Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Charlestown
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then keep the motor off — and your ignition as well. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when the fuel system pulls it in. In Charlestown, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the engine runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where your car is. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
Charlestown, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do right away
Things to do:
- Remove the keys, which prevents someone switching the electrics on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and roughly what quantity, keep the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting DT4 9, or the name of the closest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Not to do:
- Don't start your motor, even for a moment to shift the car.
- Plenty of diesels power their fuel pump the moment your ignition comes on, so leave it off.
- Pouring in extra diesel does not work: AdBlue separates out instead of thinning.
- Don't drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short stretch along Albany Road.
- Don't try to drain it yourself by the kerbside.
At a forecourt around Charlestown, whether it's the Esso or another one, ask the staff to help you push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. At your own driveway, don't touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
Poured in with the diesel, it stays apart rather than blending — entirely unlike fuel. It drops, since it's denser than diesel, and settles low where the intake draws its fuel from. A vehicle topped up on a drive in Southill yesterday evening and not started since counts as the simple one. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up so far — but when your motor runs, that's what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of your tank.
From there it does 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, so it keeps labouring on the parts it gets to for as long as it remains there. By daybreak, a vehicle parked in Charlestown with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; where it's just in that tank, nothing changes. And there is the water: it offers no protection to the parts that rely on it most — the injection pump and every injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger issue?
Put petrol in a diesel at the Morrisons and you have a problem of thin fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it is inside the tank it does no damage; the damage comes from running your motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It does not burn, and so it cannot just be run through. Crystals and corrosion stay through the next tankful, and AdBlue splits back out of your diesel, so thinning it won't help. Hence the flush matters more, and trying the engine "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other mistake — in Chickerell or the heart of Charlestown equally.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Emptying a tank is the easiest part on any fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever in Dorset your vehicle has stopped.
Charlestown: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many cars sits right next to the diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Most of the time it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
A few familiar ways cover most cases. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Conifers Primary School the refill is hurried. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Cumberland Drive. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap refills your vehicle after dark, stopped in the car park outside The Marquis of Granby.
Rented cars, new motors, fleet vehicles, or the spare vehicle in a home with one of each: the least known vehicles see it most. Wherever you're around Charlestown or the rest of Dorset, it's the same slip and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Charlestown?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer in your tank. The filter and pipework have had it pulled through, and some running carries it on to the injection pump and every injector.
Expect rough running, exhaust smoke, falling power, warnings on your dash, or a cut-out — coming back from Bennetts Water Gardens, say, or part way across Charlestown. Once you safely can, pull over and switch it off — with no restarting to see. Each start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the M5, under 50 miles from Charlestown, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue further into the system. That's why a hop across Charlestown to park near Granby Fun Factory and a drive of under 50 miles towards Wells are very separate jobs. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after the motor has been running. Noticed quickly, it very seldom leaves lasting damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Charlestown?
The vehicle remains put, whether that's a road beside Weymouth Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt around Charlestown, and our van comes to it. Which fluid went in, about how much, and if your motor has turned over: we ask first, since those shape the work.
On the spot, your tank is then drained, and both the polluted diesel and the urea leave as one. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing counts: the whole system is flushed all the way through because residue will not wash away unaided. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once our engineers are there. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Fresh diesel goes in to bleed the fuel system, and that's the last step. Whether it is a parking space at Weymouth or a drive in Charlestown, that is where our technicians fire it up and you head off. It is checked on clean diesel to confirm it runs properly before our technicians leave. As the job is done in full where the car is, a workshop never comes into it. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers ask for.
About Charlestown and where it is
Charlestown is a small suburban area in Dorset, situated on the coast in the South West of England. Charlestown sits at a low elevation of around 16 metres, with nearby places including Putton, Lanehouse, and Westham. Charlestown has a population of approximately 3299 people, with a predominance of terraced housing. Charlestown is located near the coast, with the nearest city being Wells, which is around 41.6 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Dorset, Charlestown included
AdBlue call-outs around Charlestown are passed to teams that serve the places around it — Putton, Lanehouse as well as Westham — and much of Dorset beyond, across DT postcodes. Guessing doesn't help close to a county line or anywhere tricky to describe; phone and check.
No towing is needed. In Charlestown, a residential suburb, a mobile service fits: your car is drained where it stands, whether on a drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Charlestown
Since the jobs differ, a flat figure wouldn't be fair. Whether the engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the cost. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the location of the car, because an open driveway is simpler for a van to reach safely than a tight space behind Charlestown Victory Hall.
With that in mind, every enquiry from Charlestown begins by asking the identical trio — which fluid got in, what quantity, if the engine ran — before a figure. With those replies, a range shrinks to a single firm number.
The price is quoted during the call, before a van leaves; payment happens on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
In Charlestown and still next to the car?
Then, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to leave it. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether it ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Charlestown or wherever within Dorset.