Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in West Thorney
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then leave your engine off — and your ignition as well. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. The trouble begins once it is sucked through the lines — it won't ignite, and it will not blend with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in West Thorney, is generally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before the engine has been run. Nothing comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
What to do right now, West Thorney: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do these:
- Pull the keys out, and so no one switches your ignition on.
- If you're at all near moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and about how much, save the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call right where you are. Quote a PO10 8 postcode or the nearest street name, and no one has to hunt for you.
Things not to do:
- Shifting your vehicle just a short way is no reason to start the engine.
- Switching the key to ignition alone starts the pump running on plenty of diesels. Skip it.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Keep the vehicle where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short stretch along Victor Road.
- Do not try to drain the car yourself at the kerbside.
At a forecourt in West Thorney, whether it is the Esso or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll your car clear of the pump. On your own drive, don't move it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Neither side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and an injection pump can't deal with urea.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, after tipped in, won't. Its behaviour is not at all like fuel's. The pickup sucks fuel from the deepest part of the tank, and that's just where AdBlue settles: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. A motor filled on a driveway in Chidham overnight and left unstarted counts as the straightforward case. Nothing has sucked the AdBlue up yet — but when the engine runs, that's what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of the tank.
Once it is sucked in, the harm takes two forms. It attacks some metals used in fuel components, attacking whatever it touches till it's cleared from the system. And once the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and lodge in narrow passages. Pipes holding AdBlue mean damage overnight for a car parked in West Thorney. Only in the tank, it stays stable. Then there is the water: it brings no lubrication to the components that rely on it most — the injection pump and each injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Petrol put into a diesel on Harvest Energy's forecourt makes the fuel thin — that's the whole issue. Mixed through the diesel and left unused, it is harmless for now; running your engine does the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Since it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. It doesn't stay mixed, so it can't be weakened. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your motor "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether your car is in Nutbourne or the middle of West Thorney.
The same good news applies as with petrol. If your motor has not run, the AdBlue is still in the tank, and that tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around West Sussex your car is sitting.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in West Thorney
Many motors put the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel cap, occasionally under a single flap, and in dim light the two can look the same. No one means it. It usually happens outside the house, from a bottle bought en route home, rather than at the filling station.
It tends to occur in a few familiar ways. Rushing, outside Thorney Island Community Primary School, after a warning light came on during the school run, someone tops up your car. In the evening, a container goes in on a drive close to Valiant Road. Else, after dark outside the pub in the village, your vehicle is topped up by a driver using that flap for the first time.
It crops up the most in a rental, a brand-new motor, a company vehicle, or the other vehicle in a family with both fuels — the cars drivers use the least. Wherever you're in West Thorney or the rest of West Sussex, it's the same error and the same first answer: leave it off.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank in West Thorney?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. Via the filter, through the lines, and — given any running — into the injection pump and every injector: that is how far it travels.
Perhaps coming back from Chichester Harbour National Landscape, or midway across West Thorney, the motor may go rough, smoke, lose pace, flash the dash or stall. Once safe, pull over and turn it off — with no turning it on again to see. Each start pulls more of it through.
Exit the Waterlooville Bypass, under 5 miles from West Thorney, by the first junction and stop somewhere safe, rather than driving on.
How far it went counts. A couple of hundred yards across West Thorney to the car park by Cobnor Activities Centre is a very different job from a run towards Chichester, under 10 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with each mile. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after the engine has been started. Very rarely does it leave permanent damage if it's spotted early.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel around West Thorney: what it takes
The vehicle remains where it is, whether that is a street beside St Mary's, Chidham, a driveway, a layby or a filling station in West Thorney, and our van comes to it. The work rests on three answers, and our technicians ask for before all else — which fluid was put in, the quantity, and whether your engine has turned over.
Next, emptying the tank on the spot takes out the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue together. A careful flush matters far more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what remains won't clear out on its own. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our engineers are there. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Priming your system with fresh diesel comes at the end. Starting the engine comes next, and then you head off from where the car is parked, at Southbourne or on a drive around West Thorney. Our technicians make sure it runs properly on fresh diesel before we go. No garage is required at any stage, with the whole job done then and there. Afterwards, you are given the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer.
About West Thorney itself
West Thorney is a small village on the coast of West Sussex, situated near Chichester and overlooking the English Channel. West Thorney sits at a low elevation of around 7 metres, with its detached houses reflecting the local architectural style. West Thorney is close to nearby places such as Thorney Island and Prinsted, and is within commuting distance of London, approximately 59 miles away.
West Thorney and West Sussex: AdBlue drains across the area
The teams that answer AdBlue call-outs around West Thorney also cover the locations about it, Thorney Island, Prinsted and Rookwood among them, and most of West Sussex beyond, across the PO postcode area. Guessing won't help close to a county line or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
No towing is needed. In West Thorney, a coastal village, a van that comes to you fits: the vehicle is drained where it stands, whether on a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a forecourt.
West Thorney: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Since the callouts differ, a single price wouldn't be honest. The price changes first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it turns on where your car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Emsworth Oyster Beds (Victorian, remains).
That is why each call from West Thorney starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and whether it has run. Given them, the range shrinks to one firm figure.
Before a van sets off, you are told our price on the phone. And payment is on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
In West Thorney and still next to your car?
Right now, the best thing to do with your car is to not touch it. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, in West Thorney or wherever in West Sussex, after you phone 0333 366 0103 to say it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether it ran.