Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Boscomoor
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the fuel system pulls it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Boscomoor, is generally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before the engine has been run. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Boscomoor
Do:
- Take your keys out, and so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Put the hazards on if you're at all near moving traffic.
- Which fluid, and roughly how much volume? Save the bottle or the till receipt, and we will know.
- Ring right where you are. Say a ST19 5 postcode or the nearest street sign, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Things not to do:
- Don't start your engine, even for a moment to shift your car.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel will not weaken it.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short way along Capulet Way.
- Don't try to drain the car yourself at the roadside.
The attendants on duty at any Boscomoor forecourt — the Co-op among them — will usually help rolling it aside if you ask. Stopped on your own drive? Then it stays just where it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Not one side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in an injection pump, and an injection pump can't deal with urea.
It doesn't combine. After it is poured into the tank, AdBlue behaves nothing like diesel. It drops, because it's heavier than diesel, and settles down where the pickup takes its fuel from. When your pump runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Before then it waits beneath the diesel, which is why a vehicle filled in Congreve last night and never switched on remains the straightforward one, provided nobody turns the key.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that hardens in filter elements and narrow channels; and, since it eats at some metals, each part it touches suffers for as long as it stays in there. By daybreak, a vehicle parked around Boscomoor with AdBlue through its pipework grows worse; where it is just in your tank, nothing changes. Water protects nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector need diesel running through them, so the water content damages them in its own right.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger issue?
Top up a diesel with petrol in error at the BP, and this problem is diluted fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it's inside the tank it causes no damage; the damage comes from running the motor on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is simply the wrong one. It doesn't burn, and so it cannot just be run through. 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's why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the car is in Quarry Heath or the middle of Boscomoor.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest part on any fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever across Staffordshire your vehicle has stopped.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Boscomoor?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many motors rests right next to the diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A bottle picked up when driving home and poured in outside the house, instead of at the filling station, is the usual route.
A few familiar ways cover most cases. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Princefield First School the top-up is hurried. Someone pours the container in at home, right off Macbeth Close, as the day ends. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at Cross Keys, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
The least known cars see it the most — rentals, new ones, company ones, and the spare vehicle of a home with one of each fuel types. Keep it switched off: that's the first step to an identical slip, wherever around Boscomoor or the rest of Staffordshire you happen to be.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Boscomoor?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. The fuel filter and lines have had it pulled along, and some running time carries it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Perhaps returning from The Monckton Recreation Centre, or part way across Boscomoor, your motor may run lumpy, smoke, drop pace, flash your dash or stall. No restarting to check: stop when it is safe, then switch everything off. Every start pulls more of that through.
On the M6, under a mile from Boscomoor, the next junction is where to leave, and somewhere safe is where to park — not carrying on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue further into your system. That's why crossing Boscomoor to park beside Haling Dene Centre and a drive of under 10 miles for Wolverhampton are very separate jobs. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
We do all of the cleaning where the car has ended up, and once the engine has been started there is more of it. Caught early, it very rarely leaves long-term damage.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves in Boscomoor
A street by St Michael Church Hall, a driveway, a layby or a filling station: wherever the vehicle has come to rest in Boscomoor, our engineers travel to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether your engine has been run, since those replies determine the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out together when the tank is emptied, right there. A careful flush matters far more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what remains won't clear away by itself. A test of the vehicle follows last, after fresh diesel goes in and your filter is flushed or, if needed, replaced. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when the motor has not run. Low-noise enough to use outside a house at night, and fine on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
New diesel goes in to bleed the fuel system, and that's the last step. At that point we fire it up and you head off, whether from a parking space at Penkridge or a drive in Boscomoor. It's checked on clean diesel to confirm it runs properly before we go. Because the job is done in full where your car is, a workshop never comes into it. Afterwards, you are given paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Boscomoor, for a moment
Boscomoor is a suburban area in Staffordshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 86 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Boscomoor lies approximately 9 miles west of Wolverhampton and is close to nearby places such as Penkridge, Otherton, and Rodbaston. Boscomoor has a population of around 4524 residents and is located in the West Midlands region, about 118.7 miles northwest of London. Boscomoor's riverside setting provides a distinctive character to the area.
Boscomoor and Staffordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Penkridge, Otherton and Rodbaston are among the towns around Boscomoor that the same teams serve, along with much of Staffordshire beyond, throughout the ST postcode area. Guessing won't help by a county line or somewhere hard to describe; phone and check.
A mobile service suits Boscomoor, a residential suburb: you have no need to take the vehicle to us, since our engineers empty it on the spot, in a drive, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Boscomoor?
There's no honest single quote, because the jobs are not the same. What changes the cost is, first of all, whether the engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and then where your car is and whether our van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight spot behind St Michael and All Angels.
What went in, what quantity, plus whether it ran: every Boscomoor enquiry begins with exactly those, ahead of any quote, never after. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
You get that quote on the phone, before anybody heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Check your policy while we're on the way: plenty carry misfuelling cover.
Alongside the car around Boscomoor, still?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, then, the best move open to you. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus if the engine ran is everything we ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest throughout Staffordshire, Boscomoor too.