AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Alum Chine? Don't Start It
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. The harm starts once it is sucked through your pump — it will not ignite, and it will not combine with diesel. In Alum Chine, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your motor runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where the vehicle is. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, Alum Chine: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do these:
- Pull your keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Put the hazards on if you're at all close to moving traffic.
- The empty bottle or the receipt tells us the product and the quantity, and so do not throw it away.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting BH4 8, or the name of the nearest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to move your car.
- Switching the key to ignition alone starts the pump running on many diesels. Avoid it.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Keep the car where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way down Alumdale Road.
- No emptying it yourself, either, on the verge.
The staff on duty at any Alum Chine filling station — the Tesco among them — will usually help pushing it aside if you ask. If you're on your own drive, leave it precisely where it sits.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not the engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. Neither side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and a pump cannot take urea.
It does not combine. Once it is poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. The intake takes fuel from the deepest part of your tank, and that is just where AdBlue settles: being denser than diesel, it sinks. Simplest of all: one that got AdBlue in Branksome last night and has not turned since. The AdBlue sits at the base of that tank, undrawn — but it will be first through if your engine runs, before any diesel at all.
It does two kinds of harm from there. 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, and so it keeps working on the parts it hits for as long as it remains there. Where the AdBlue has reached the pipework, leaving it till morning in Alum Chine leaves it worse. Inside your tank only, time does nothing. And there's the water: it offers no lubrication to the components that rely on it most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is often more significant than petrol
A problem of thin fuel is what you end up with after filling a diesel with petrol at the Esso. Blended through the diesel and left still, it's no threat at that stage; using your engine is the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. It does not stay mixed, and so it cannot be diluted. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the car is in Canford Cliffs or the middle of Alum Chine.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Not started? Then the AdBlue waits only in your tank, the easiest bit of the entire system to empty, anywhere the vehicle has come to rest around Dorset.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Alum Chine
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, now and then behind one flap — can look the same. No one means it; many designs allow it. Mostly it's not the filling station: a driver picks up a bottle driving home and pours it in at home.
A few familiar ways cover the majority of them. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside St Michael's Church of England Primary School the refill is hurried. After work, a bottle is tipped in on a driveway close to Branksome Dene Road. Or your car is topped up in the car park at The Libertine, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It occurs most in the vehicles people know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever around Dorset, Alum Chine included, the slip doesn't change, and neither does the first step: keep it switched off.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Alum Chine?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in that tank. Via your filter, through the pipework, and — given any running time — on to the injection pump and each injector: that's how far it has gone.
Maybe coming back from Branksome Dene Chine, or midway across Alum Chine, the motor might go rough, smoke, drop pace, light up the dash or cut out. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
Leave the M27, under 25 miles from Alum Chine, at the next junction and park somewhere safe, not carrying on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into your system. That's why a hop across Alum Chine to park near St. Ambrose Church and a drive of under 50 miles for Salisbury are such distinct jobs. Let us know about how far it had come.
Our technicians do all of the flushing where your car has stopped, and once the motor has been run there is more of it. Long-term damage is very unusual when it is noticed quickly.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Alum Chine?
The vehicle remains where it is, whether that is a street near Site of R L Stevenson's house, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station around Alum Chine, and the van travels to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and if the engine has run, because those replies determine this work.
On the spot, that tank is then drained, and both the polluted diesel and the urea come out as one. Residue from AdBlue won't flush out by itself, so the fuel system gets a full flush, which counts much more with urea than with petrol. Next, the fuel filter: cleaned, or replaced when it has to be. After that fresh diesel, and then a test of your car. If the engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once our technicians arrive. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the street at night.
New diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that is the last step. At that point our technicians fire it up and you set off, whether from a parking space outside Branksome or a driveway around Alum Chine. The check before our engineers go is that it runs correctly on fresh diesel. No workshop is required at any point, with the entire job done then and there. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours once this job is done.
About Alum Chine
Alum Chine is a coastal suburban area in Dorset, situated near the towns of Westbourne and Bournemouth. Alum Chine sits at an elevation of 41 metres, overlooking Poole Bay, and is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing. Alum Chine is close to other nearby places such as Branksome Park and West Cliff, and is about 25 miles from the city of Salisbury. Alum Chine is a popular residential area, with a population of approximately 5048 people.
AdBlue drains across Dorset, Alum Chine included
Our vans that answer AdBlue calls in Alum Chine also cover the spots about it, Westbourne, Branksome Park and West Cliff among them, and most of Dorset beyond, across the BH postcode area. Ring and check rather than guess when you're close to a border, or somewhere tricky to explain.
A mobile service suits Alum Chine, a residential suburb: there's no need to take your vehicle to us, because our engineers drain it there, in a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Alum Chine: the cost of fixing it
Every job is different, and so no fixed quote would be honest. What shifts the price is, firstly, whether the engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and finally where your car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight gap behind Skerryvore, Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Garden.
Which fluid was put in, how much, and whether it ran: each Alum Chine call begins with exactly those, ahead of any figure, never afterwards. Given them, a range narrows to one firm number.
Quoted by phone before the van sets out, it is settled that day — card or phone, no deposit. While our engineer is on the way, check your insurance: many include misfuelling.
Alum Chine: still beside the car?
In that case, touch nothing — that is the most helpful step there is. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Alum Chine or anywhere across Dorset.