Belmont: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. The trouble starts once it is sucked through the lines — it will not burn, and it will not blend with diesel. If your motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and thoroughly rinsed where the vehicle sits in Belmont. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Your next steps straight away, Belmont: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Things to do:
- Pocket your keys, and that stops someone turning the electrics on.
- If you're at all near moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Hold on to the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what got in and roughly how much.
- Tell us a postcode starting DH1 2, or whichever street is closest, and our van reaches you directly — so call from wherever you stand.
Don't:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift the car: your motor stays off.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue will not blend, and so it is wasted.
- Even a short stretch along The Links is too far to drive the vehicle.
- Do not try to drain the car yourself by the roadside.
The staff on duty at any Belmont filling station — the Shell included — will usually help rolling it clear if you ask. Parked on your own driveway? Then it stays exactly as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your motor. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it's sprayed into your exhaust, where it treats the gas. No part inside a fuel pump is designed for this fluid — and none of it was meant to go that way.
Poured in with your diesel, it keeps separate instead of mixing — entirely different from fuel. The intake takes fuel from the lowest part of the tank, and that is precisely where AdBlue ends up: being denser than diesel, it sinks. A motor topped up on a drive in West Sherburn yesterday evening and not started since is the simple case. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up yet — though when the motor turns, that is what goes first, straight from the bottom of the tank.
Two kinds of damage follow from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps working on the parts it gets to for as long as it stays there. A vehicle left standing in Belmont with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank isn't. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and each injector as it flows; water gives no lubrication, and that is a second kind of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger problem?
Top up a diesel with petrol by mistake at the Esso, and the issue is thinned fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it's in your tank it causes no damage; the damage comes from running the motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. Since it doesn't burn, running it through is not an option. Nor can it be thinned, since it separates back out — and the following fill won't clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters for more with AdBlue, and trying the engine "to see", in the heart of Belmont or out in Sherburn, costs more than nearly any other error.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever around Durham your vehicle sits.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Belmont?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many cars sits right next to the diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A bottle bought when heading home and tipped in outside the house, instead of at the forecourt, is the typical story.
Usually, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. The top-up is rushed outside Belmont CofE (Controlled) Primary School, because your dash flashed with a warning as the children were dropped in. Near Magdalene Avenue, a driver tips a container in at home after work. Otherwise, in dim light by The Travellers Rest, your vehicle is topped up by someone opening that flap the first time.
It crops up most in a rental, a new vehicle, a fleet motor, or the spare vehicle of a family with one of each fuel types — the cars people know least. Anywhere around Durham, Belmont as well, the mistake does not change, and nor does the first response: leave it off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Belmont?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. It's been sucked through your filter and the lines, and if your engine ran for any time, it has reached your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors.
You may see your engine running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from TDC Garden or halfway across Belmont. No starting it again to test: stop when it is safe, then switch it off. Each start pulls more of that through.
Leave the A1(M), under a mile from Belmont, at the next junction and park safely, rather than carrying on.
Mileage matters: every mile pushes the AdBlue further into your system, and so heading for Durham, under 3 miles away, gives a far larger job than crossing Belmont to the car park by Belmont Library. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Wherever the vehicle came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after the engine has been started. If it is noticed quickly, long-term damage is very unusual.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Belmont?
Anywhere it has stopped around Belmont — a forecourt, a lay-by, a driveway, a street by Belmont Parish Hall — our van comes to the vehicle. The work rests on three answers, and our technicians ask for before all else — which fluid was put in, the quantity, and whether your engine has turned over.
Then that tank is drained where the car stands, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. What remains from AdBlue won't wash away by itself, so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which counts much more with urea than for petrol. Fresh diesel goes in once the filter is flushed — or replaced, if it needs to be — and then the vehicle is tested. Not run? Then count on about half an hour on site for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
New diesel goes in to prime the system, and that is the final step. Starting it comes next, and then you set off from where the vehicle is parked, at Durham or on a drive in Belmont. Before we leave, we confirm it's running smoothly with clean diesel in. No workshop is needed at any stage, with the whole job done then and there. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Belmont, briefly
Belmont is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Durham, situated near the River Wear in north-east England. Belmont sits at an elevation of around 90 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Belmont is close to nearby places such as Carrville, Sherburn Grange, and Gilesgate Moor, and is approximately 2.4 miles from the city of Durham. Belmont has a population of around 5201 residents.
AdBlue drains around Belmont and across Durham
Throughout the DH postcode area, the teams answering AdBlue jobs in Belmont reach much of Durham as well, Carrville, Sherburn Grange and Gilesgate Moor included. Guessing doesn't help close to a county line or somewhere tricky to describe; phone and ask.
Belmont is a residential suburb, and a mobile drain suits it: whether your 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 AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Belmont
Because each jobs differ, a flat price wouldn't be fair. Three things move the cost: whether your engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the car is. That last one rests on whether our van can get to it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight spot behind Belmont War Memorial.
Which fluid was put in, what quantity, plus if the engine ran: every Belmont call opens with exactly that, before a quote, never afterwards. Their answers narrow the range right down to a single figure.
Before anyone heads out, you hear our price on the phone. And payment is on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
Alongside the car around Belmont, still?
Then, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to not touch it. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Say it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and if it ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Belmont or anywhere in Durham.