AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Wexham Street? Don't Start It
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then keep your engine off — and your ignition as well. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. Being water-based, it will not burn and won't blend with diesel; damage only comes when the pump starts drawing it. If your engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and thoroughly purged where the car stands in Wexham Street. First, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Wexham Street: the first few minutes
Do these:
- Pocket the keys, which stops someone turning the electrics on.
- Put your hazards on if you are at all close to moving traffic.
- So you can tell us which liquid it was and roughly what quantity, keep your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Tell us a postcode starting SL3 6, or whichever street lies nearest, and the van finds you straight — so call wherever you are.
Don't:
- No starting the engine — not for a second, not to shift your car.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue will not blend, so it's wasted.
- Keep it where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way down Larkings Lane.
- By the road, don't attempt draining it yourself.
The staff working at any Wexham Street filling station — the BP included — will usually lend a hand pushing it clear if you ask. If you're on your own drive, leave the vehicle precisely where it stands.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. From a dedicated tank it goes straight to your exhaust, treating what your engine emits. No part inside an injection pump is made for this liquid — and no part of that was meant to go that way.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, after tipped in, will not. Its behaviour is nothing like diesel's. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. Easiest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Fulmer last night and has not been started since. The liquid waits at the base of the tank, untouched — though it would be the first thing through if the motor runs, before any diesel at all.
After it is drawn in, the damage takes two forms. It eats at certain metals found in fuel systems, attacking any part it reaches until it's removed from the system. And when the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that block filters and lodge in tiny channels. If the AdBlue is in the lines, waiting overnight in Wexham Street leaves things worse. Inside that tank only, waiting does nothing. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and every injector as it passes; water offers no lubrication, which is a separate kind of harm.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is frequently more major than petrol
Top up a diesel with petrol by mistake over at the another forecourt nearby, and the issue is diluted fuel. Blended through your diesel and left still, it's no threat for now; using your engine is the damage.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be watered down, because it splits back out — and the following tankful won't clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and trying your engine "to see", in the centre of Wexham Street or out in Wexham Court, does more harm than nearly any other slip.
As with petrol, there's good news. Wherever in Buckinghamshire your car has come to rest, an unrun engine means the AdBlue yet in the reservoir: the easiest bit of any fuel system to empty.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Wexham Street?
It is not deliberate. Many vehicles keep the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel inlet, occasionally under one flap, and mixing them up is simple in poor light. Usually it's never the filling station: a driver buys a bottle driving home and pours it in at home.
Mostly, it occurs in one of a couple of familiar ways. Hurrying, outside The Stoke Poges School, after a warning lamp came on during the school run, a parent refills the vehicle. In the evening, a container is tipped in on a driveway close to Hartley Close. Else, after dark by The Stag, your car is topped up by a driver opening that flap the first time.
It comes up most in a rental, a brand-new car, a company vehicle, or the other vehicle in a home with one of each fuels — the cars people know the least. An identical mistake, an identical first step — keep it switched off — anywhere you are in Wexham Street or the rest of Buckinghamshire.
Wexham Street: started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. It has been pulled through the fuel filter and the lines, and if the motor ran for any time, it has got to your high-pressure pump and your injectors.
You may notice the engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Wexham Park Golf Centre or halfway across Wexham Street. No restarting to check: pull over once it is safe, then turn it off. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
If you were on the M40, under 3 miles from Wexham Street, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
Hopping across Wexham Street to the car park by Stoke Poges Village Centre is one matter; driving towards St Albans, under 25 miles away, is something else, because each mile carries the AdBlue further in. So distance matters. Let us know about how far it had come.
There's more to clean out once the engine has been run, and our technicians do all of it where your car has stopped. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage when it is spotted quickly.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Wexham Street?
A road beside St Andrew's Church Centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt: anywhere the vehicle has come to rest in Wexham Street, our technicians come to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and whether the engine has been run, since those replies settle the work.
On the spot, the tank is then emptied, and both the polluted diesel and the urea come out as one. A careful flush counts much more with AdBlue than with petrol, since residue will not clear away on its own. Testing your car follows at the end, after fresh diesel goes in and your filter gets flushed or, where necessary, swapped. If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Lastly, the system is primed with clean diesel. Starting the car comes next, and then you drive off from where the vehicle is parked, outside Slough or on a drive in Wexham Street. The test before we head off is that it runs smoothly on fresh diesel. No workshop is needed at any point, with the whole job done on the spot. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Wexham Street and where it is
Wexham Street is a small village in Buckinghamshire, situated near the River Colne and close to the neighbouring villages of Stoke Poges and Stoke Green. Wexham Street sits at an elevation of 56 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Wexham Street is located near Hollybush Hill and is within commuting distance of London, being approximately 19 miles from the city centre. Wexham Street has a population of around 670 residents.
AdBlue drains across Buckinghamshire, Wexham Street included
Our teams that answer AdBlue call-outs around Wexham Street also cover the locations round it, Stoke Poges, Hollybush Hill and Stoke Green among them, and most of Buckinghamshire beyond, across the SL postcode area. Close to a boundary, or anywhere tricky to explain? Asking beats guessing, so phone.
No towing is needed. In Wexham Street, a village, a van that comes to you fits: the car is emptied where it stands, be it on a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Wexham Street
Every job is different, and so no single price is honest. The price changes first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it turns on where the car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight space behind Fulmer Cricket Club.
Ahead of any quote, never afterwards, every enquiry from Wexham Street begins with three checks: the liquid, the quantity, and if the engine ran. Those answers turn a range into a straight quote.
Before anyone sets off, you hear the quote by phone. Then you pay on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
Still alongside your car in Wexham Street?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with your vehicle is to leave it. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Wexham Street or wherever in Buckinghamshire.