Bottesford: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you start if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. As it is water-based, it will not burn and never combines with diesel; trouble just comes when your pump begins pulling it. In Bottesford, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before the engine runs usually comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where your car is. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Bottesford: the first few minutes
To do:
- Remove your keys, which prevents someone switching the power on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- Hold on to the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what was put in and about how much.
- Ring just where you are. Say a NG13 0 postcode or the closest street sign, and nobody has to search for you.
Do not:
- Not even briefly, and not to roll the car: your engine remains off.
- Many diesels power their fuel pump the instant the ignition goes on, and so keep it off.
- Pouring in more diesel does not work: AdBlue settles out instead of blending.
- Keep the vehicle where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way along Albert Street.
- Don't try to drain the vehicle yourself by the kerbside.
Moving the car off the island is a job for staff to help with, wherever Bottesford forecourt you're on, the JET or any other. On your own drive, don't move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the motor. Stored in a dedicated tank, it's injected into the exhaust to treat the gases. A fuel pump isn't made to take it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, after tipped in, won't. The behaviour is not at all like fuel's. Heavier than diesel, it drops and collects below it — the same spot the intake sucks from. Easiest of all: one that had AdBlue in Redmile overnight and hasn't turned since. The AdBlue sits at the foot of that tank, untouched — though it would be first through once the motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. What is left when the water evaporates is urea, which forms crystals: they lodge in tiny channels and block filters. On top of that, it attacks some metals in a fuel system, and carries on till it's flushed out. Pipes holding AdBlue spell harm by morning for a car parked in Bottesford. Just inside the tank, it stays stable. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector depend on diesel running through them, and so the water content damages them by itself.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is often more major than petrol
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Esso's forecourt leaves your fuel thin — that's the whole problem. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it's in that tank it does no damage; the harm comes from running the motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Because it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Deposits and corrosion stay through the following fill, and AdBlue splits back out of the diesel, so watering it can't help. Hence the flush counts more, and trying your engine "to see" costs more here than almost any other mistake — in Alverton or the heart of Bottesford equally.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Wherever across Leicestershire the car has come to rest, an unrun motor means the AdBlue yet inside the tank: the simplest part of any fuel system to empty.
Bottesford: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It is not deliberate. Plenty of vehicles have the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, occasionally behind one flap, and mixing them up is easy in poor light. Usually it's not the forecourt: a driver picks up a container driving home and pours it in outside the house.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Bottesford Church of England Primary School the refill is rushed. In the evening, a bottle is tipped in on a driveway near High Street. Another pattern: darkness, a pub car park by The Rutland Arms, and a driver opening that flap the first time.
It comes up the most in a rental, a new car, a fleet car, or the spare vehicle of a home with one of each fuel types — the cars people use the least. Same mistake, an identical first step — leave it switched off — anywhere you happen to be in Bottesford or the rest of Leicestershire.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Bottesford, and the motor started?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. It's been sucked through the filter and the lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has reached your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors.
Rough running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each might show up, maybe midway across Bottesford or returning from Bottesford FC. Once safe, stop then switch it off — with no restarting to test. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Bottesford lies under 25 miles from the M1; if you were on it, leave at the first junction and pull up somewhere safe rather than driving on.
Distance counts: every mile carries the AdBlue further in, and so driving for Nottingham, under 15 miles away, makes a far larger job than hopping across Bottesford to the car park by Bottesford Baptist Church. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after the motor has been started. Lasting damage is very unusual if it is noticed quickly.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves in Bottesford
The vehicle stays put, whether that's a road near Bottesford Library, a driveway, a layby or a forecourt around Bottesford, and the van travels to it. Three answers shape the work, so before anything else our technicians ask which fluid got in, about what quantity, plus whether your engine has turned over.
Next, emptying that tank right there removes the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue in one go. The fuel system is flushed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. After that, the filter: cleaned, or replaced when it must be. Then fresh diesel, and then a test of the vehicle. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when the motor hasn't run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the street at night.
The final step is to bleed the system on clean diesel. You drive off as soon as our technicians have started the car, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a driveway in Bottesford or in a space outside the nearest station. Before leaving, our technicians check it's running smoothly with new diesel in. As the job is done in full where the car is, a workshop never comes into it. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Bottesford, for a moment
Bottesford is a village in Leicestershire, situated on the banks of the River Devon, with a low elevation of around 32 metres. Bottesford lies near several smaller settlements, including Easthorpe, Normanton, and Muston, and is located approximately 14 miles from Nottingham. Bottesford has a population of around 2213 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Bottesford is also within commuting distance of larger cities, being around 103 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Leicestershire, Bottesford included
AdBlue jobs around Bottesford go to teams that cover the places around it — Easthorpe, Normanton plus Muston — and most of Leicestershire further out, throughout NG postcodes. Close to a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down? Asking beats assuming, so ring.
Bottesford is a village, and a call-out 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 sits, so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Bottesford?
Each job differs, and so no single quote is honest. The cost shifts first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it depends on where your car is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight spot behind St Mary's.
Ahead of any quote, not afterwards, each call from Bottesford begins with the same three checks: the fuel, the amount, plus whether the engine ran. Once they are answered, a range turns into a single firm figure.
Before anyone sets off, you are told the price on the phone. Then payment is on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing in advance. Check your policy whilst we're on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
Bottesford: still next to your car?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with your car is to not touch it. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and if it ran is all our technicians ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest across Leicestershire, Bottesford too.