Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Watlington
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, leave your motor off then leave the ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. As it is water-based, it will not burn and won't blend with diesel; trouble only starts when your pump begins pulling it. In Watlington, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your motor runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where your car is. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, Watlington: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do these:
- Pull your keys out, so no one switches the ignition on.
- If you're anywhere near moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- Which product, and roughly what quantity? Save the bottle or the receipt, and we will see.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting OX49 5, or the name of the closest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Do not start your motor, even for a moment to move your car.
- Plenty of diesels power their fuel pump the instant the ignition goes on, so keep the vehicle off.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue will not blend, and so it is wasted.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short stretch along High Street.
- No emptying it yourself, either, on the verge.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you roll the vehicle away from the pumps if you're on a forecourt around Watlington, whether it is the Murco or elsewhere. At home, the car remains exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not your engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. No part inside an injection pump is made for this fluid — and none of that was meant to travel that way.
It doesn't combine. After it's poured into the tank, AdBlue behaves nothing like fuel. The pickup takes fuel from the lowest part of the tank, and that is just where AdBlue settles: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. A motor topped up on a drive in Cuxham overnight and not started since is the straightforward case. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up yet — but when your engine runs, that is what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. What is left once the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in narrow passages and clog filters. On top of that, it eats at some metals in a fuel system, and keeps going till it's flushed out. Pipes carrying AdBlue spell harm by morning for a car parked around Watlington. Only in your tank, it stays stable. And there's the water: it brings no lubrication to the parts that rely on it the most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger problem?
A fault of thin fuel is what you end up with from fuelling a diesel with petrol at the Shell. Harm just comes from driving on it. Mixed into the diesel and left in your tank, it causes nothing.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is plainly the wrong one. Because it doesn't burn, running it through is not an option. Whether the vehicle is in Christmas Common or the centre of Watlington, turning it over "to see" costs more in this case than nearly any other error, and the flush matters more. The reasons: it will not stay blended, so diluting it fails; and crystals and corrosion outlast the following tankful.
As with petrol, there's good news. Not started? Then the AdBlue sits just inside your tank, the easiest bit of the entire system to clear, wherever your car has stopped across Oxfordshire.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Watlington
It's not deliberate. Many cars have the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel inlet, occasionally behind one flap, and mixing them up is simple in poor light. It mostly takes place at home, from a bottle bought on the journey home, not at the filling station.
It tends to happen in a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Watlington Primary School. After work, a container goes in on a driveway close to Saunders Close. Or the car is topped up in the car park outside The Fat Fox Inn, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
Hired cars, brand-new vehicles, company vehicles, or the second car in a family with both fuels: the least known vehicles see it the most. Leave it switched off: that is the first step to the same mistake, wherever in Watlington or the remainder of Oxfordshire you happen to be.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Watlington?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. Through your filter, along the pipework, and — with any running time — on to the injection pump and each injector: that is where it travels.
Watch for lumpy running, smoke, falling power, lights on your dash, or a cut-out — coming back from Middle Way Plantation, perhaps, or midway across Watlington. When safe, pull over then switch everything off — without restarting to test. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
On the M40, under 3 miles from Watlington, the next junction is where to leave, and somewhere safe is where to park — not carrying on.
Mileage counts: each mile carries the AdBlue deeper in, and so driving towards Oxford, under 15 miles away, gives a much bigger job than hopping across Watlington to the car park by Watlington Branch Library. Tell us about how far it had come.
Once the engine has been run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where your car has come to a stop. Very rarely does it leave permanent damage when it is noticed quickly.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Watlington?
Our engineers come to the car, wherever it has stopped in Watlington: a side street close to Watlington Club, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else we ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether the engine has run, since those replies settle the work.
Next, draining your tank on the spot takes out the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. A careful flush counts far more after AdBlue than after petrol, since what remains won't wash away on its own. A test of your vehicle comes at the end, once fresh diesel is added and your filter is flushed or, where needed, replaced. About half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when the motor has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Bleeding the fuel system with clean diesel comes at the end. After that we fire it up and you set off, whether from a parking bay at Saunderton or a drive in Watlington. The test before our technicians leave is that it runs smoothly on fresh diesel. No garage is required at any stage, with the whole job done then and there. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Watlington and where it is
Watlington is a small town in south Oxfordshire, situated in the Chiltern Hills at an elevation of 106 metres. Watlington lies approximately 13 miles south-east of Oxford and 39 miles west of London, making it a commuter town for both cities. Watlington has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant, and its population is around 2438 people. Watlington is close to several nearby villages, including Pyrton, Shirburn, and Britwell Salome.
AdBlue drains across Watlington and Oxfordshire
Throughout the OX postcode area, the teams answering AdBlue jobs in Watlington reach much of Oxfordshire as well, Pyrton, Shirburn and Britwell Salome included. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than guessing.
No towing is needed. In Watlington, a town, a van that comes to you works: the car is emptied on the spot, whether on a driveway, a side street, a car park or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Watlington: the cost of fixing it
No single figure could be honest, because every job is different. Three things shift the price: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the vehicle is. That last one turns on whether a technician can get to it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight gap behind Watlington Memorial Club.
Ahead of any quote, never after, each enquiry from Watlington begins with three checks: the fuel, the quantity, plus if the engine ran. Those replies turn a range into a straight price.
Before anyone heads out, you are told our price on the phone. And you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Check your policy whilst we're on the way: plenty include misfuelling cover.
In Watlington and still beside the car?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with the car is to leave it. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103 and tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Watlington or anywhere in Oxfordshire.