AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Bream? Keep It Switched Off
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then leave the engine off — and the ignition too. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. The harm starts once it is pulled through the pump — it won't ignite, and it won't blend with diesel. Caught before the engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Bream. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
What to do straight away, Bream: AdBlue in your diesel tank
To do:
- Keys out — that way no one can power anything on.
- If you're at all close to moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what was put in and roughly how much.
- Tell us a postcode starting GL15 6, or whatever street lies closest, and our van finds you straight — so call from wherever you are.
Not to do:
- No starting your motor — not for a second, not to reposition the car.
- Turning the key to ignition alone starts the pump running on plenty of diesels. Skip it.
- Adding extra diesel does not work: AdBlue settles out instead of blending.
- Keep it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short way along Brockhollands Road.
- Beside the road, don't attempt emptying it yourself.
The staff on duty at any Bream forecourt — the Central Garage among them — will normally help rolling it aside if you ask. Parked on your own drive? Then it remains exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the engine. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Neither side fits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and a pump can't deal with urea.
It doesn't blend. Once it is tipped into the tank, AdBlue acts nothing like diesel. The intake takes fuel from the lowest part of the tank, and that is exactly where AdBlue ends up: being denser than diesel, it sinks. Once your pump runs, the AdBlue is first to be pulled through. Until then it waits underneath your diesel, and that is why a car filled in Whitecroft last night and not started stays the straightforward case, as long as no one touches your key.
After it is drawn in, the damage comes in two forms. What is left when the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they lodge in tiny channels and clog filters. On top of that, it attacks some metals in the fuel system, and carries on until it's cleared out. Pipes holding AdBlue mean damage overnight for a vehicle parked around Bream. Only inside your tank, it stays the same. Then there is the water: it offers no protection to the components that need it most — the injection pump and every injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error at the Tesco, and the issue is thinned fuel. No damage comes as long as it sits put, blended into the diesel — only once your engine runs on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is plainly the wrong one. Since it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it can't be thinned. 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 your motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Little Drybrook or the middle of Bream.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If your motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside your tank, and the tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in Gloucestershire the car is standing.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Bream?
Many vehicles place the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, occasionally under a single flap, and after dark the two may look identical. No one intends it. Mostly it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the pump.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. Rushing, outside Bream Church of England Primary School, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, someone refills the car. Near Main Road, someone pours a container in on the drive after work. Otherwise, in dim light by Rising Sun, the vehicle is topped up by someone using that flap for the first time.
Hired vehicles, brand-new cars, company cars, or the spare car in a family with one of each: the least known vehicles get it the most. Wherever you are in Bream or the remainder of Gloucestershire, it's the same error and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Bream, and your engine started?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. The fuel filter and pipework have had it pulled along, and any running carries it on to the injection pump and each injector.
You may see the motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Bream's Eaves Inclosure 2 or halfway across Bream. When safe, pull over and switch everything off — without turning it on again to test. Every start pulls more of that through.
Exit the M5, under 10 miles from Bream, by the first junction and park safely, not carrying on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Bream to the car park by Bream Community Library is a very different job from a run towards Gloucester, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with every mile. Let us know about how far it had come.
Once your engine has been run, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where your car has stopped. Lasting damage is very unusual when it's spotted soon.
Bream: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
A street beside West Dean Centre, a driveway, a layby or a forecourt: anywhere your car has come to rest around Bream, we travel to it. The job depends on three replies, which we get before all else — which fluid got in, the amount, and if the engine has turned over.
On the spot, your tank is then drained, and both the contaminated diesel and the urea leave as one. A careful flush counts far more with AdBlue than with petrol, since residue won't clear away on its own. A test of the car comes last, after fresh diesel goes in and your filter gets cleaned or, if necessary, replaced. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our technicians get there, provided your motor hasn't run. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live forecourt is no problem, and it is quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
Finally, the system is bled with fresh diesel. After that we start it and you drive off, whether from a parking bay outside Lydney or a drive around Bream. We confirm it runs smoothly on fresh diesel before we leave. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never needs to go to a workshop. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers want.
About Bream itself
Bream is a village in Gloucestershire, situated inland at an elevation of around 155 metres, approximately 16 miles from Gloucester. Bream has a population of around 1933 people, with a predominance of semi-detached housing. Bream is located near several smaller settlements, including Breams Meend and The Eaves. Bream sits within the wider South West region, about 106 miles west of London.
AdBlue drains across Bream and Gloucestershire
Throughout the GL postcode area, the vans taking AdBlue call-outs around Bream serve much of Gloucestershire too, Breams Meend, The Eaves and Brockhollands included. Ring and ask rather than guess when you are close to a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down.
A van that comes to you suits Bream, a rural village: you have no need to bring the car to us, because we empty it there, on a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
Bream: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
No flat figure would be honest, because every job is different. Whether the engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what changes the price. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the location of the car, since an open drive is easier for our van to get to safely than a tight gap behind Bream Sports Club.
What got in, how much, and if the engine ran: every Bream enquiry opens by asking exactly that, ahead of any figure, never after. Given those replies, a range shrinks to a single firm number.
Before anyone heads out, you hear the quote by phone. Then you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Check your policy while we are on the way: plenty include misfuelling cover.
Bream: still beside the car?
Right now, the best thing to do with your car is to leave it. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, in Bream or anywhere within Gloucestershire.