Wonersh: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, leave the motor off then leave the ignition off. Urea mixed in water is what AdBlue is. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when the system draws it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Wonersh, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your motor has been run. First, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
What to do right now, Wonersh: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do:
- So nobody can switch the ignition on, take your keys away.
- If you're at all close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and roughly what quantity, keep the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Tell us a postcode starting GU5 0, or whatever street lies nearest, and the van reaches you straight — so ring wherever you stand.
Not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to roll your car: the motor remains off.
- Plenty of diesels power their fuel pump the instant the ignition comes on, and so keep the vehicle off.
- Adding more diesel doesn't work: AdBlue separates out rather than blending.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, including a short way up Cranleigh Road.
- No draining it yourself, at all, at the roadside.
Rolling your vehicle away from the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever Wonersh forecourt you are on, the Asda included. On your own drive, do not touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not the motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Stored in a separate tank, it's injected into the exhaust to treat the fumes. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Tipped in with the diesel, it stays separate rather than mixing — entirely unlike fuel. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. Once your system runs, the AdBlue is first to go through. Before then it waits beneath your diesel, and that is why a vehicle topped up in Chilworth last night and not switched on remains the simple case, provided no one touches your key.
After it's sucked in, the harm comes in two forms. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps labouring on the parts it hits for as long as it stays there. Pipes holding AdBlue mean damage by morning for a car parked in Wonersh. Only inside that tank, it stays the same. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and every injector as it passes; water offers no lubrication, which is a separate form of damage.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is often more major than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Shell and you have an issue of thin fuel. Damage just comes from driving on it. Mixed into the diesel and left inside that tank, it causes nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It cannot just be run through, since it doesn't burn. Whether the car sits in Lordshill Common or the centre of Wonersh, turning it over "to see" does more harm in this case than almost any other error, and the flush matters more. The reasons: it will not remain mixed, so diluting it fails; and crystals and corrosion survive the next fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Anywhere around Surrey the car has come to rest, an unrun engine leaves the AdBlue yet inside the reservoir: the simplest part of a fuel system to empty.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Wonersh
It's not on purpose. Plenty of cars keep the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel one, now and then behind a single flap, and mixing them up is simple after dark. Mostly it is never the filling station: someone picks up a container driving home and pours it in outside the house.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Bramley CofE Infant School and Nursery the refill is rushed. Close to The Street, someone pours a container in on that drive after work. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park outside Grantley Arms, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
Hired vehicles, new cars, company motors, or the second vehicle in a home with one of each: the least known cars get it the most. Keep it off: that's the first response to an identical slip, wherever around Wonersh or the rest of Surrey you are.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Wonersh?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Through your filter, along the lines, and — with any running time — into the high-pressure pump and every injector: that is how far it travels.
Maybe coming back from Wonersh Common, or part way across Wonersh, your motor may go lumpy, smoke, lose pace, flash the dash or stall. Once safe, stop and turn it off — with no restarting to see. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Exit the M25, under 10 miles from Wonersh, by the first junction and stop somewhere safe, rather than driving on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Wonersh to the car park by Lownsmead Church Hall is a very different job from a run towards Chichester, under 50 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with every mile. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Wherever your car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out once your engine has been started. Caught early, it very rarely leaves lasting damage.
Wonersh: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
The vehicle remains put, whether that is a street near Wonersh Memorial Hall, a driveway, a layby or a forecourt in Wonersh, and the van travels to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if your engine has been run, because those answers decide this work.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out as one when that tank is drained, on the spot. A full flush matters much more with AdBlue than after petrol, because residue will not clear out by itself. A test of the vehicle comes last, once clean diesel is added and the fuel filter is flushed or, if needed, replaced. If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our technicians are there. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the street at night.
Finally, your system is primed with new diesel. You set off as soon as our technicians have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a drive in Wonersh or in a space by Shalford. It's checked on new diesel to make sure it runs properly before we leave. Because the job is done in its entirety where the vehicle is, a workshop never comes into it. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers ask for.
About Wonersh
Wonersh is a small village in Surrey, situated on the banks of the River Wey at an elevation of around 46 metres. Wonersh has a population of approximately 531 residents and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Wonersh is located near the villages of Bramley and Blackheath, and is within commuting distance of London, being around 28 miles from the city centre. Wonersh is also close to the South Downs National Park, with the nearest city being Chichester, which is about 27 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Surrey, Wonersh included
AdBlue call-outs in Wonersh are passed to teams that cover the towns near it — Bramley, Norley Common plus Blackheath — and most of Surrey beyond, across GU postcodes. Near a border, or anywhere tricky to pin down? Checking is better than guessing, so phone.
A van that comes to you suits Wonersh, a village: there's no need to take your car to us, since our engineers empty it there, on a drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Wonersh?
Not one single figure could be fair, since each job is different. The price moves first with how long, if at all, your engine 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 our van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Wonersh House.
With that in mind, every enquiry from Wonersh begins by asking the identical trio — which fluid was put in, what quantity, if the engine ran — ahead of any figure. With them, a range narrows to one fixed number.
The quote is quoted on the call, before anyone leaves; settling up happens on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van gets there.
In Wonersh and still next to your car?
In that case, do nothing — that is the best step available. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Wonersh or anywhere across Surrey.