Botley: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then leave the motor off — and the ignition too. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor mixes, and no harm happens till your motor sucks it through. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Botley, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before the motor has run. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
What to do straight away, Botley: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do these:
- Remove the keys, which stops anyone turning the electrics on.
- Near moving traffic? So put the hazard lights on.
- The empty bottle or your receipt shows us the fluid and the amount, and so don't throw it away.
- Ring just where you are. Say a OX2 9 postcode or the nearest street sign, and no one has to hunt for you.
Never do these:
- Don't start the motor, even for a moment to move the car.
- Turning your key to ignition alone starts the pump going on many diesels. Avoid it.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel will not thin it.
- Keep it where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way along Yarnell's Hill.
- Beside the road, do not attempt draining it on your own.
The attendants working at any Botley forecourt — the BP among them — will normally lend a hand pushing it aside if you ask. Parked on your own driveway? Then it remains exactly as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the engine. Stored in a separate tank, it's injected into the exhaust to clean the gases. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
Tipped in with the diesel, it keeps apart instead of mixing — quite different from fuel. The intake takes fuel from the lowest part of the tank, and that's exactly where AdBlue settles: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. The first thing the system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Dean Court last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
From there it does two kinds of harm. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps working on the parts it reaches for as long as it stays there. Pipes carrying AdBlue spell damage by morning for a vehicle parked in Botley. Only in your tank, it stays stable. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and each injector as it passes; water gives no lubrication, which is a second kind of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error over at the another forecourt nearby, and the issue is diluted fuel. Blended into the diesel and left still, it's no threat at that stage; running your motor does the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. It cannot simply be run through, since it doesn't burn. Nor can it be watered down, since it splits again — and the following tankful will not rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts more here, and turning the key "to see", in the heart of Botley or out in Osney, does more harm than nearly any other error.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. If the engine has not run, the AdBlue is still inside the tank, and the tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Oxfordshire your car is standing.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Botley?
Plenty of vehicles put the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, now and then behind a single flap, and in dim light the two may look identical. No one intends it. It usually happens at home, from a bottle bought en route home, not at the filling station.
Usually, it occurs in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside North Hinksey Church of England Primary School. After work, a bottle goes in on a drive near Yarnell's Road. One more pattern: dim light, a pub car park outside Tap Social Movement, and a driver using that flap for the first time.
Rented vehicles, brand-new cars, company cars, or the second car in a family with one of each: the least known cars see it the most. Same mistake, same first step — keep it off — anywhere you happen to be around Botley or the remainder of Oxfordshire.
Started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Botley?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. Given any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and every injector, after passing through the filter and lines.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard lights or cutting out: any may show up, perhaps part way across Botley or coming back from North Hinksey Nature Reserve. When you safely can, stop then turn it off — with no turning it on again to see. Each start pulls more of it through.
Leave the Wheatley Spur, under 10 miles from Botley, at the next junction and stop somewhere safe, not carrying on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue deeper into your system. That's why a hop across Botley to park beside Our Lady of the Rosary and a drive of under 3 miles towards Oxford are very separate jobs. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
There's more to clean out once your engine has run, and our technicians do all of it where the vehicle has come to a stop. Permanent damage is very unusual when it's caught soon.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Botley?
Anywhere it has come to rest around Botley — a filling station, a lay-by, a drive, a road beside The Rosary Room — our van comes to the car. Which fluid got in, roughly how much, plus if the motor has turned over: our engineers check first, since those decide the work.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out together when the tank is emptied, on the spot. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush matters: the whole system is flushed right through since what remains won't flush away unaided. Clean diesel goes in once your filter is flushed — or swapped, if it needs to be — and then the car is tested. If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once our technicians are there. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Clean diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that's the final step. Whether it is a parking bay outside Oxford or a driveway in Botley, that is where our technicians start the car and you set off. Our technicians confirm it runs correctly on new diesel before we leave. Since the job is done in full where the vehicle is, a garage never comes into it. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Botley, for a moment
Botley is a suburban area located on the western edge of Oxford, beside the River Thames. Botley sits at an elevation of around 78 metres, with views across the surrounding countryside. Botley is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock and proximity to nearby places such as North Hinksey Village and New Botley. Botley is also close to Harcourt Hill, a notable local landmark.
AdBlue drains across Botley and Oxfordshire
The teams that answer AdBlue calls in Botley also cover the locations around it, North Hinksey Village, New Botley and Harcourt Hill among them, and most of Oxfordshire beyond, across the OX postcode area. Ring and ask rather than guess if you are by a border, or somewhere awkward to explain.
Anywhere the vehicle sits — your drive at home, a residential street, a car park, a forecourt — we drain it on the spot, with no need to take it to us; that suits Botley, a residential suburb, well.
Botley: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
No flat figure would be fair, since each job differs. What changes the cost is, firstly, whether the motor has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and after that where the car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight spot behind Stone of Remembrance.
Before a quote, never afterwards, each enquiry from Botley begins with the same three questions: the fuel, the quantity, plus whether the engine ran. Once they are answered, a range turns into one firm number.
Before a van heads out, you are told the price by phone. Then you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As the van is on the way, dig out your insurance: plenty include misfuelling.
In Botley and still next to the car?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, about how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Botley or anywhere in Oxfordshire.