AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Burnhope? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, leave the engine off then leave the ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and nothing starts until your engine pulls it through. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Burnhope, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it is caught before your motor has been run. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
Burnhope, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do straight away
Do:
- Remove the keys, which prevents someone turning the electrics on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- Hold on to your receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what got in and about how much.
- Our van finds you fastest with a postcode starting DH7 0, or simply the name of a street close by, and so phone from the car.
Never do these:
- Shifting the car just a short way is no reason to fire up the motor.
- Plenty of diesels power their pump the instant the ignition comes on, and so leave the car off.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue will not mix, and so it is pointless.
- Keep the vehicle where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short stretch up Edwards Walk.
- No draining it yourself, either, at the roadside.
Moving the car off the island is a job for attendants to help with, whichever Burnhope forecourt you're on, the JET or any other. Parked on your own drive? Then it stays exactly where it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your engine. From a separate tank it is fed straight to your exhaust, treating what your motor lets out. A fuel pump is not made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. Denser than diesel, it drops and pools underneath it — the same spot the intake sucks from. Simplest of all: one that had AdBlue in Ornsby Hill overnight and has not turned since. The liquid waits at the base of that tank, undrawn — though it would be the first thing through once the motor runs, before any diesel at all.
Two kinds of damage follow 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, and so it keeps labouring on the components it gets to for as long as it stays there. By daybreak, a vehicle parked around Burnhope with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; where it's only inside the tank, it doesn't. Diesel protects the injection pump and each injector as it passes; water offers none of that, which is a separate kind of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is often worse than petrol
An issue of thinned fuel is what you get after filling a diesel with petrol from the Esso. It mixes with the diesel, and while it's in the tank it does no damage; the harm comes from running your engine on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. It does not stay mixed, so it can't be diluted. 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 engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the car is in Malton or the middle of Burnhope.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the easiest job on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue remains in it — anywhere across Durham the vehicle sits.
Burnhope: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Plenty of motors place the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, occasionally behind a single flap, and after dark the two may look identical. Nobody means it. It usually occurs at home, from a bottle grabbed on the journey home, not at the filling station.
It tends to happen in a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Burnhope Primary School. Near Holmside Lane, someone tips a bottle in on that drive in the evening. Or the car is topped up in the car park outside the pub in the village, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
It takes place most in the motors people know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever you're around Burnhope or the remainder of Durham, it is the same slip and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Burnhope?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Given any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and every injector, having passed through the fuel filter and pipework.
You may see the motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Burnhope Pond or halfway across Burnhope. No restarting to test: stop when it is safe, then turn it off. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Exit the A1(M), under 10 miles from Burnhope, by the next junction and stop somewhere safe, rather than driving on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Burnhope to the car park by Burnhope War Memorial is a very different job from a run towards Durham, under 10 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with every mile. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after your engine has been run. Very rarely does it leave permanent damage if it is noticed early.
Burnhope: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
A road beside Burnhope Methodist Chapel, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station: wherever your car has come to rest in Burnhope, we travel to it. Three answers shape the work, so first we ask what went in, roughly the amount, and whether the motor has run.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out as one after the tank is drained, on the spot. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing counts: the whole system is cleaned right through because what remains won't flush away unaided. After that, the fuel filter: flushed, or changed when it must be. Then clean diesel, and then a test of your vehicle. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once we turn up, provided the engine has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
The last step is to bleed the system on fresh diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you head off from where the car is parked, outside Chester-Le-Street or on a drive in Burnhope. The check before we head off is that it runs smoothly on new diesel. Our technicians do it all wherever your car has stopped, and it never needs to go to a workshop. At the end, there is the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer.
About Burnhope and where it is
Burnhope is a small village in County Durham, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 236 metres. Burnhope lies approximately 6 miles west of the city of Durham and is surrounded by nearby places such as Maiden Law and Quaking Houses. Burnhope has a population of around 402 people and predominantly features terraced housing. Burnhope is located in the North East region of England, about 239 miles north of London.
AdBlue drains around Burnhope and across Durham
Throughout the DH postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue call-outs in Burnhope serve much of Durham too, Maiden Law, Quaking Houses and Deanery View included. Phone and check instead of guessing when you are by a county line, or anywhere tricky to explain.
A mobile service suits Burnhope, a village: you have no need to bring the vehicle to us, since we drain it on the spot, on a drive, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Burnhope?
Every job is different, and so not one single price is honest. Three things move the cost: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the car is. That last one turns on whether a van can get to it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight space behind St John the Evangelist.
What got in, how much, and if it ran: each Burnhope call begins by asking exactly that, before a quote, never after. When those are known, a range turns into one firm number.
Before a van heads out, you hear our quote on the phone. And payment is on the day, card or by phone, with nothing upfront. As our engineer is on the way, check your insurance: plenty include misfuelling.
Burnhope: still next to the car?
In that case, touch nothing — that is the best step available. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether the engine ran are everything our technicians need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest across Durham, Burnhope included.