AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Whitwell? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the fuel system draws it in. Caught before your engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Whitwell. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Whitwell: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- Keys out — that way nobody can power anything on.
- If you're anywhere close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and roughly how much.
- Give us a postcode starting SG4 8, or whatever street is nearest, and the van reaches you straight — so ring from wherever you stand.
Things not to do:
- Do not start your engine, even for a moment to move your car.
- The ignition remains off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to run your pump.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel will not thin it.
- Even a short stretch down High Street is too far to drive the car.
- Don't try to drain it yourself by the roadside.
Rolling your car away from the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever Whitwell forecourt you are on, the Costco included. On that drive, your car remains just as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the motor. From a separate reservoir it is fed straight to the exhaust, treating what the engine emits. A fuel pump isn't designed to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
Tipped in with your diesel, it keeps apart rather than mixing — quite different from fuel. Heavier than diesel, it drops and pools underneath it — the very spot the intake sucks from. Once the pump runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Until then it sits beneath your diesel, which is how a car topped up in Bendish last night and never switched on remains the simple one, as long as no one turns the key.
It does two kinds of harm from there. It eats at certain metals found in fuel systems, working on any part it touches till it's cleared completely. And once the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that block filters and settle in tiny passages. A vehicle left sitting in Whitwell with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. And there's the water: it brings no protection to the components that rely on it the most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger issue?
An issue of thin fuel is what you end up with from fuelling a diesel with petrol at the BP. Mixed into your diesel and left unused, it's harmless at that stage; using the engine does the damage.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable liquid. It cannot simply be run through, since it doesn't burn. It does not stay mixed, and so it cannot be diluted. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the car is in Rusling End or the middle of Whitwell.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. If your motor has not run, the AdBlue is still inside the tank, and that tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in Hertfordshire the car is sitting.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Whitwell: how it ends up there
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of vehicles rests right next to the diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A container bought when heading home and poured in at home, rather than at the filling station, is the usual route.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside St Paul's Walden Primary School. Near Buttons Lane, a driver pours a container in on that drive after work. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap refills the car in dim light, stopped in the car park by The Bull Inn.
Hired vehicles, brand-new motors, fleet vehicles, or the spare vehicle in a home with both fuels: the least familiar vehicles see it most. Anywhere across Hertfordshire, Whitwell as well, the slip does not change, and neither does the first response: leave it switched off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Whitwell?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. With any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and every injector, after passing through your filter and lines.
Perhaps coming back from Thieving Grove, or midway across Whitwell, your engine might run lumpy, smoke, drop power, light up the dash or stall. No starting it again to check: stop when it is safe, then switch everything off. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Whitwell sits under 5 miles from the A1(M); if you were on it, leave by the first junction and pull up somewhere safe rather than driving on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. That's why crossing Whitwell to park beside Whitwell Living Theatre and a drive of under 10 miles towards St Albans are very distinct jobs. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to flush once your engine has run, and we do all of it where your car has stopped. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage if it is noticed soon.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel around Whitwell: what it takes
Anywhere it has stopped around Whitwell — a filling station, a lay-by, a driveway, a street beside Memorial to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother — the van comes to your car. Which fluid went in, roughly how much, plus if your motor has been run: our engineers ask first, because those decide the job.
Next, emptying that tank on the spot removes the polluted diesel and the AdBlue together. The system is rinsed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Next, your filter: flushed, or changed when it must be. Then clean diesel, and then a check of the vehicle. About half an hour on site is usual for most jobs where the motor hasn't run. Our equipment is explosion-proof, so a busy forecourt is no problem, and it's hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
The last step is to prime the fuel system on clean diesel. You head off as soon as we have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a drive around Whitwell or in a bay at Stevenage. The check before our engineers head off is that it runs properly on fresh diesel. Our engineers do it all wherever your car has stopped, and it never needs to be taken to a garage. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers ask for.
About Whitwell
Whitwell is a village in Hertfordshire, situated on the River Lea, with an elevation of around 94 metres. Whitwell lies approximately 26 miles north of London and 9 miles east of St Albans, near the villages of St Pauls Walden and Hoo End. Whitwell has a population of around 1383 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Whitwell is surrounded by countryside, with nearby hamlets like Easthall.
AdBlue drains across Hertfordshire, Whitwell included
St Pauls Walden, Hoo End and Easthall are among the towns near Whitwell that the same vans serve, along with most of Hertfordshire further out, over the SG postcode area. Phone and ask rather than guess when you're close to a border, or somewhere awkward to explain.
No moving is needed. In Whitwell, a village, a van that comes to you fits: your vehicle is drained on the spot, whether on a drive, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Whitwell: the cost of fixing it
Not one flat price would be honest, because each job is different. What changes the cost is, first of all, 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 drive than in a tight spot behind All Saints.
That is why every call from Whitwell starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and whether it has run. Those answers shrink the range right down to one figure.
You hear that price by phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. While our engineer is on the way, dig out your insurance: plenty include misfuelling.
Whitwell: still next to the car?
Not touching your car is, right now, the most useful move open to you. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, about how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Whitwell or anywhere in Hertfordshire.