Wivelsfield Green: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then leave your motor off — and the ignition as well. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Being water-based, it will not ignite and won't blend with diesel; trouble only comes when your pump starts pulling it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Wivelsfield Green, is usually what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before the engine has run. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Wivelsfield Green
Do:
- Pocket the keys, which stops anyone turning the power on.
- Put your hazards on if you are at all close to moving traffic.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt shows us the product and the quantity, so don't bin it away.
- The van locates you fastest with a postcode starting RH17 7, or just the name of a street close by, so call from the car.
Don't do these:
- Don't start your engine, even for a moment to move the car.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue will not mix, so it is wasted.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short stretch up South Road.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself by the kerbside.
Moving your vehicle away from the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever Wivelsfield Green forecourt you're on, the Gulf or any other. On the drive, the car remains exactly where it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not your engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. From a dedicated reservoir it is fed straight to the exhaust, treating what your engine lets out. No part inside a fuel pump is made for this fluid — and no part of that was intended to go through one.
It doesn't blend. After it's tipped into the tank, AdBlue behaves nothing like diesel. Denser than diesel, it drops and collects underneath it — the same place the pickup sucks from. A car topped up on a driveway in Ditchling Common overnight and not started since counts as the straightforward one. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up so far — but when your engine runs, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of the tank.
After it's drawn in, the harm comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that hardens in filters and tiny channels; and, because it eats at some metals, every part it touches suffers for as long as it stays inside. Overnight, a vehicle parked in Wivelsfield Green with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; where it is only inside that tank, it doesn't. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector need diesel running through them, so the water part damages them by itself.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Shell's forecourt leaves your fuel thin — that's the main issue. It mixes with your diesel, and while it's in that tank it causes no harm; the harm comes from running your motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. Since it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be watered down, since it separates back out — and the following tankful will not rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters more here, and turning your key "to see", in the centre of Wivelsfield Green or out in Worlds End, does more harm than nearly any other slip.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If your motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside your tank, and that tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in East Sussex your car is standing.
Wivelsfield Green: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, now and then under one flap — may appear the same. No one means it; many designs allow it. It mostly takes place at home, from a container bought on the journey home, not at the filling station.
It tends to occur in a few familiar ways. Rushing, outside Wivelsfield Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, someone tops up the vehicle. Near Fairplace, a driver pours a container in on that drive in the evening. Or your car is topped up in the car park at The Cock Inn, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
It takes place most in the motors drivers know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever in East Sussex, Wivelsfield Green included, the slip doesn't change, and neither does the first step: leave it switched off.
Wivelsfield Green: started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. It's been drawn through the fuel filter and your lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has got to your high-pressure pump and your injectors.
Maybe returning from Kiln Wood, or part way across Wivelsfield Green, the motor might go lumpy, smoke, lose power, light up the dash or stall. When safe, stop and switch everything off — without restarting to test. Each start pulls more of it through.
Wivelsfield Green sits under 10 miles from the M23; if you were on it, leave at the next junction and stop safely rather than driving on.
Mileage counts: every mile pushes the AdBlue further into the system, and so heading for Brighton and Hove, under 15 miles away, makes a far bigger job than crossing Wivelsfield Green to the car park by Wivelsfield Village War Memorial. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once the engine has run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has ended up. Lasting damage is very uncommon when it is noticed soon.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel in Wivelsfield Green: what it takes
A road by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station: anywhere the vehicle has come to rest around Wivelsfield Green, our engineers travel to it. Which fluid got in, roughly the quantity, plus if your engine has been run: our technicians ask before all else, because those decide the work.
Next, draining the tank on the spot takes out the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. A careful flush counts much more with AdBlue than after petrol, since what remains won't clear away by itself. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Engine not run? In that case expect about half an hour on site for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the street at night.
Priming your system with fresh diesel comes at the end. Firing it up comes next, and then you head off from where the car is parked, at Wivelsfield or on a driveway in Wivelsfield Green. Before we go, our engineers make sure it's running smoothly with fresh diesel in. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to go to a workshop. At the end, you are given paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Wivelsfield Green, briefly
Wivelsfield Green is a small village in East Sussex, situated inland at an elevation of 53 metres, and is located near the larger village of Wivelsfield. Wivelsfield Green is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock and is surrounded by other small settlements such as Lunces Common and Godleys Green. Wivelsfield Green is also close to the city of Brighton and Hove, which is approximately 10 miles away. Wivelsfield Green has a population of around 1012 residents.
AdBlue drains across East Sussex, Wivelsfield Green included
Wivelsfield, Lunces Common and Godleys Green are among the places near Wivelsfield Green that the same teams reach, together with most of East Sussex further out, throughout the RH postcode area. Ring and check instead of guessing if you are close to a border, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
A mobile service suits Wivelsfield Green, a rural village: you have no need to take the vehicle to us, since our engineers drain it there, in a drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Wivelsfield Green: the cost of fixing it
Each job differs, so no single price would be honest. Three things move the cost: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the vehicle is. That last one turns on whether a technician can get to it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight space behind Wivelsfield Village Hall.
Ahead of any quote, never after, each enquiry from Wivelsfield Green begins with the same three checks: the liquid, the quantity, and whether it ran. Once they are answered, a range becomes one firm figure.
Our quote is given on the call, before a van leaves; payment comes on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. As the van is on the way, dig out your policy: plenty include misfuelling.
In Wivelsfield Green and still beside the car?
Then, touch nothing — that's the best move there is. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 and tell us it's AdBlue, about how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Wivelsfield Green or anywhere across East Sussex.