AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Carnon Downs? Don't Start It
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does the motor. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. It does not burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the system pulls it in. If the motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and carefully flushed where the car stands around Carnon Downs. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Carnon Downs, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
To do:
- Keys out — then no one can power anything on.
- If you're at all near moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- Keep your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what was put in and about how much.
- Our van locates you quickest with a postcode starting TR3 6, or just the name of a street close by, and so call from the spot.
Don't:
- Do not start your engine, even for a moment to move the car.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Even a short way up Bissoe Road is too far to drive the car.
- No draining it yourself, either, on the verge.
Moving your car away from the pumps is a job for attendants to help with, whichever Carnon Downs forecourt you are on, the Shell included. Stopped on your own drive? Then it stays exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your engine. Stored in a separate tank, it's injected into the exhaust to clean the gases. No part inside a fuel pump is designed for this fluid — and none of it was meant to go that way.
It doesn't combine. Once it's poured into the tank, AdBlue behaves nothing like diesel. It is heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. Simplest of all: one that had AdBlue in Penelewey last night and has not turned since. The AdBlue sits at the foot of the tank, untouched — but it would be first through once your motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
It does two kinds of damage from there. What remains once the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in narrow passages and clog filters. On top of that, it attacks some metals in the fuel system, and carries on until it's cleared out. A car left standing around Carnon Downs with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank isn't. Then there's the water: it offers no lubrication to the components that rely on it the most — the injection pump and every injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is regularly worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the Sainsbury's and you have an issue of thin fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it is in the tank it does no harm; the harm comes from running the motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a problem of the wrong substance altogether. It can't just be run through, since it doesn't burn. Whether your vehicle is in Playing Place or the centre of Carnon Downs, turning it over "to see" does more harm in this case than almost any other error, and the flush counts more. Why: it won't stay blended, so diluting it fails; and deposits and corrosion outlast the following tankful.
The same good news holds as with petrol. If the engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside the tank, and your tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Cornwall your car is sitting.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Carnon Downs?
Plenty of vehicles place the AdBlue cap beside the diesel cap, occasionally under a single flap, and after dark the two can look identical. No one intends it. Usually it's not the forecourt: a driver buys a container driving home and pours it in at home.
Usually, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside Devoran School. In the evening, a container goes in on a driveway near Quenchwell Road. Or the car is topped up in the car park at The Old Quay Inn, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
It happens most in the motors drivers know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. An identical mistake, an identical first step — leave it switched off — wherever you happen to be around Carnon Downs or the rest of Cornwall.
Carnon Downs: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. Your filter and lines have had it pulled along, and any running carries it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power, dashboard lights or cutting out: any might appear, perhaps part way across Carnon Downs or coming back from Jubilee Wood. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the car to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
If you were on the M5, over 50 miles from Carnon Downs, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into the system. That is why a hop across Carnon Downs to park near St John & St Petroc and a drive of under 5 miles towards Truro are very separate jobs. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
We do all of the cleaning where the car has ended up, and once the motor has run there is more of it. Spotted soon, it very seldom leaves permanent damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Carnon Downs?
The car stays put, whether that is a street near Devoran Methodist Church, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station around Carnon Downs, and the van travels to it. Which fluid was put in, about how much, and if your motor has turned over: we check before all else, because those decide the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out together after that tank is drained, on the spot. Residue from AdBlue won't wash away by itself, so the fuel system gets a full flush, which matters much more here than with petrol. A test of your car comes last, after clean diesel goes in and your filter is flushed or, if necessary, replaced. About half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when the motor has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Last, your system is primed with fresh diesel. At that point our engineers fire it up and you head off, whether from a parking bay outside Perranwell or a drive in Carnon Downs. Our technicians check it runs smoothly on new diesel before we leave. No garage is required at any stage, with the whole job done on the spot. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers ask for.
About Carnon Downs
Carnon Downs is a village in Cornwall, situated near the city of Truro and close to the coastal area. Carnon Downs has a population of around 942 people and is characterised by detached housing. Carnon Downs sits at an elevation of 87 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. Carnon Downs is located near other small settlements such as Ringwell and Devoran.
AdBlue drains across Carnon Downs and Cornwall
Ringwell, Devoran and Come-to-Good are among the places near Carnon Downs that the same teams serve, together with much of Cornwall further out, over the TR postcode area. Near a boundary, or anywhere awkward to explain? Asking is better than guessing, and so phone.
No moving is needed. In Carnon Downs, a coastal village, a mobile service works: the car is emptied on the spot, whether in a drive, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Carnon Downs?
There is no fair single quote, since the jobs aren't the same. The cost changes first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it rests on where your car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind Devoran Village Hall.
Before any figure, not afterwards, each enquiry from Carnon Downs begins with the same three checks: the liquid, the quantity, plus whether it ran. Once they are known, a range becomes a single firm number.
Before a van heads out, you hear the price by phone. And payment is on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
Beside the vehicle around Carnon Downs, right now?
Not touching your car is, right now, the most useful thing open to you. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and if it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Carnon Downs or anywhere across Cornwall.