AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bartley Green? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, keep your motor off and leave the ignition off. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. The harm begins once it is pulled through the pump — it will not ignite, and it won't combine with diesel. Caught before your engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Bartley Green. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
What to do right now, Bartley Green: AdBlue in the diesel tank
To do:
- Pocket your keys, and that stops someone switching the electrics on.
- If you're anywhere close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and about how much, save the receipt or the empty bottle.
- The van locates you quickest with a postcode starting B31 1, or simply the name of a street nearby, and so phone from the spot.
Not to do:
- Moving your vehicle just a short way is no reason to fire up the engine.
- Your ignition stays off: on lots of diesels, turning it on is enough to start the fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel won't thin it.
- Never drive it anywhere, not even a short distance along Hillwood Road.
- Draining the tank on your own by the road is not one to try.
Get the people behind the counter to help you roll the vehicle off the island if you're on a forecourt in Bartley Green, whether it's the Esso or somewhere else. At home, the vehicle remains just where it was left.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not the motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. From a dedicated tank it goes straight to your exhaust, cleaning what your motor lets out. Nothing inside an injection pump is made for this liquid — and none of that was meant to travel that way.
It does not combine. After it is poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like diesel. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. Simplest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Weoley Castle overnight and hasn't turned since. The liquid sits at the foot of your tank, undrawn — though it would be first through if the motor runs, before any diesel at all.
From there it does two kinds of damage. What remains once the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they lodge in narrow passages and clog filters. Worse, it attacks certain metals in the fuel system, and carries on until it's cleared out. Overnight, a vehicle parked in Bartley Green with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; where it's only inside that tank, it doesn't. Then there's the water: it brings no lubrication to the components that need it the most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's frequently worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the BP and you have a problem of thin fuel. Mixed through your diesel and left still, it is harmless for now; using the engine is the damage.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable substance. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. It does not stay mixed, and so it can't be diluted. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether your car is in California or the middle of Bartley Green.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. If your engine has not run, the AdBlue is still in your tank, and the tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in West Midlands the car is sitting.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Bartley Green
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, now and then under one flap — may look the same. No one means it; many layouts invite it. A bottle bought when driving home and poured in outside the house, instead of at the filling station, is the usual story.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. Hurrying, outside Woodcock Hill Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, a parent tops up the vehicle. In the evening, a container goes in on a drive close to Genners Lane. Else, after dark by The Highlander, the vehicle is refilled by a driver opening that flap for the first time.
Hired vehicles, brand-new cars, fleet cars, or the second car in a family with both fuels: the least familiar cars see it the most. Keep it switched off: that is the first step to an identical mistake, wherever around Bartley Green or the rest of West Midlands you happen to be.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Bartley Green?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. Via the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — given any running time — into the high-pressure pump and each injector: that's where it travels.
Expect lumpy running, smoke, falling power, warnings on your dash, or a cut-out — returning from Senneleys Park, say, or midway across Bartley Green. Pull over when safe. Switch off. Keep the vehicle off rather than testing it again. Each start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the Frankley Services Southbound, under 3 miles from Bartley Green, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Bartley Green to the car park by Bartley Sailing Club is a very different job from a run towards Birmingham, under 5 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with each mile. Tell us about how far it had come.
Once the motor has run, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the car has stopped. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage when it's caught early.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel in Bartley Green: what it takes
Anywhere it has stopped in Bartley Green — a filling station, a layby, a driveway, a street by Weoley Castle, St Gabriel — our van comes to your car. Before anything else we ask what got in, about how much, and if the engine has run, since those replies determine this work.
Then that tank is drained where the car stands, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush matters: the whole system is flushed all the way through since what remains won't flush away unaided. Fresh diesel goes in after the filter is flushed — or swapped, if it needs to be — and after that the car is tested. Not run? Then count on about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the street at night.
Bleeding your system with clean diesel comes at the end. Whether it's a parking space outside Northfield or a driveway around Bartley Green, that is where our engineers start the car and you set off. Our engineers check it runs properly on new diesel before leaving. Our engineers do it all wherever your car has ended up, and it never has to be taken to a garage. Your insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — both yours once this job is done.
About Bartley Green itself
Bartley Green is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated near several lakes and the Woodgate Valley. Bartley Green sits at an elevation of 184 metres, approximately 4.9 miles southwest of Birmingham. Bartley Green is characterized by its semi-detached housing and proximity to nearby places such as Woodcock Hill and Shenley Fields. Bartley Green is also relatively close to the larger West Midlands region, while still being around 101.6 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains across Bartley Green and West Midlands
Our teams that answer AdBlue call-outs around Bartley Green also cover the spots round it, Woodcock Hill, Shenley Fields and Woodgate Valley among them, and most of West Midlands beyond, across the B postcode area. Phone and check rather than guess if you're by a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down.
Bartley Green is a residential suburb, and a call-out drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it stands, so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Bartley Green?
No flat figure could be honest, because every job is different. The cost changes 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 depends on where the vehicle is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Holloway Hall.
That is why every call from Bartley Green starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it's run. The answers turn a range into a straight price.
Before a van heads out, you hear the price on the phone. And payment is on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
In Bartley Green and still alongside your car?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with the vehicle is to not touch it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Say it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Bartley Green or wherever within West Midlands.