occurs at home, from a container bought on the journey home, rather than at the filling station.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. Rushing, outside St John's Church of England Primary School, after a warning light came on during the school run, a parent refills your car. A driver tips the container in at home, right off Tower Hill, as the day ends. Else, in dim light outside Prince of Wales, the vehicle is topped up by someone using that flap for the first time.
It takes place most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Leave it off: that's the first response to an identical mistake, wherever in Tower Hill or the remainder of Surrey you are.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Tower Hill?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. It's been sucked through your filter and your lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has got to your high-pressure pump and the injectors.
Expect lumpy running, exhaust smoke, falling power, warnings on the dash, or a cut-out — coming back from The Glory Wood, perhaps, or part way across Tower Hill. No restarting to test: stop once safe, then turn everything off. Each start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M25, under 5 miles from Tower Hill, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere sensible instead of pressing on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue further into the system. That's why a hop across Tower Hill to park near Dorking Lawn Tennis & Squash Club and a drive of under 25 miles towards Westminster are such distinct jobs. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever your car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush once your engine has been started. If it is spotted soon, permanent damage is very unusual.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Tower Hill?
The vehicle remains where it is, whether that's a road beside Dorking Man Shed, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station in Tower Hill, and our van comes to it. Which fluid was put in, about the quantity, and whether the motor has been run: our technicians ask first, because those decide the work.
Then your tank is drained where the car stands, so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue won't flush out unaided, and so the whole system gets a full flush, which counts far more here than for petrol. Fresh diesel goes in once the filter is flushed — or swapped, when it needs to be — and after that your car is tested. Not run? In that case count on roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live filling station is no fault, and it is quiet enough for a residential street after dark.
The last step is to prime your system on fresh diesel. You drive off as soon as we have started it, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a driveway around Tower Hill or in a bay outside Dorking West. Before we leave, we check it is running properly with new diesel in. No workshop is needed at any stage, with the entire job done then and there. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers ask for.
About Tower Hill
Tower Hill is a suburban area in Surrey, situated inland at an elevation of 116 metres, and is located approximately 21.5 miles from London. Tower Hill is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing and is near to other suburban areas such as Rose Hill and North Holmwood. Tower Hill sits within the South East region of England, close to the nearby city of Westminster. Tower Hill has a population of around 4817 residents.
AdBlue drains in Tower Hill and across Surrey
Rose Hill, Stonebridge and North Holmwood are among the towns near Tower Hill that the same teams reach, together with much of Surrey further out, throughout the RH postcode area. Near a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down? Asking is better than assuming, so phone.
Tower Hill is a residential suburb, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it sits, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Tower Hill: the cost of fixing it
Every job differs, and so not one single quote is honest. Whether the motor has run, and for how long, comes first in what moves the price. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the location of the vehicle, since an open drive is easier for a technician to reach safely than a tight space behind Harvest Community Church.
Which fluid got in, how much, and whether the engine ran: each Tower Hill call opens by asking precisely that, before a quote, not afterwards. Those answers turn a range into a straight price.
Priced by phone before the van sets out, the job is settled on the day — card or phone, no deposit. As the van is on the way, dig out your insurance: plenty cover misfuelling.
In Tower Hill and still alongside the car?
In that case, touch nothing — that's the most helpful move available. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it ran are everything we ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder across Surrey, Tower Hill included.