AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Virginia Water? Keep It Switched Off
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, your ignition remains off and so does the engine. In plain terms, AdBlue is simply urea in water. As it is water-based, it won't ignite and never combines with diesel; damage just starts when the pump begins pulling it. If your engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally drained and thoroughly purged where the vehicle stands around Virginia Water. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Virginia Water: the first few minutes
Do:
- Take your keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Near moving traffic? Then put the hazards on.
- Which product, and about how much quantity? Hang on to the bottle or your receipt, and our technicians can know.
- The van finds you quickest with a postcode starting GU25 4, or simply the name of a street nearby, so call from the spot.
Things not to do:
- Shifting your car just a few yards is no reason to fire up your engine.
- Your ignition remains off: on lots of diesels, turning it on is enough to run the pump.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel won't weaken it.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short stretch down Station Parade.
- Beside the road, don't attempt emptying it on your own.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you roll the vehicle away from the pumps if you are at a forecourt in Virginia Water, whether it is the Shell or somewhere else. Parked on your own driveway? Then it remains exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not the motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. A fuel pump is not made to take it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It sinks, since it is denser than diesel, and settles low where the intake takes its supply from. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Thorpe Green last night and hasn't turned since. The liquid sits at the foot of the tank, undrawn — though it would be the first thing through if the engine runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. 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 working on the components it gets to for as long as it stays there. A vehicle left sitting around Virginia Water with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and each injector need diesel running through them, and so the water content damages them by itself.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is regularly worse
Petrol put into a diesel on BP's forecourt leaves your fuel thin — that is the whole fault. Mixed into your diesel and left unused, it is harmless at that stage; using your motor does the damage.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable liquid. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Crystals and corrosion stay through the following fill, and AdBlue splits back out of the diesel, and so watering it can't help. That is why the flush counts more, and turning the key "to see" does more harm here than almost any other mistake — in Harpesford or the heart of Virginia Water equally.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If your motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside your tank, and that tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Surrey your car is standing.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Virginia Water?
It's not deliberate. Plenty of cars have the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, now and then under a single flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. A container bought when heading home and poured in at home, rather than at the forecourt, is the typical route.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. Hurrying, outside St Ann's Heath Junior School, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, someone tops up the vehicle. Someone tips the container in outside their house, right off Trotsworth Court, as the day ends. One more version: darkness, a pub car park by the pub in the village, and someone opening that flap for the first time.
It happens most in the vehicles people know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. An identical mistake, same first response — leave it off — wherever you happen to be in Virginia Water or the remainder of Surrey.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Virginia Water?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. Your filter and pipework have had it sucked through, and some running takes it on to the injection pump and every injector.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard lights or stalling: any may appear, maybe midway across Virginia Water or coming back from Edgell Close Play Area. No restarting to check: pull over when it is safe, then turn it off. Every start pulls more of it through.
Virginia Water sits under a mile from the M3; if you were on it, exit at the next junction and stop safely rather than driving on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. That is why crossing Virginia Water to park near Virginia Water Community Library and a drive of under 25 miles for Westminster are such distinct jobs. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Once your engine has been started, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has stopped. Very rarely does it leave lasting damage when it is noticed quickly.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel around Virginia Water: what it takes
Anywhere it has come to rest around Virginia Water — a forecourt, a layby, a drive, a street by Harvesttime Church — our van travels to the car. Three replies shape the job, so first our technicians ask which fluid was put in, about the amount, and if your motor has turned over.
Next, emptying your tank right there removes the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. The fuel system is purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Next, the filter: cleaned, or replaced when it must be. Then clean diesel, then a check of the car. Engine not run? Then expect about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Our equipment is explosion-proof, so a live forecourt is no problem, and it's hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
Priming your system with fresh diesel comes last. Whether it is a parking bay at the nearest station or a drive around Virginia Water, that is where our engineers start the car and you drive off. Our engineers confirm it runs correctly on clean diesel before leaving. No workshop is required at any point, with the whole job done then and there. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers ask for.
About Virginia Water, for a moment
Virginia Water is a village in Surrey, situated on the banks of the River Thames and the Virginia Water Lake, at an elevation of around 35 metres. Virginia Water lies approximately 20 miles southwest of central London, near the neighbouring communities of St Anns Heath, Trumps Green, and Stroude. Virginia Water has a population of around 2014 residents, predominantly living in detached homes. Virginia Water is characterized by its riverside setting and surrounding woodland areas.
AdBlue drains across Virginia Water and Surrey
St Anns Heath, Trumps Green and Stroude are among the towns around Virginia Water that the same vans reach, along with much of Surrey further out, over the GU postcode area. Assuming won't help close to a border or somewhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
Anywhere the vehicle stands — a driveway at home, a residential street, a car park, a forecourt — we drain it there, and there's no need to bring it to us; that suits Virginia Water, a village, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Virginia Water
Not one flat price could be fair, since each job is different. Whether the engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the cost. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the position of the car, because an open drive is easier for our van to get to safely than a tight space behind British Legion.
With that in mind, each enquiry from Virginia Water begins by asking the same trio — what went in, what quantity, whether it ran — ahead of any figure. Those answers turn a range into a straight price.
The quote is given on the call, before anyone sets off; settling up happens on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your insurance whilst we're on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Virginia Water: still next to the vehicle?
Not touching the car is, then, the best move you can do. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Virginia Water or wherever in Surrey.