Brandon Village: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. The trouble begins once it's pulled through your lines — it will not ignite, and it will not combine with diesel. If the motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and carefully rinsed where your car sits in Brandon Village. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Brandon Village: the first few minutes
Do:
- Pocket the keys, and that stops anyone turning the power on.
- If you're at all near moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- Which fluid, and about what amount? Save the bottle or your receipt, and our engineers will know.
- Tell us a postcode starting DH7 8, or whatever street is closest, and the van finds you straight — so ring wherever you are.
Never do these:
- Don't start the engine, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- Many diesels power their fuel pump the instant the ignition comes on, so leave the car off.
- Do not top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short stretch up Old Gardens.
- Emptying the tank yourself by the road is not worth trying.
The staff working at any Brandon Village forecourt — the Jet among them — will normally help rolling it clear if you ask. At home, the car remains exactly where it was left.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not your motor. Stored in a separate tank, it's squirted into the exhaust to treat the fumes. A fuel pump is not made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. The pickup sucks fuel from the lowest part of your tank, and that's exactly where AdBlue ends up: being denser than diesel, it sinks. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Browney last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
It does two kinds of harm from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps running on the components it gets to for as long as it remains there. A car left standing around Brandon Village with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. Then there is the water: it offers no lubrication to the components that need it most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger fault?
Put petrol in a diesel at the Shell and you have a fault of thin fuel. Mixed through the diesel and sitting unused, it's no threat for now; running your engine is the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it can't just be run through. Whether your car sits in New Brancepeth or the centre of Brandon Village, firing it up "to see" costs more with AdBlue than almost any other error, and the flush matters for more. Why: it won't stay blended, and so watering it down fails; and crystals and corrosion survive the next tankful.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest part on any fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever around Durham the car sits.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Brandon Village?
It's not on purpose. Plenty of vehicles keep the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel inlet, now and then behind a single flap, and mixing them up is easy in poor light. A container picked up while driving home and poured in outside the house, rather than at the forecourt, is the typical story.
Mostly, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Brandon Primary Academy the top-up is hurried. Someone pours the bottle in outside their house, just off Stobb House View, as the day ends. Else, after dark by Bay Horse by Watson, the car is refilled by a driver using that flap for the first time.
It happens most in the cars motorists know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Leave it switched off: that is the first step to an identical slip, wherever around Brandon Village or the remainder of Durham you happen to be.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Brandon Village?
Then the AdBlue has left your tank. Given any running, it goes on to the injection pump and every injector, having passed through your filter and lines.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard warnings or stalling: each may appear, maybe part way across Brandon Village or returning from Brandon Cricket Club. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart it to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
Brandon Village lies under 5 miles from the A1(M); if you were on it, exit at the next junction and pull up somewhere safe instead of carrying on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue further in. That's why crossing Brandon Village to park beside Brandon war memorial and a drive of under 3 miles for Durham are such distinct jobs. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
There's more to clean out once the engine has been run, and our technicians do all of it where your car has ended up. When it's noticed quickly, lasting damage is very uncommon.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel around Brandon Village: what it takes
A road beside Brandon Welfare Hall, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station: wherever the car has stopped in Brandon Village, our engineers travel to it. Three replies decide the work, and so before anything else our engineers ask which fluid got in, about the amount, and whether the motor has turned over.
On the spot, the tank is then drained, and both the contaminated diesel and the urea leave as one. A full flush counts far more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what remains will not wash away by itself. Clean diesel goes in after the filter is cleaned — or replaced, when it needs to be — and then the vehicle is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our engineers get there, provided the motor has not run. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a busy forecourt is no issue, and it is hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime your system, and that's the final step. You set off as soon as our technicians have started the engine, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a driveway around Brandon Village or in a bay by Durham. It's tested on new diesel to confirm it runs properly before we go. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. At the end, you are given the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Brandon Village, for a moment
Brandon Village is a suburban area located near the city of Durham, sitting at an elevation of around 120 metres in the inland countryside of County Durham. Brandon Village is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, reflecting the typical residential development patterns of the region. Brandon Village is situated close to nearby places such as Brandon, Alum Waters, and Meadowfield, and is approximately 2.8 miles from the city of Durham.
AdBlue drains around Brandon Village and across Durham
Brandon, Alum Waters and Meadowfield are among the towns around Brandon Village that the same teams serve, together with much of Durham further out, over the DH postcode area. Near a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down? Checking is better than guessing, so ring.
No moving is needed. In Brandon Village, a residential suburb, a van that comes to you fits: the vehicle is drained on the spot, whether in a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Brandon Village: the cost of fixing it
There is no honest single price, since the jobs aren't the same. Three things move the price: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the vehicle is. That last one turns on whether our van can reach it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight spot behind St Andrews Methodist Church.
That's why each call from Brandon Village starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and if it has run. Once they are answered, a range becomes one firm number.
Before anyone sets off, you are told the price on the phone. Then 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're on the way.
In Brandon Village and still beside the vehicle?
Right now, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to leave it. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 and tell us it's AdBlue, about how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Brandon Village or anywhere across Durham.