AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Brickbridge? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. Being water-based, it won't burn and never combines with diesel; damage only starts when the pump begins pulling it. Caught before the motor has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Brickbridge. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Your next steps straight away, Brickbridge: AdBlue in your diesel tank
To do:
- Pocket your keys, and that prevents anyone switching the power on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you're anywhere near moving traffic.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what was put in and roughly how much.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting WV5 0, or the name of the nearest street, gets the van to you without a search.
Not to do:
- No starting your engine — not for a second, not to shift your vehicle.
- The ignition remains off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to run your pump.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Even a short way up Bridgnorth Road is too far to drive it.
- No emptying it yourself, either, at the verge.
On a forecourt around Brickbridge, whether it is the Texaco or another one, ask the staff to help you push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. Parked on your own driveway? Then it remains exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. From a separate reservoir it is fed directly to your exhaust, treating what your motor lets out. No part in an injection pump is designed for this fluid — and none of that was intended to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts really differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. The intake takes fuel from the lowest part of that tank, and that's precisely where AdBlue settles: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. A motor filled on a driveway in Smestow overnight and not started since is the simple case. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up yet — but when the motor turns, that's what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of your tank.
Two kinds of harm come from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that hardens in filter elements and narrow channels; meanwhile, since it attacks certain metals, each part it touches suffers for as long as it remains in there. Overnight, a vehicle sitting in Brickbridge with AdBlue in its lines grows worse; where it is just in that tank, nothing changes. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and every injector as it passes; water gives none of that, which is a second form of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel commonly the bigger problem?
Put petrol in a diesel at the Morrisons and you have an issue of thin fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it is in that tank it causes no harm; the harm comes from running your motor on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is plainly the wrong one. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. Nor can it be watered down, since it splits back out — and the next tankful will not rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and turning the key "to see", in the centre of Brickbridge or out in Ounsdale, costs more than almost any other slip.
As with petrol, there's good news. Anywhere around Staffordshire the car has come to rest, an unstarted engine means the AdBlue yet in the reservoir: the simplest bit of any fuel system to clear.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Brickbridge: how it ends up there
It's not on purpose. Many cars keep the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, occasionally under one flap, and mixing them up is easy after dark. Mostly it's not the filling station: a driver picks up a bottle heading home and pours it in outside the house.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. The refill is rushed outside St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School, because your dash flashed with a warning as the children were taken off. After work, a container goes in on a drive close to Brickbridge Lane. Otherwise, in dim light outside Waggon and Horses, your vehicle gets topped up by someone opening that flap the first time.
It happens most in the motors people know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever you are around Brickbridge or the remainder of Staffordshire, it's the same error and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Brickbridge?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. With any running time, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and each injector, after passing through your filter and pipework.
You may see your motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Black Country Millennium Forest or halfway across Brickbridge. No restarting to check: stop once safe, then turn it off. Every start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M54, under 10 miles from Brickbridge, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
Hopping across Brickbridge to the car park by Church of the Venerable Bede is one thing; heading for Wolverhampton, under 10 miles away, is another, since every mile carries the AdBlue further in. So mileage counts. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once your engine has run, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where your car has stopped. When it is caught quickly, lasting damage is very unusual.
What clearing AdBlue from a diesel involves in Brickbridge
A street by Wombourne Methodist Church, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt: anywhere the vehicle has come to rest around Brickbridge, our engineers travel to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and if your motor has run, since those replies settle the work.
Next, emptying that tank right there takes out the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue together. Your system is flushed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel goes in once the fuel filter is cleaned — or swapped, if it needs to be — and after that your vehicle is tested. About half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs where your engine has not run. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Lastly, the fuel system is bled with clean diesel. Whether it's a parking space at Coseley or a driveway in Brickbridge, that is where we start it and you set off. Before we go, our engineers confirm it is running properly with fresh diesel in. Since the job is done in its entirety where the vehicle is, a garage never comes into it. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Brickbridge itself
Brickbridge is a suburban area in Staffordshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 79 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Brickbridge lies approximately 5 miles from Wolverhampton and 113 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Brickbridge is surrounded by other nearby places, including Giggetty, Wombourne, and Blakeley, and has a population of around 4295 residents. Brickbridge benefits from its proximity to the countryside and urban amenities alike.
AdBlue drains across Staffordshire, Brickbridge included
Giggetty, Wombourne and Blakeley are among the places around Brickbridge that the same vans reach, together with most of Staffordshire beyond, over the WV postcode area. Ring and ask instead of guessing when you are by a county line, or somewhere tricky to explain.
No towing is needed. In Brickbridge, a residential suburb, a mobile service works: the vehicle is emptied on the spot, whether in a drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Brickbridge: the cost of fixing it
Since each jobs differ, a flat price wouldn't be fair. Whether your engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what changes the cost. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the position of the car, since an open drive is easier for a van to get to safely than a tight gap behind Wombourne Leisure Centre.
That's why each call from Brickbridge starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and if it has run. Once they are answered, a range becomes a single firm number.
Quoted on the call before the van sets out, it is settled that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Still next to the vehicle in Brickbridge?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, then, the best move you can do. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, across Brickbridge or wherever within Staffordshire, once you call 0333 366 0103 to say it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether it ran.