AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Two Waters? Keep It Switched Off
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then keep the engine off — and the ignition too. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and no harm starts till the motor sucks it round. Caught before the engine has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Two Waters. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Two Waters: the first few minutes
Do these:
- So no one can switch the ignition on, take the keys out.
- If you're at all close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- The empty bottle or the receipt shows us the fluid and the quantity, so don't throw it out.
- Our van finds you quickest with a postcode starting HP3 9, or simply the name of a street close by, and so call from the car.
Things not to do:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to move the vehicle.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Adding extra diesel doesn't work: AdBlue separates out instead of thinning.
- Even a short stretch up Featherbed Lane is too far to drive the car.
- Beside the road, don't attempt emptying it yourself.
At a forecourt around Two Waters, whether it's the Esso or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll your car clear of the pump. At home, the vehicle remains exactly where it was left.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. Stored in a dedicated tank, it is injected into the exhaust to treat the fumes. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. The intake sucks fuel from the lowest part of your tank, and that is precisely where AdBlue settles: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. The first thing the system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Paradise last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
Once it's sucked in, the harm comes in two forms. What is left once the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in tiny passages and block filters. On top of that, it attacks certain metals in the fuel system, and carries on till it's cleared out. If the AdBlue has reached the lines, waiting till morning in Two Waters leaves things worse. In that tank alone, waiting does nothing. And there is the water: it offers no protection to the components that rely on it most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is often worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Sainsbury's and you have an issue of thin fuel. No damage comes while it stays put, mixed into the diesel — only once the engine works on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable liquid. Because it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Whether your car is in Boxmoor or the centre of Two Waters, turning it over "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other error, and the flush counts more. Why: it won't stay blended, so watering it down is impossible; and deposits and corrosion survive the next fill.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the easiest job on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever in Hertfordshire your car sits.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Two Waters?
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of cars waits right next to the diesel filler, sometimes 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 forecourt.
Usually, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. Rushing, outside Two Waters Primary School, after a warning lamp came on during the school run, someone tops up the car. Near Henry Street, someone pours a bottle in at home after work. Another version: dim light, a pub car park by The White Lion, and someone using that flap for the first time.
It comes up most in a rental, a brand-new car, a company motor, or the spare vehicle of a home with one of each fuel types — the cars drivers use least. Wherever across Hertfordshire, Two Waters included, the slip doesn't change, and nor does the first response: keep it off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Two Waters, and the engine started?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. It has been sucked through the filter and the fuel lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard warnings or stalling: any might show up, maybe midway across Two Waters or returning from Durrants Hill Park. No restarting to test: stop when it is safe, then switch it off. Each start pulls more of that through.
On the M1, under 3 miles from Two Waters, the next junction is where to leave, and anywhere safe is where to park — not driving on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue further into your system. That's why a hop across Two Waters to park beside Maranatha Christian Church and a drive of under 10 miles for St Albans are very different jobs. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
There's more to clean out once the engine has been started, and our engineers do all of it where the car has come to a stop. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage if it's caught quickly.
Two Waters: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
We come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped in Two Waters: a side street near Apsley Community Centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Which fluid was put in, about how much, and whether your engine has turned over: we check first, since those decide the work.
Then your tank is emptied where your car waits, so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing matters: the whole system is flushed all the way through since residue will not flush away unaided. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the street at night.
Finally, the system is primed with new diesel. At that point we fire it up and you drive off, whether from a parking bay by Apsley or a drive in Two Waters. Before we go, we make sure it's running correctly with fresh diesel in. Our engineers do it all wherever the vehicle has ended up, and it never needs to go to a garage. The insurer will want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — each handed over once the job is done.
About Two Waters itself
Two Waters is a suburban area in Hertfordshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 83 metres. Two Waters lies near the city of St Albans, approximately 5.8 miles away, and is also close to other nearby places such as Frogmore End and Apsley. Two Waters has a population of around 5351 people, predominantly residing in flat-type housing. Two Waters is located about 21.8 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly location.
Two Waters and Hertfordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Frogmore End, Corner Hall and Apsley are among the places near Two Waters that the same teams reach, along with most of Hertfordshire further out, over the HP postcode area. Close to a border, or anywhere tricky to pin down? Checking beats assuming, so phone.
Wherever your car sits — your drive at home, a residential street, a car park, a filling station — our engineers drain it on the spot, and there's no need to take it to us; that suits Two Waters, a residential suburb, well.
Two Waters: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There is no honest single quote, because the jobs aren't the same. Whether the motor has run, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the price. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the position of your car, since an open drive is easier for our van to reach safely than a tight spot behind The Paper Mill Museum.
Ahead of any quote, not afterwards, every enquiry from Two Waters opens with the same three questions: the liquid, the amount, plus if the engine ran. The replies turn a range into a straight quote.
Our quote is quoted during the call, before anyone sets off; payment comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Still alongside your car in Two Waters?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with the car is to not touch it. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether it ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Two Waters or anywhere in Hertfordshire.