AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Cat Bank? Don't Start It
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then keep your motor off — and your ignition as well. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when the system draws it in. If the engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and carefully cleaned where the car sits in Cat Bank. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Cat Bank
Do:
- Pull the keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what was put in and about how much.
- Our van finds you quickest with a postcode starting LA21 8, or simply the name of a street nearby, and so phone from the spot.
Never:
- Shifting the car even a short way is no reason to fire up your engine.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue won't blend, so it is pointless.
- Even a short distance up Ruskin Avenue is too far to drive the car.
- Don't try to drain it yourself by the kerbside.
Moving your car away from the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever Cat Bank forecourt you are on, the BP or any other. Parked on your own driveway? Then it stays exactly as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not the engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
It does not combine. After it is poured into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like diesel. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. Once your system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Until then it waits underneath your diesel, which is why a vehicle topped up in Far End yesterday and never started stays the straightforward one, provided nobody turns the key.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps working on the parts it reaches for as long as it stays there. A vehicle left sitting in Cat Bank with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and every injector as it passes; water gives no lubrication, which is a second form of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake over at the another forecourt nearby, and the problem is thinned fuel. Blended through your diesel and left unused, it is no threat for now; using the engine does the damage.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid as such is simply the wrong one. It cannot just be run through, because it doesn't burn. It doesn't stay mixed, so it cannot be weakened. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the car is in Bowmanstead or the middle of Cat Bank.
The same good news holds as with petrol. If the engine has not run, the AdBlue is still in that tank, and that tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Cumbria the vehicle is standing.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Cat Bank: how it ends up there
Many cars place the AdBlue filler beside the diesel one, occasionally under a single flap, and after dark the two can appear identical. Nobody means it. Most of the time it takes place 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. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Coniston CofE Primary School. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Beck Yeat. Otherwise, after dark outside Crown Inn, the vehicle is topped up by someone using that flap for the first time.
It comes up most in a hire car, a brand-new car, a fleet vehicle, or the other motor of a home with both fuel types — the cars drivers use least. Leave it off: that's the first step to an identical slip, anywhere around Cat Bank or the remainder of Cumbria you happen to be.
Cat Bank: started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then that tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Through the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — given any running time — on to the injection pump and every injector: that is how far it has gone.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: any may show up, perhaps part way across Cat Bank or returning from Great Briery Coppice. No restarting to check: stop when it is safe, then switch it off. Each start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the M6, under 25 miles from Cat Bank, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
Hopping across Cat Bank to the car park by John Ruskin's Grave is one thing; driving for Lancaster, under 25 miles away, is another, because each mile carries the AdBlue further in. So mileage counts. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to rinse out once your engine has been started, and our technicians do all of it where your car has come to a stop. Caught early, it very seldom leaves long-term damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Cat Bank?
Our engineers come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped in Cat Bank: a side street close to Saint Andrew's, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else we ask what went in, about how much, and whether the motor has been run, since those answers settle the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave as one when that tank is drained, right there. A full flush matters much more after AdBlue than after petrol, since what remains won't wash out on its own. A test of your vehicle comes at the end, once clean diesel is added and your filter is cleaned or, where needed, swapped. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when your engine has not run. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live filling station is no issue, and it's quiet enough for a residential street after dark.
The final step is to prime your system on new diesel. Whether it's a parking bay by Windermere or a drive in Cat Bank, that is where our technicians start it and you set off. Our engineers check it runs properly on clean diesel before we go. No workshop is needed at any stage, with the entire job done then and there. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Cat Bank
Cat Bank is a small lakeside locality in Cumbria, situated near Coniston and Oak Bank, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type. Cat Bank sits at an elevation of 54 metres, close to the shores of Coniston Water, and is approximately 24.5 miles from Lancaster. Cat Bank is part of a scenic area that attracts visitors to the Lake District, with nearby Haws Bank also being a popular destination. Cat Bank has a population of around 595 residents, who enjoy the tranquil surroundings of the locality.
AdBlue drains in Cat Bank and across Cumbria
Over the LA postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue jobs in Cat Bank serve most of Cumbria too, Coniston, Oak Bank and Haws Bank among them. Near a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down? Checking beats assuming, so phone.
Anywhere the car stands — a driveway at home, a residential street, a car park, a forecourt — our engineers empty it on the spot, and there's no need to take it to us; that suits Cat Bank, a small village, well.
Cat Bank: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Every job differs, and so not one single quote would be honest. Three things shift the cost: whether your engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the vehicle is. That last one turns on whether a technician can get to it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight space behind Coniston Sports and Social Centre.
What got in, what quantity, and whether it ran: every Cat Bank call opens with exactly those, before any figure, not after. Those answers narrow the range right down to a single figure.
Before anyone sets off, you are told our quote by phone. And you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Look at your policy whilst we are on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Still next to the vehicle around Cat Bank?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to your car. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, in Cat Bank or wherever in Cumbria, after you call 0333 366 0103 to say it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether it ran.