Alum Rock: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, keep your motor off and keep the ignition off. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. The trouble starts once it is pulled through the lines — it won't ignite, and it won't blend with diesel. If your engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and carefully rinsed where your car sits in Alum Rock. No step comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Alum Rock, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do right away
Things to do:
- Take the keys out, and so no one switches the ignition on.
- Close to moving traffic? So put the hazards on.
- Which product, and about what quantity? Save the bottle or your receipt, and our technicians can know.
- Give us a postcode starting B8 3, or whatever street lies nearest, and the van finds you straight — so call wherever you stand.
Never:
- Moving your vehicle even a short way is no reason to start the motor.
- The ignition remains off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to run the fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel will not weaken it.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short way up Cotterills Avenue.
- No emptying it yourself, either, at the roadside.
Get the people behind the counter to help you roll your car off the pumps if you are on a forecourt around Alum Rock, whether it's the BP or somewhere else. On your own driveway, do not move it at all.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not the motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. Kept in a dedicated tank, it is squirted into the exhaust to clean the gases. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. The pickup sucks fuel from the deepest part of the tank, and that's exactly where AdBlue ends up: being denser than diesel, it sinks. When the pump runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Before then it waits beneath the diesel, and that is why a vehicle filled in Little Bromwich yesterday and never switched on remains the straightforward one, provided nobody touches your key.
From there it causes two kinds of harm. What remains when the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle in narrow channels and block filters. On top of that, it attacks some metals in the fuel system, and carries on till it is cleared out. Overnight, a car parked in Alum Rock with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; where it's only in that tank, nothing changes. Water protects nothing. The high-pressure pump and each injector depend on diesel running through them, so the water part harms them in its own right.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Shell's forecourt leaves the fuel watery — that's the whole fault. Blended through the diesel and left unused, it's no threat for now; running the engine is the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It cannot just be run through, because it doesn't burn. Whether the car is in Hodgehill or the heart of Alum Rock, firing it up "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other slip, and the flush counts for more. The reasons: it won't stay blended, and so watering it down fails; and deposits and corrosion outlast the following tankful.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Never started? Then the AdBlue waits only inside your tank, the easiest section of the entire system to clear, wherever the vehicle has come to rest in West Midlands.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Alum Rock?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of motors rests right next to the diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It mostly happens at home, from a bottle bought en route home, rather than at the forecourt.
A few familiar ways cover the majority of them. The refill gets rushed outside St Cuthbert's RC Junior and Infant (NC) School, because the dash lit up with a warning as the children were dropped in. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Pelham Road. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap refills your car in dim light, stopped in the car park by The Hornet.
It happens most in the motors motorists know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever around West Midlands, Alum Rock as well, the mistake does not change, and neither does the first response: leave it off.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Alum Rock?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. Given any running time, it travels to the injection pump and every injector, after passing through your filter and lines.
Perhaps returning from Cotterills Lane Public Open Space, or part way across Alum Rock, your engine may run rough, smoke, lose power, light up the dash or stall. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the car to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
If you were on the M6, under 3 miles from Alum Rock, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere sensible instead of pressing on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue deeper into your system. That is why a hop across Alum Rock to park near Grenfell Baptist Church and a drive of under 5 miles for Birmingham are such separate jobs. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after the engine has been run. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage if it's noticed soon.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Alum Rock: what it takes
Our engineers come to the car, wherever it has stopped in Alum Rock: a side street close to Christ Church, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The work rests on three replies, which our engineers get before all else — what was put in, the amount, and whether the engine has run.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave together after your tank is drained, right there. The system is purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. A test of your car follows last, once clean diesel goes in and the fuel filter gets flushed or, where needed, swapped. Not run? In that case count on about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps make a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they run quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Bleeding the fuel system with fresh diesel comes last. Whether it is a parking bay outside Stechford or a drive in Alum Rock, that is where our technicians start the engine and you drive off. We check it runs correctly on new diesel before we go. Our engineers do it all wherever the vehicle has stopped, and it never has to be taken to a workshop. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours once this job is done.
About Alum Rock
Alum Rock is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated near the River Rea and close to the city of Birmingham. Alum Rock is characterized by its terraced housing and lies at an elevation of 106 metres, with nearby neighbourhoods including Ward End and Stechford. Alum Rock is located approximately 3.3 miles from Birmingham city centre and 98.9 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across West Midlands, Alum Rock included
Our vans that answer AdBlue calls in Alum Rock also cover the spots about it, Ward End, Stechford and Yardley Fields among them, and most of West Midlands beyond, across the B postcode area. Close to a border, or somewhere awkward to explain? Checking is better than assuming, so phone.
No moving is needed. In Alum Rock, a residential suburb, a mobile service fits: the car is emptied where it stands, be it in a driveway, a side street, a car park or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Alum Rock: the cost of fixing it
Because each callouts vary, a single figure wouldn't be honest. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it depends on where your car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind Jamia Masjid Haroonia.
That's why each call from Alum Rock starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and whether it has run. With them, the range narrows to a single firm figure.
You get that quote by phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
In Alum Rock and still alongside the vehicle?
Right now, the best thing to do with your car is to leave it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Call 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 Alum Rock or anywhere across West Midlands.