AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Bennacott? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. Being water-based, it will not ignite and won't blend with diesel; damage just comes once your pump starts pulling it. In Bennacott, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before the engine runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Bennacott: the first few minutes
Do:
- So no one can switch the ignition on, take your keys out.
- If you're anywhere near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Which product, and about how much volume? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and our engineers will see.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting PL15 8, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Don't do these:
- Shifting the car even a few yards is no reason to start your motor.
- Your ignition remains off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to start the fuel pump.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue will not blend, so it's wasted.
- Keep the car where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short way along B3254.
- No draining it yourself, either, at the roadside.
At a forecourt in Bennacott, whether it is the BP or another one, ask the staff to help you push your car away from the pump. If you're on your own drive, leave it precisely where it sits.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your engine. Kept in a separate tank, it's injected 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.
It does not combine. After it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves not at all like diesel. The pickup takes fuel from the lowest part of the tank, and that's exactly where AdBlue ends up: being denser than diesel, it sinks. Once the system runs, the AdBlue is first to be pulled through. Until then it sits beneath your diesel, and that is why a car filled in West Curry yesterday and never switched on stays the straightforward one, provided nobody touches your key.
After it is sucked in, the harm comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that hardens in filters and tiny passages; meanwhile, since it attacks certain metals, each part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it stays inside. Pipes carrying AdBlue spell damage overnight for a car sitting in Bennacott. Only inside the tank, it stays the same. Water protects nothing. The injection pump and each injector depend on diesel flowing through them, so the water part harms them in its own right.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is commonly worse than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on another forecourt nearby's forecourt leaves the fuel watery — that is the main problem. Mixed through your diesel and left unused, it's harmless for now; using your motor does the harm.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. Not burning, it can't just be run through. It does not stay mixed, and so it cannot be weakened. 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 the motor "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether your car is in Langdon or the middle of Bennacott.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If the engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in that tank, and that tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Cornwall the vehicle is standing.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Bennacott: how it ends up there
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of vehicles waits right next to your diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It usually happens outside the house, from a container bought en route home, not at the forecourt.
A couple of familiar ways account for most cases. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside Boyton Community Primary School. After work, a bottle is tipped in on a driveway close to Dorset Park. Or the car is topped up in the car park at the pub in the village, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It comes up most in a rental, a new vehicle, a fleet car, or the other vehicle of a home with both fuels — the vehicles people use least. An identical slip, an identical first response — keep it switched off — wherever you happen to be around Bennacott or the rest of Cornwall.
Bennacott: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. With any running, it travels to the injection pump and each injector, after passing through your filter and lines.
You may see your motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Sutton Wood or halfway across Bennacott. When you safely can, pull over and turn it off — with no turning it on again to see. Each start pulls more of that through.
Bennacott lies under 50 miles from the M5; if you were on it, leave at the first junction and stop somewhere safe instead of carrying on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into the system. That's why crossing Bennacott to park near Church of the Holy Name and a drive of under 50 miles towards Plymouth are very distinct jobs. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Our technicians do all of the cleaning where your car has stopped, and once the engine has been started there is more of it. Permanent damage is very uncommon if it is caught early.
Bennacott: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
We come to the car, wherever it has stopped around Bennacott: a side street close to St Paternus, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Three replies shape the job, so first our engineers ask what went in, roughly what quantity, plus whether your motor has turned over.
On the spot, that tank is then drained, and both the polluted diesel and the urea come out at once. A full flush matters far more with AdBlue than with petrol, since residue won't wash away on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our technicians are there. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a live filling station is no problem, and it's hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
Priming the system with clean diesel comes at the end. At that point our engineers fire it up and you set off, whether from a parking space outside the nearest station or a driveway around Bennacott. The check before we go is that it runs correctly on clean diesel. No workshop is needed at any point, with the entire job done on the spot. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers want.
About Bennacott
Bennacott is a small hamlet in Cornwall, situated inland at an elevation of 142 metres, and is characterized by its predominantly detached housing. Bennacott lies near several other small settlements, including North Beer, Curry Lane, and Boyton, and is approximately 25.9 miles from Plymouth. Bennacott is a rural community with a population of around 522 people, and its location in the Cornish countryside offers a tranquil environment. Bennacott is also relatively distant from major urban centres, with London being around 193.9 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Cornwall, Bennacott included
The teams that answer AdBlue jobs around Bennacott also cover the spots about it, North Beer, Curry Lane and Boyton among them, and most of Cornwall beyond, across the PL postcode area. Assuming won't help by a border or anywhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
A mobile service suits Bennacott, a rural hamlet: there's no need to bring your vehicle to us, since our engineers empty it there, on a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Bennacott: the cost of fixing it
Each job differs, and so not one fixed quote is fair. What shifts the price is, first, whether the motor has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue went in; and after that where the vehicle is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind St James, Luffincott.
That's why each call from Bennacott starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and if it's run. With them, the range narrows to one fixed number.
The quote is quoted during the call, before a van leaves; payment happens on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your policy whilst we are on the way: plenty include misfuelling cover.
Bennacott: still next to the vehicle?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, right now, the most useful thing you can do. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Bennacott or wherever within Cornwall.