Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Upton
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, keep your engine off then keep the ignition off. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. As it is water-based, it won't burn and won't blend with diesel; trouble only starts once the pump begins drawing it. Caught before your engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Upton. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Upton: the first few minutes
Do these:
- Keys out — that way no one can power anything on.
- Close to moving traffic? So put the hazard lights on.
- Which fluid, and about what amount? Hang on to the bottle or your receipt, and we can see.
- Ring just where you are. Say a CT10 2 postcode or the closest street sign, and no one has to hunt for you.
Things not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift the car: your engine stays off.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue will not mix, and so it is wasted.
- Don't drive it anywhere, not even a short distance along Edge End Road.
- No emptying it yourself, either, on the roadside.
The staff working at any Upton forecourt — the Gulf included — will normally lend a hand pushing it clear if you ask. Stopped on your own drive? Then it remains exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not the motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. Neither side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and a pump can't take urea.
It does not combine. Once it is poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves nothing like diesel. The pickup sucks fuel from the deepest part of that tank, and that's just where AdBlue settles: being heavier than diesel, it sinks. Simplest of all: one that had AdBlue in Dumpton last night and has not turned since. The AdBlue sits at the foot of that tank, undrawn — but it would be first through once the engine starts, ahead of any diesel at all.
From there it does two kinds of harm. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps running on the parts it hits for as long as it remains there. A motor left sitting in Upton with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank is not. Then there is the water: it brings no lubrication to the components that rely on it most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's regularly worse than petrol
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Pace's forecourt makes the fuel thin — that's the main fault. Mixed into your diesel and left unused, it's no threat for now; running the motor is the harm.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. Whether your vehicle sits in West Dumpton or the heart of Upton, turning it over "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other slip, and the flush counts for more. Why: it will not stay blended, so watering it down is impossible; and deposits and corrosion survive the following tankful.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever around Kent your vehicle sits.
Upton: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many motors rests right next to your diesel filler, occasionally 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 happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside Upton Junior School. Close to Vale Road, someone pours a bottle in on that drive after work. Otherwise, after dark by The Royston, the vehicle gets refilled by someone using that flap the first time.
It takes place most in the vehicles motorists know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Keep it off: that's the first step to the same slip, anywhere around Upton or the rest of Kent you are.
Upton: started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. Through the filter, along the lines, and — with any running time — on to the injection pump and every injector: that is where it has gone.
Watch for rough running, smoke, lost power, lights on the dash, or a cut-out — coming back from Memorial Recreation Ground, say, or midway across Upton. When you safely can, pull over then switch it off — without turning it on again to test. More of that is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M20, under 25 miles from Upton, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible instead of pressing on.
A quick hop across Upton to the car park by Christ Church is one matter; heading for Canterbury, under 25 miles away, is something else, since every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So mileage counts. Let us know about how far it had come.
We do all of the rinsing where your car has come to a stop, and once the engine has run there is more of it. When it's noticed early, permanent damage is very rare.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Upton?
We come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped around Upton: a side street close to Our Lady Star of the Sea, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The work depends on three replies, and we ask for before all else — what went in, the quantity, and whether your engine has turned over.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out together after that tank is emptied, on the spot. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing matters: the whole system is cleaned right through since residue won't flush out unaided. Next, your filter: flushed, or changed if it has to be. Then fresh diesel, then a test of the vehicle. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour job once our technicians get there, provided the engine has not run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the street at night.
Lastly, the system is primed with new diesel. At that point our technicians start it and you head off, whether from a parking bay by Broadstairs or a driveway around Upton. Before leaving, our engineers check it is running properly with fresh diesel in. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to go to a garage. Afterwards, there is the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Upton
Upton is a suburban area in Kent, situated on the coast near the popular seaside towns of Broadstairs and St Peters. Upton sits at an elevation of around 45 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Upton is located near the village of Bromstone and is approximately 16 miles from the city of Canterbury. Upton is also within commuting distance of London, being around 68 miles from the capital.
Upton and Kent: AdBlue drains across the area
Broadstairs, St Peters and Bromstone are among the places around Upton that the same vans serve, along with most of Kent further out, over the CT postcode area. Guessing doesn't help close to a county line or anywhere tricky to pin down; ring and ask.
A van that comes to you fits Upton, a residential suburb: there's no need to take the car to us, because we empty it there, on a drive, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
Upton: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no fair single quote, because the jobs are not the same. Whether the engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what moves the price. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the position of the car, because an open driveway is simpler for our van to reach safely than a tight spot behind Crampton Tower Museum.
That is why each call from Upton starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it's run. Those answers turn a range into a straight price.
Priced on the call before the van sets out, it is paid for that day — card or phone, no deposit. Check your insurance while we're on the way: plenty carry misfuelling cover.
Next to the vehicle around Upton, right now?
Right now, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to not touch it. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, in Upton or wherever in Kent, once you phone 0333 366 0103 to say it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether it ran.