AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Charminster? Don't Start It
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, your ignition stays off and so does the engine. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when your fuel system pulls it in. Caught before the motor has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Charminster. First, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
Charminster, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do at once
Things to do:
- Keys out — then nobody can switch anything on.
- If you are at all close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what went in and about how much.
- Call right where you are. Quote a DT2 9 postcode or the closest street sign, and no one has to hunt for you.
Not to do:
- Moving the car just a short way is no reason to fire up your engine.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel will not thin it.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short stretch along West Hill.
- No draining it yourself, either, on the verge.
Get the people behind the counter to help you move your vehicle away from the pumps if you are at a forecourt in Charminster, whether it is the BP or somewhere else. Parked on your own drive? Then it remains exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the engine. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it's fed into the exhaust, and there it treats the fumes. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once tipped in, won't. Its behaviour is nothing like diesel's. It sinks, since it's heavier than diesel, and pools down where the pickup draws its fuel from. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Charlton Down overnight and hasn't been started since. The AdBlue waits at the base of your tank, undrawn — though it would be first through once your engine runs, before any diesel at all.
After it is sucked in, the harm comes in two forms. 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 working on the components it hits for as long as it stays there. A vehicle left standing around Charminster with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and each injector as it flows; water gives no lubrication, and that is a second kind of harm.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger issue?
Fill a diesel with petrol in error over at the Shell, and this problem is diluted fuel. Harm just comes from running on it. Blended into the diesel and left inside that tank, it causes none.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is plainly the wrong one. Since it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Whether the vehicle is in Poundbury or the heart of Charminster, turning it over "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other error, and the flush matters more. The reasons: it won't remain mixed, so diluting it fails; and crystals and corrosion outlast the next tankful.
As with petrol, there is good news. Emptying a tank is the simplest part on any fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue remains in it — anywhere in Dorset your car sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Charminster: how it ends up there
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many cars waits right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A bottle picked up while heading home and tipped in outside the house, rather than at the filling station, is the typical route.
Mostly, it happens in one of a few familiar ways. The top-up gets rushed outside St Mary's Church of England First School, Charminster, after the dash flashed with a warning while the kids were taken in. Near The Square, someone pours a container in on the drive in the evening. Otherwise, after dark by The Three Compasses, the car gets topped up by a driver using that flap the first time.
It takes place most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever around Dorset, Charminster included, the mistake doesn't change, and neither does the first response: keep it off.
Charminster: started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside the tank. The fuel filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and any running time takes it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
You may notice the motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Wolfedale Golf Course or halfway across Charminster. No restarting to test: stop when it is safe, then turn everything off. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
If you were on the M5, under 50 miles from Charminster, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
Distance matters: every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in, and so driving for Wells, under 50 miles away, gives a far bigger job than hopping across Charminster to the car park by St Mary the Virgin. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever the car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out once the motor has been running. Permanent damage is very uncommon if it is spotted quickly.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel in Charminster: what it takes
Wherever it has come to rest in Charminster — a filling station, a lay-by, a drive, a street beside Wolfeton House — our van comes to the vehicle. Before anything else we ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if your motor has run, because those replies settle the work.
Then your tank is emptied where the car stands, and so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush counts: the whole system is cleaned right through because residue will not flush away unaided. Fresh diesel goes in once your filter is cleaned — or replaced, if it needs to be — and after that the car is tested. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs where your engine hasn't run. Low-noise enough to use outside a house at night, and safe on a working forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Bleeding the system with fresh diesel comes at the end. Whether it is a parking space outside Dorchester West or a drive around Charminster, that is where our technicians start the engine and you drive off. It is checked on fresh diesel to make sure it runs properly before we head off. No workshop is needed at any stage, with the whole job done then and there. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Charminster
Charminster is a village situated in a riverside setting in Dorset, with an elevation of around 72 metres. Charminster lies near the nearby places of Burton, Frome Whitfield, and Bradford Peverell, and is approximately 33.9 miles from the city of Wells. Charminster has a population of around 858 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Charminster is located in the South West region of England, about 114.4 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Dorset, Charminster included
AdBlue jobs around Charminster go to vans that cover the places near it — Burton, Frome Whitfield plus Bradford Peverell — and most of Dorset further out, throughout DT postcodes. Near a boundary, or anywhere awkward to explain? Asking beats guessing, so phone.
Anywhere the vehicle stands — a drive at home, a residential street, a parking area, a forecourt — our technicians drain it there, and there's no need to bring it to us; which suits Charminster, a village, well.
Charminster: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Every job is different, so not one single quote would be honest. The price shifts first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that got in. After that it depends on where your car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight gap behind Longbarrow.
Before a quote, never after, every enquiry from Charminster begins with the same three checks: the liquid, the amount, plus whether the engine ran. Their answers shrink a range right down to a single number.
You hear that price by phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. While the van is travelling, dig out your insurance: many include misfuelling.
In Charminster and still alongside the vehicle?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, right now, the best move open to you. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Charminster or anywhere across Dorset.