AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Christow? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, leave the engine off and leave the ignition off. Urea mixed in water is all AdBlue is. As it is water-based, it will not ignite and won't blend with diesel; damage only comes when your pump starts drawing it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Christow, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before the engine has run. First, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around Christow
Do these:
- Take the keys out, and so no one switches your ignition on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you are anywhere near moving traffic.
- Which fluid, and roughly how much volume? Save the bottle or the till receipt, and our technicians will know.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting EX6 7, or the name of the closest street, gets our van to you without a search.
Do not do these:
- Moving your vehicle just a short way is no reason to fire up your motor.
- Many diesels power their pump the instant the ignition goes on, so leave it off.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue won't blend, and so it is wasted.
- Don't drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short way up Smithay Meadows.
- Don't try to drain it yourself by the roadside.
On a forecourt around Christow, whether it's the Moor Park Garage or another one, ask the staff to help you roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. On the drive, the vehicle remains just as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. Kept in a dedicated tank, it is injected into the exhaust stream to treat the gases. Neither side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in an injection pump, and an injection pump can't take urea.
Poured in with your diesel, it keeps separate rather than mixing — quite unlike fuel. Denser than diesel, it sinks and collects below it — the same spot the intake draws from. Once your pump runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to be pulled through. Until then it waits beneath the diesel, and that is how a car topped up in Lower Ashton last night and not started stays the simple case, as long as nobody touches the key.
It does two kinds of damage from there. What remains once the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they lodge in tiny passages and block filters. Worse, it attacks some metals in the fuel system, and keeps going until it's flushed out. A vehicle left standing around Christow with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank isn't. Water protects nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector need diesel running through them, so the water content damages them by itself.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is often more significant than petrol
An issue of thinned fuel is what you get from fuelling a diesel with petrol at the Texaco. Blended through your diesel and left unused, it is harmless for now; running the engine is the harm.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely wrong liquid. Since it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Whether the car sits in Bridford or the heart of Christow, turning it over "to see" does more harm in this case than almost any other error, and the flush matters more. The reasons: it will not stay blended, and so diluting it is impossible; and deposits and corrosion survive the next tankful.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. If your engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside that tank, and the tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Devon your car is sitting.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Christow: how it ends up there
Many cars place the AdBlue cap beside the diesel cap, now and then under one flap, and after dark the two may appear the same. Nobody means it. Usually it's not the filling station: a driver buys a container heading home and tips it in at home.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Christow Primary School the refill is rushed. Someone pours the bottle in outside their house, just off Wet Lane, as the day ends. Or someone new to that flap refills the car in dim light, stopped in the car park by Artichoke Inn.
It comes up most in a hire car, a brand-new vehicle, a company vehicle, or the other motor of a family with one of each fuels — the vehicles drivers use least. Wherever across Devon, Christow included, the slip doesn't change, and neither does the first step: leave it off.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Christow, and the engine started?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer in that tank. With any running time, it goes on to the injection pump and each injector, having passed via your filter and pipework.
Perhaps returning from Christow Playing Fields and Showground, or midway across Christow, the engine might run rough, smoke, lose pace, flash the dash or cut out. Stop when it is safe. Switch off. Keep the vehicle off instead of testing it again. Each start pulls more of that through.
Christow lies under 10 miles from the M5; if you were on it, exit by the next junction and pull up somewhere safe instead of driving on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue further in. That's why crossing Christow to park beside St James', Christow and a drive of under 10 miles for Exeter are such distinct jobs. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
There is more to rinse out once your engine has been run, and our technicians do all of it where the vehicle has ended up. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage if it's spotted early.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel around Christow: what it takes
A street by Wheal Augusta (Teign Valley Barytes Mine), a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt: anywhere the car has stopped in Christow, we come to it. Three replies decide the job, and so before anything else our technicians ask which fluid got in, roughly the amount, plus if the engine has turned over.
Then your tank is drained where the car sits, so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A careful flush matters far more after AdBlue than with petrol, because residue won't wash out on its own. Testing your vehicle follows last, after clean diesel goes in and the fuel filter is flushed or, if necessary, replaced. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our engineers get there, provided your engine hasn't run. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a working forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
The final step is to bleed the fuel system on fresh diesel. Whether it is a parking bay by Exeter St Thomas or a drive around Christow, that is where we fire it up and you set off. Before leaving, our technicians check it is running smoothly with new diesel in. Since the job is done in full where the car is, a workshop never comes into it. Afterwards, you are given the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Christow itself
Christow is a small village in Devon, situated inland at an elevation of 111 metres, approximately 7 miles from Exeter. Christow has a population of around 681 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Christow is close to nearby places such as Court Barton, Bennah, and Coombe, and is located in the South West region of England. Christow is about 164 miles west of London.
Christow and Devon: AdBlue drains across the area
Court Barton, Bennah and Coombe are among the towns around Christow that the same vans serve, together with most of Devon further out, over the EX postcode area. Near a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down? Checking is better than assuming, so phone.
Anywhere the car stands — your driveway at home, a residential street, a car park, a forecourt — we drain it on the spot, with no need to bring it to us; which suits Christow, a rural village, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Christow: the cost of fixing it
There is no honest single price, because the jobs are not the same. The price changes first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that went in. After that it turns on where the vehicle is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight space behind Mine (dis).
Before a quote, not afterwards, each enquiry from Christow opens with the same three checks: the liquid, the amount, and if it ran. When those are answered, a range becomes a single fixed number.
Before anyone heads out, you hear the quote by phone. Then payment is on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. As our engineer is travelling, check your policy: plenty cover misfuelling.
Christow: still next to the vehicle?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, right now, the most useful move you can do. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, in Christow or wherever within Devon, after you phone 0333 366 0103 saying it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.