Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Boley Park
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor mixes, and no harm happens till the engine pulls it round. If the motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and thoroughly purged where your car sits around Boley Park. No step comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Boley Park: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- Pocket your keys, and that prevents someone switching the electrics on.
- Near moving traffic? Then put the hazard lights on.
- The empty bottle or your receipt shows us the fluid and the amount, so don't throw it out.
- Tell us a postcode starting WS14 9, or whatever street is closest, and the van reaches you directly — so call wherever you are.
Don't:
- No starting your engine — not for a second, not to shift the vehicle.
- Switching the key to ignition by itself sets your pump going on plenty of diesels. Avoid it.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue will not blend, and so it is pointless.
- Do not drive it anywhere, not even a short distance up Haymoor.
- Emptying that tank on your own by the road isn't one to try.
The staff on duty at any Boley Park filling station — the The Co-operative included — will usually lend a hand pushing it clear if you ask. On your own drive, don't move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it's fed into your exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. A fuel pump is not designed to take it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, after tipped in, won't. The behaviour is not at all like fuel's. The pickup sucks fuel from the deepest part of your tank, and that is exactly where AdBlue ends up: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. A motor topped up on a drive in Streethay yesterday evening and not started since is the simple one. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though once the engine runs, that's what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of the tank.
Two kinds of damage follow from there. What remains when the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle in narrow passages and clog filters. On top of that, it attacks certain metals in a fuel system, and carries on till it is flushed out. If the AdBlue is in the lines, waiting overnight around Boley Park makes things worse. Inside the tank alone, waiting does nothing. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and every injector as it flows; water offers none of that, which is a second kind of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's frequently worse than petrol
A problem of thinned fuel is what you get after fuelling a diesel with petrol at the Tesco. Blended through your diesel and left unused, it's no threat at that stage; using the motor is the damage.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. It can't just be run through, since it does not burn. Deposits and corrosion remain through the next fill, and AdBlue splits again from your diesel, so thinning it won't help. That is why the flush matters more, and turning the key "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other mistake — in Nether Stowe or the centre of Boley Park equally.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the easiest part on any fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue stays in it — wherever around Staffordshire your car has stopped.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Boley Park?
Many cars put the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, occasionally under a single flap, and in dim light the two can look identical. No one intends it. It usually occurs outside the house, from a container bought en route home, rather than at the forecourt.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Five Spires Academy the refill is rushed. Near Ryknild Street, someone tips a bottle in on that drive in the evening. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap tops up the vehicle after dark, parked in the car park by The Turnpike.
It crops up the most in a rental, a brand-new motor, a fleet vehicle, or the other motor of a home with both fuel types — the cars people know least. Same mistake, an identical first response — keep it off — wherever you happen to be in Boley Park or the rest of Staffordshire.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Boley Park?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. The filter and lines have had it sucked through, and some running takes it on to the injection pump and every injector.
Maybe coming back from Darnford Park, or midway across Boley Park, your engine might go lumpy, smoke, lose power, light up the dash or cut out. Pull over when it is safe. Turn off. Keep it off instead of restarting it to check. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
On the M6 Toll, under 3 miles from Boley Park, the next junction is where to exit, and somewhere sensible is where to park — not carrying on.
Mileage matters: each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in, so heading towards Lichfield, under a mile away, makes a far bigger job than crossing Boley Park to the car park by Boley Park shops. Let us know about how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the cleaning where the vehicle has stopped, and once the engine has been started there is more of it. Caught quickly, it very rarely leaves lasting damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Boley Park?
The vehicle stays put, whether that is a road beside Lichfield Friary Lawn Tennis Club, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station around Boley Park, and our van comes to it. Three replies shape the job, and so before anything else we ask what got in, about what quantity, plus whether your motor has turned over.
Then the tank is drained where your car stands, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. The fuel system is purged thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel goes in after the filter is cleaned — or swapped, when it needs to be — and after that the car is tested. Most of these jobs are a half-hour job once we get there, if your engine hasn't run. The equipment is explosion-proof, so a live filling station is no issue, and it's quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
Finally, your system is bled with clean diesel. You set off as soon as we have started the car, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a driveway in Boley Park or in a space at Lichfield Trent Valley. Before we leave, our engineers confirm it's running correctly with clean diesel in. No garage is required at any stage, with the entire job done then and there. At the end, there is the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer.
About Boley Park and where it is
Boley Park is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Lichfield in Staffordshire, situated near the riverside at an elevation of 93 metres. Boley Park sits close to the city centre, with Lichfield being just 0.9 miles away, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Darnford and Stowe. Boley Park is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its residential nature. Boley Park is also relatively distant from London, being around 107.8 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Staffordshire, Boley Park included
Over the WS postcode area, the teams answering AdBlue jobs in Boley Park serve much of Staffordshire too, Darnford, Lichfield and Stowe included. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are close to a county line, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
A mobile service fits Boley Park, a residential suburb: there's no need to take your car to us, since our engineers drain it on the spot, in a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
Boley Park: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Every job differs, and so not one single quote would be honest. Three things shift the price: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where your car is. That last one turns on whether a van can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight space behind Church of Saint Michael on Greenhill.
What got in, how much, and if the engine ran: each Boley Park enquiry begins with exactly that, before a figure, never after. With them, the range shrinks to one firm number.
Our price is given on the call, before a van sets off; payment happens on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
Still beside the car around Boley Park?
Right now, the best thing to do with the car is to leave it. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Boley Park or anywhere around Staffordshire.