Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bridgetown
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, your ignition stays off and so does your engine. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when your fuel system pulls it in. Caught before the engine has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Bridgetown. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank in Bridgetown
Do:
- So no one can switch the ignition on, pull your keys away.
- Put the hazard lights on if you're anywhere near moving traffic.
- Which product, and roughly what amount? Save the bottle or your receipt, and our technicians will see.
- Ring right where you are. Say a TQ9 5 postcode or the closest street sign, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Not to do:
- No starting the engine — not for a second, not to reposition the vehicle.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Pouring in more diesel does not work: AdBlue separates out instead of thinning.
- Do not drive it anywhere, not even a short stretch down Seymour Place.
- Don't try to drain the car yourself by the kerbside.
Ask the attendants to help you move your vehicle away from the island if you are at a forecourt around Bridgetown, whether it is the Morrisons or somewhere else. Stopped on your own drive? Then it stays just where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your engine. From a separate reservoir it goes straight to the exhaust, treating what your engine lets out. Not one side fits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and a pump cannot take urea.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, after poured in, will not. Its behaviour is not at all like diesel's. The pickup takes fuel from the deepest part of that tank, and that's precisely where AdBlue settles: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. A motor filled on a driveway in Berry Pomeroy yesterday evening and not started since is the simple case. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up so far — but when your engine turns, that is what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of your tank.
From there it does two kinds of harm. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that hardens in filter elements and tiny passages; and, because it eats at certain metals, each part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it remains inside. If the AdBlue is in the lines, waiting overnight in Bridgetown leaves things worse. In your tank alone, waiting does nothing. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and every injector as it flows; water offers no lubrication, which is a second form of damage.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
Top up a diesel with petrol in error at the Texaco, and this problem is diluted fuel. Harm only comes from running on it. Blended into your diesel and sitting inside that tank, it does none.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It does not burn, and so it can't simply be run through. Deposits and corrosion stay after the next tankful, and AdBlue splits again from your diesel, and so thinning it won't help. That is why the flush counts more, and turning your key "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other mistake — in Longcause or the heart of Bridgetown alike.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Never started? Then the AdBlue waits just inside that tank, the simplest section of the entire system to empty, anywhere the car has stopped around Devon.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Bridgetown: how it ends up there
Plenty of vehicles place the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, now and then behind a single flap, and after dark the two can appear identical. Nobody means it. Usually it is never the forecourt: a driver picks up a bottle heading home and tips it in at home.
It tends to happen in a couple of familiar ways. Hurrying, outside Totnes St John's Church of England Primary School, after a warning light came on during the school run, a parent refills the car. A driver pours the container in outside their house, just off Woodbrook Road, as the day ends. Otherwise, after dark outside The Albert Inn, the car is refilled by someone opening that flap for the first time.
It comes up the most in a hire car, a brand-new vehicle, a fleet motor, or the other vehicle of a family with one of each fuel types — the cars drivers use the least. Leave it switched off: that's the first step to an identical slip, wherever around Bridgetown or the rest of Devon you happen to be.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Bridgetown?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Via the filter, along the lines, and — given any running — into the injection pump and each injector: that is how far it travels.
Maybe returning from St John's Primary School nature reserve, or part way across Bridgetown, your motor may run lumpy, smoke, lose power, light up your dash or cut out. When safe, stop and turn it off — without turning it on again to test. Each start pulls more of that through.
Leave the M5, under 25 miles from Bridgetown, by the next junction and stop somewhere safe, rather than driving on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Bridgetown to the car park by St John's Church is a very different job from a run towards Plymouth, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with every mile. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Once the motor has been started, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the car has stopped. If it's spotted early, long-term damage is very uncommon.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Bridgetown: what it takes
We come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped in Bridgetown: a side street close to William John Mills Memorial, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Which fluid went in, roughly the quantity, and if the engine has turned over: we check first, since those decide the work.
Then your tank is emptied where the vehicle stands, and so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A full flush counts far more after AdBlue than with petrol, because residue won't clear out on its own. Testing the vehicle comes at the end, after clean diesel goes in and the filter gets flushed or, if necessary, swapped. Most of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our engineers get there, if your engine has not run. Explosion-proof pumps make a live forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough to spare the street at night.
The last step is to prime the system on new diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you drive off from where the vehicle is parked, by Totnes or on a driveway in Bridgetown. Our engineers check it runs smoothly on new diesel before we leave. The whole job is done where the car is, so it never needs to be taken to a workshop. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers want.
About Bridgetown
Bridgetown is a suburban area in Devon, situated on the riverside at a low elevation of around 12 metres. Bridgetown lies near the cities of Plymouth and Totnes, and is connected to nearby places such as True Street and Swallowfields. Bridgetown has a population of approximately 4135 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Bridgetown is located in the South West region of England, about 171 miles from London.
Bridgetown and Devon: AdBlue drains across the area
Our teams that answer AdBlue calls around Bridgetown also cover the spots around it, Totnes, True Street and Swallowfields among them, and most of Devon beyond, across the TQ postcode area. Phone and check instead of guessing if you are by a county line, or anywhere awkward to explain.
A mobile service fits Bridgetown, a residential suburb: there's no need to bring the car to us, because we drain it there, in a driveway, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Bridgetown
Not one flat figure would be honest, because every job differs. What shifts the price is, firstly, whether the engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and finally where your car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Friends Meeting House.
Ahead of any figure, not afterwards, every enquiry from Bridgetown opens with three checks: the liquid, the quantity, and whether it ran. Those answers shrink the range down to one number.
You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Still next to the car in Bridgetown?
Right now, the best thing to do with your vehicle is to not touch it. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus if the engine ran are all our technicians need. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest throughout Devon, Bridgetown too.