Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bottisham
Motor off, ignition off: that is how you start if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. The harm starts once it's pulled through the pump — it won't ignite, and it won't blend with diesel. In Bottisham, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the engine runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where your car is. Nothing comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
Bottisham, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do at once
Do these:
- Keys out — that way nobody can switch anything on.
- Near moving traffic? So put the hazards on.
- So you can tell us which liquid it was and roughly what quantity, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Tell us a postcode starting CB25 9, or whichever street lies closest, and our van finds you directly — so call from wherever you are.
Things not to do:
- Do not start the engine, even for a moment to move the car.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue won't mix, so it is wasted.
- Even a short distance up Tunbridge Lane is too far to drive it.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself by the roadside.
The attendants working at any Bottisham filling station — the Teversham Motors among them — will normally lend a hand pushing it clear if you ask. At your own drive, don't touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Not your engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to fresh it. Nothing inside a fuel pump is made for this fluid — and none of that was intended to travel through one.
It doesn't blend. Once it's poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves nothing like diesel. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. A motor filled on a driveway in Frog End yesterday evening and not started since counts as the straightforward case. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up so far — but once your engine turns, that is what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of the tank.
Once it's pulled in, the damage comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that hardens in filter elements and narrow passages; meanwhile, because it attacks certain metals, every part it reaches suffers for as long as it stays in there. Where the AdBlue is in the pipework, waiting overnight in Bottisham leaves things worse. In the tank only, time costs nothing. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and each injector depend on diesel flowing through them, and so the water part harms them by itself.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's often worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the BP and you have a fault of thin fuel. Damage only comes from running on it. Blended into the diesel and sitting in your tank, it does none.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid as such is simply the wrong one. It can't just be run through, since it doesn't burn. Nor can it be watered down, since it splits again — and the next tankful won't clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts more with AdBlue, and turning the key "to see", in the centre of Bottisham or out in Little Wilbraham, does more harm than nearly any other error.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Anywhere in Cambridgeshire your vehicle has come to rest, an unrun engine leaves the AdBlue still inside the tank: the easiest bit of any fuel system to clear.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Bottisham: how it ends up there
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, occasionally under one flap — can appear the same. Nobody intends it; plenty of layouts allow it. A bottle picked up while heading home and tipped in outside the house, rather than at the forecourt, is the usual story.
It tends to happen in a few familiar ways. The top-up is hurried outside Bottisham Community Primary School, after your dash lit up with a warning as the kids were dropped in. Close to Bell Road, someone pours a bottle in on the drive in the evening. Or the car is topped up in the car park outside The Bell, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
The least familiar vehicles get it the most — hire cars, new ones, fleet cars, and the other vehicle in a home with one of each fuel types. An identical mistake, an identical first step — leave it switched off — wherever you happen to be in Bottisham or the remainder of Cambridgeshire.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Bottisham?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. With any running, it travels to the injection pump and every injector, having passed via the filter and lines.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard lights or stalling: each may show up, maybe part way across Bottisham or coming back from The Dirt Hills. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart it to check. Every start pulls more of it through.
Exit the M11, under 10 miles from Bottisham, at the next junction and park safely, rather than driving on.
Mileage matters: every mile carries the AdBlue deeper into the system, so driving towards Cambridge, under 10 miles away, gives a much larger job than hopping across Bottisham to the car park by the centre. Tell us about how far it had come.
Our technicians do all of the cleaning where your car has come to a stop, and once your engine has been started there is more of it. Very rarely does it leave permanent damage when it is noticed soon.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel around Bottisham: what it takes
The car remains where it is, whether that's a road beside Holy Trinity (Bottisham Parish Church), a drive, a layby or a filling station around Bottisham, and the van comes to it. Three replies decide the work, and so before anything else we ask what was put in, roughly the amount, plus if the motor has turned over.
Then the tank is drained where the vehicle waits, so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. The fuel system is purged thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our technicians get there, if your engine hasn't run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Priming the system with clean diesel comes last. You set off as soon as our technicians have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a drive around Bottisham or in a space by Waterbeach. Before leaving, our engineers make sure it's running correctly with fresh diesel in. Because the job is done in its entirety where the vehicle is, a workshop never comes into it. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Bottisham, for a moment
Bottisham is a village in Cambridgeshire, situated approximately 6 miles east of Cambridge, and is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock. Bottisham lies in a low-lying area of the county, with an elevation of around 15 metres, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Long Meadow and Swaffham Bulbeck. Bottisham is a relatively small community, with a population of around 1623 residents, and is located near the village of Lode. Bottisham is also within commuting distance of London, being around 52 miles from the capital.
AdBlue drains across Cambridgeshire, Bottisham included
Our teams that answer AdBlue jobs around Bottisham also cover the spots round it, Long Meadow, Swaffham Bulbeck and Lode among them, and most of Cambridgeshire beyond, across the CB postcode area. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask instead of assuming.
No moving is needed. In Bottisham, a rural village, a van that comes to you fits: the car is emptied on the spot, whether in a drive, a side street, a car park or a forecourt.
Bottisham: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Since the jobs differ, a flat price wouldn't be fair. The price moves first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it rests on where the car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind Memorial to Bottisham Commanding Officer Thomas Christian.
That is why every call from Bottisham starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and if it has run. Those answers shrink the range down to one figure.
You get that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
Alongside the car around Bottisham, right now?
Then, touch nothing — that is the best step there is. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Bottisham or anywhere in Cambridgeshire.