Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in West End
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then leave the engine off — and your ignition too. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. The harm begins once it is pulled through the lines — it won't ignite, and it won't combine with diesel. Caught before your motor has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in West End. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around West End
To do:
- Pocket your keys, which stops someone switching the electrics on.
- If you're at all near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Which product, and roughly what amount? Save the bottle or the receipt, and we can know.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting RG42 5, or the name of the nearest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- No starting the motor — not briefly, not to shift your vehicle.
- The ignition remains off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to start your pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Even a short way along West End Lane is too far to drive the vehicle.
- No draining it yourself, either, at the roadside.
Get the attendants to help you roll your vehicle away from the island if you're on a forecourt around West End, whether it's the Esso or somewhere else. If you're on your own drive, leave the car precisely where it stands.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your motor. From a dedicated reservoir it goes straight to your exhaust, treating what the engine lets out. No part inside an injection pump is designed for this liquid — and none of it was meant to go that way.
It does not blend. Once it is poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves nothing like fuel. It drops, since it is heavier than diesel, and settles low where the intake draws its fuel from. A motor filled on a drive in Tickleback Row yesterday evening and left unstarted is the simple one. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up yet — though when the engine turns, that is what goes first, straight from the bottom of your tank.
Two kinds of damage follow from there. 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, so it keeps running on the components it gets to for as long as it stays there. If the AdBlue is in the pipework, waiting overnight around West End leaves things worse. Inside that tank only, time costs nothing. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and each injector as it flows; water gives none of that, which is a second form of damage.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more significant than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Tesco and you have a problem of thin fuel. Damage only comes from driving on it. Blended into your diesel and left in your tank, it does none.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is plainly the wrong one. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. Nor can it be thinned, since it separates back out — and the next fill will not rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters more with AdBlue, and turning your key "to see", in the heart of West End or out in Priestwood, does more harm than nearly any other error.
As with petrol, there is good news. If the engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside the tank, and your tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Berkshire your car is sitting.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in West End: how it ends up there
It's not on purpose. Plenty of cars have the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel inlet, occasionally under a single flap, and mixing them up is easy after dark. Usually it is not the filling station: a driver picks up a bottle driving home and pours it in at home.
It tends to occur in a few familiar ways. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Warfield Church of England Primary School the top-up is rushed. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Forest Road. Else, in dim light by Plough and Harrow, the vehicle is topped up by someone opening that flap the first time.
It takes place 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. Anywhere in Berkshire, West End included, the mistake doesn't change, and nor does the first response: leave it off.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank in West End?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. It has been pulled through the fuel filter and the lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors.
Lumpy running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each may show up, perhaps midway across West End or returning from Cabbage Hill. No restarting to test: pull over when it is safe, then turn it off. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Exit the M4, under 3 miles from West End, at the next junction and park safely, rather than carrying on.
Distance matters: every mile carries the AdBlue further into the system, so heading towards Westminster, under 50 miles away, gives a much larger job than hopping across West End to the car park by Saint Michael the Archangel. Tell us about how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the rinsing where your car has stopped, and once the engine has been run there is more of it. When it's caught quickly, permanent damage is very unusual.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel in West End: what it takes
Anywhere it has stopped in West End — a forecourt, a layby, a drive, a road beside St Andrew — the van travels to your car. What got in, roughly how much, plus if your engine has been run: our technicians check first, because those shape the job.
Next, draining that tank on the spot removes the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. A careful flush counts much more with AdBlue than with petrol, because residue won't clear away on its own. A test of your car comes at the end, after clean diesel goes in and your filter is cleaned or, if needed, replaced. Not run? In that case count on about half an hour on site for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
The last step is to bleed the system on clean diesel. Then our engineers fire it up and you set off, whether from a parking bay outside Bracknell or a driveway around West End. The test before we leave is that it runs smoothly on new diesel. Our technicians do it all wherever your car has ended up, and it never needs to go to a garage. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both afterwards.
About West End and where it is
West End is a small hamlet in Berkshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 55 metres, with nearby settlements including Cabbage Hill and Newell Green. West End lies within the South East region of England, approximately 27.5 miles from London. West End has a population of around 1054 people, predominantly residing in flat-type housing. West End is also close to Moss End, another nearby locality.
AdBlue drains around West End and across Berkshire
Over the RG postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue jobs in West End serve much of Berkshire as well, Cabbage Hill, Newell Green and Moss End among them. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask instead of guessing.
No moving is needed. In West End, a rural hamlet, a mobile service fits: the car is drained on the spot, be it in a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
West End: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There is no fair single price, since the jobs are not the same. The price changes first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it rests on where the vehicle is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Youth Centre.
Ahead of a figure, never afterwards, every enquiry from West End begins with three questions: the liquid, the amount, and if it ran. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
Our quote is quoted on the call, before anyone sets off; payment happens on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Check your insurance whilst we're on the way: plenty include misfuelling cover.
Still alongside your car around West End?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with the car is to not touch it. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, across West End or anywhere in Berkshire, after you ring 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and if it ran.