AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Walderslade? Don't Start It
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and no harm happens till your motor sucks it through. In Walderslade, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, just where your car is. First, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
What to do straight away, Walderslade: AdBlue in the diesel tank
To do:
- Keys out — that way nobody can switch anything on.
- Near moving traffic? So put your hazards on.
- The empty bottle or your receipt shows us the product and the quantity, so don't throw it out.
- Our van finds you fastest with a postcode starting ME5 9, or just the name of a street nearby, so call from the spot.
Things not to do:
- Do not start the engine, even for a moment to shift your car.
- Turning your key to ignition by itself sets the pump running on plenty of diesels. Skip it.
- Adding extra diesel doesn't work: AdBlue separates out rather than thinning.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short distance down Chestnut Avenue.
- Emptying that tank on your own by the road isn't one to try.
The attendants on duty at any Walderslade filling station — the Asda among them — will usually help rolling it clear if you ask. On your own drive, do not move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the motor. Kept in a dedicated tank, it is injected into the exhaust stream to treat the gases. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
Tipped in with your diesel, it keeps apart rather than mixing — quite unlike fuel. It drops, because it's denser than diesel, and settles down where the pickup draws its supply from. Easiest of all: one that had AdBlue in Kits Coty last night and has not been started since. The liquid sits at the base of the tank, undrawn — but it would be first through if the motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
From there it does two kinds of harm. It attacks certain metals found in fuel components, working on any part it reaches until it is cleared from your system. And once the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that block filters and lodge in narrow passages. A car left standing around Walderslade with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. Then there's the water: it offers no protection to the components that rely on it the most — the injection pump and each injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is commonly more serious than petrol
A problem of thin fuel is what you get after filling a diesel with petrol at the Esso. Damage just comes from running on it. Blended into the diesel and left inside your tank, it causes nothing.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong liquid. Since it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Whether the vehicle sits in Westfield Sole or the heart of Walderslade, turning it over "to see" costs more in this case than nearly any other mistake, and the flush counts for more. Why: it won't remain mixed, and so diluting it is impossible; and crystals and corrosion survive the following tankful.
As with petrol, there is good news. Wherever around Kent the vehicle has come to rest, an unrun engine means the AdBlue still in the tank: the easiest part of a fuel system to empty.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Walderslade: how it ends up there
Plenty of vehicles put the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel cap, occasionally under one flap, and in dim light the two may look the same. Nobody intends it. A bottle picked up while heading home and tipped in outside the house, rather than at the filling station, is the typical story.
Usually, it occurs in one of a few familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Oaklands School the top-up is rushed. Near York Avenue, a driver tips a bottle in on the drive after work. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap tops up the vehicle in dim light, parked in the car park by Walderslade Working Mens Club.
It takes place most in the motors people know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Anywhere in Kent, Walderslade included, the mistake does not change, and neither does the first response: keep it off.
Walderslade: started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. With any running time, it goes on to the injection pump and each injector, having passed via the filter and pipework.
Watch for lumpy running, smoke, falling power, warnings on your dash, or a stall — coming back from Chestnut Avenue Open Space, perhaps, or part way across Walderslade. Stop when it is safe. Turn off. Keep the vehicle off instead of restarting it to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
If you were on the M2, under a mile from Walderslade, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Walderslade to the car park by 41st Medway (Waldersalde) is a very different job from a run towards Southend-on-Sea, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with every mile. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
There's more to rinse out once the motor has run, and our technicians do all of it where your car has stopped. If it's spotted early, permanent damage is very unusual.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Walderslade?
The car stays where it is, whether that's a street near St William's Church, a driveway, a layby or a filling station around Walderslade, and the van travels to it. The job depends on three answers, and our engineers get first — what got in, the amount, and whether the motor has turned over.
Next, emptying the tank right there takes out the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing counts: the whole system is cleaned right through since what remains won't wash away by itself. Next, the fuel filter: cleaned, or changed when it has to be. After that clean diesel, then a test of your car. Most of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our technicians get there, if the motor has not run. Explosion-proof pumps make a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the street at night.
Priming the system with clean diesel comes at the end. You head off as soon as our technicians have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a driveway around Walderslade or in a space by Chatham. Our technicians make sure it runs correctly on clean diesel before we go. We do it all wherever the car has stopped, and it never has to be taken to a workshop. At the end, there is paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Walderslade
Walderslade is a suburban area in Kent, situated approximately 30 miles from London and 16 miles from Southend-on-Sea. Walderslade sits at an elevation of around 138 metres, near the North Downs, and is close to nearby places such as Blue Bell Hill and Lords Wood. Walderslade has a population of around 7003 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Walderslade is characterized by its inland setting, with Wayfield also in the surrounding area.
Walderslade and Kent: AdBlue drains across the area
AdBlue call-outs in Walderslade are passed to teams that serve the places near it — Blue Bell Hill, Lords Wood as well as Wayfield — and most of Kent further out, throughout ME postcodes. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Walderslade is a residential suburb, and a mobile drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it stands, so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Walderslade?
Not one single price could be honest, since every job is different. What shifts the price is, firstly, whether your engine has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and then where the car is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Walderslade Village Library.
That is why every call from Walderslade starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and if it's run. Their answers shrink a range down to a single figure.
The quote is given on the call, before anyone leaves; payment happens on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
Still beside your car in Walderslade?
Right now, the best thing to do with your car is to not touch it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and whether it ran is all our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest throughout Kent, Walderslade too.