AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Alvington? Don't Start It
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is simply urea in water. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and no harm starts until your motor pulls it round. In Alvington, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the motor runs usually comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank in Alvington
Do these:
- So nobody can switch the ignition on, take the keys away.
- Near moving traffic? So put the hazard lights on.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and roughly what quantity, save the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring right where you are. Say a GL15 6 postcode or the nearest street sign, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Not to do:
- Don't start the motor, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- Many diesels power their fuel pump the moment the ignition comes on, and so keep the vehicle off.
- Adding more diesel does not work: AdBlue separates out rather than thinning.
- Leave it where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short stretch down Malt House Close.
- No draining it yourself, either, on the verge.
On a forecourt in Alvington, whether it's the BP or another one, ask the staff to help you roll your car clear of the pump. On that drive, the vehicle stays exactly where it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. Neither side suits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and an injection pump can't deal with urea.
Poured in with the diesel, it stays apart rather than blending — quite unlike fuel. Heavier than diesel, it drops and collects underneath it — the very spot the intake draws from. The first thing the system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Smallbrook last night, and has not been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
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, so it keeps running on the parts it hits for as long as it stays there. Pipes holding AdBlue mean harm by morning for a vehicle parked around Alvington. Just in the tank, it stays the same. The water in it does harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel commonly the bigger issue?
Fill a diesel with petrol in error at the Tesco, and the issue is diluted fuel. Harm just comes from driving on it. Blended into the diesel and sitting inside your tank, it does none.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. It does not burn, so it cannot just be run through. Nor can it be thinned, since it splits back out — and the following tankful will not clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts for more with AdBlue, and trying your engine "to see", in the centre of Alvington or out in Netherend, does more harm than nearly any other mistake.
As with petrol, there's good news. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue stays in it — anywhere across Gloucestershire the vehicle has stopped.
Alvington: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, occasionally under one flap — can appear the same. No one intends it; many designs invite it. Mostly it's not the forecourt: a driver buys a container heading home and pours it in outside the house.
Usually, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Woolaston Primary School. Close to Clanna Road, someone pours a container in on the drive in the evening. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park outside Blacksmiths Arms, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
It comes up the most in a hire car, a new car, a fleet motor, or the other vehicle of a home with both fuels — the vehicles drivers use least. An identical slip, same first step — leave it switched off — wherever you are in Alvington or the remainder of Gloucestershire.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Alvington?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. Through the filter, through the lines, and — given any running time — on to the high-pressure pump and each injector: that is how far it travels.
Perhaps returning from Rookery Wood, or midway across Alvington, the motor may run rough, smoke, drop power, flash the dash or stall. Once safe, stop and switch everything off — with no turning it on again to test. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
Alvington sits under 10 miles from the M5; if you were on it, exit by the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than carrying on.
Hopping across Alvington to the car park by St Andrew is one matter; driving towards Bristol, under 25 miles away, is another, because every mile carries the AdBlue further in. So distance counts. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
We do all of the cleaning where the vehicle has ended up, and once your engine has been started there is more of it. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage when it's spotted soon.
Alvington: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
A street beside Mission Church, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station: wherever the car has come to rest around Alvington, our technicians come to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and if the motor has run, since those answers decide this work.
Next, draining that tank on the spot takes out the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue in one go. Residue from AdBlue won't wash out unaided, so the whole system gets a careful flush, which matters much more with urea than with petrol. After that, the fuel filter: cleaned, or replaced when it has to be. Then clean diesel, then a check of your car. Most of these jobs are a half-hour job once our engineers get there, provided the motor has not run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Lastly, the fuel system is bled with new diesel. You set off as soon as our technicians have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a drive around Alvington or in a space by Lydney. Before we leave, our technicians make sure it's running properly with fresh diesel in. Since the job is done in full where your car is, a workshop never comes into it. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Alvington itself
Alvington is a small village in Gloucestershire, situated near the coast and approximately 17 miles from Bristol. Alvington sits at an elevation of around 44 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Alvington is close to nearby places such as Nuppend, Lower Common, and Woolaston, and is located within the South West region of England.
AdBlue drains in Alvington and across Gloucestershire
Throughout the GL postcode area, the vans taking AdBlue jobs around Alvington reach most of Gloucestershire as well, Nuppend, Lower Common and Woolaston among them. Close to a border, or anywhere tricky to explain? Asking is better than guessing, so ring.
A mobile service fits Alvington, a coastal village: you have no need to take your car to us, since our technicians drain it there, on a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Alvington: the cost of fixing it
Not one flat figure would be honest, because each job is different. Whether the engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what changes the price. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the location of your car, because an open drive is simpler for our van to reach safely than a tight gap behind The Aylburton Medieval Cross.
With that in mind, every call from Alvington opens with the identical trio — what went in, how much, whether the engine ran — ahead of any figure. Once they are answered, a range turns into a single firm figure.
Before a van sets off, you hear our quote on the phone. And payment is on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing in advance. As our engineer is on the way, check your insurance: plenty cover misfuelling.
Alvington: still alongside the vehicle?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with your car is to leave it. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if it ran are everything our technicians ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest throughout Gloucestershire, Alvington too.