AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Colehill? Don't Start It
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then keep your engine off — and your ignition too. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. The trouble begins once it's pulled through your pump — it will not burn, and it will not blend with diesel. Caught before the motor has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Colehill. No step comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank in Colehill
Do these:
- Keys out — then no one can switch anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- Hold on to the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what was put in and roughly how much.
- Tell us a postcode starting BH21 2, or whichever street lies closest, and the van finds you directly — so ring wherever you are.
Do not do these:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to move the vehicle.
- Switching the key to ignition by itself sets your pump running on many diesels. Skip it.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue won't blend, so it is wasted.
- Do not drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short distance up Northleigh Lane.
- By the road, don't attempt draining it on your own.
The staff on duty at any Colehill filling station — the BP among them — will usually help rolling it aside if you ask. At your own drive, don't move it at all.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the motor. From a separate reservoir it is fed straight to the exhaust, cleaning what the motor emits. Neither side fits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and an injection pump cannot take urea.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. The pickup takes fuel from the deepest part of that tank, and that's exactly where AdBlue ends up: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. The first thing the system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Hayes last night, and has not been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
Once it's drawn in, the harm takes two forms. It eats at certain metals found in fuel components, working on any part it touches till it's cleared from your system. And when the water evaporates, the urea turns into crystals that block filters and lodge in narrow channels. Overnight, a car sitting around Colehill with AdBlue through its pipework grows worse; if it's just in the tank, nothing changes. Then there's the water: it offers no protection to the components that rely on it most — the injection pump and every injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel regularly the bigger issue?
An issue of thin fuel is what you get after fuelling a diesel with petrol at the Shell. No harm is done while it stays put, mixed into your diesel — only once your engine works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Crystals and corrosion stay through the next tankful, and AdBlue splits again from your diesel, so thinning it won't help. That is why the flush matters more, and trying your engine "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other slip — in St Johns or the centre of Colehill equally.
As with petrol, there is good news. Emptying a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue stays in there — anywhere across Dorset the car sits.
Colehill: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Plenty of vehicles put the AdBlue filler beside the diesel one, now and then behind one flap, and after dark the two may look the same. No one means it. It usually happens at home, from a bottle grabbed on the journey home, rather than at the forecourt.
Usually, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. Hurrying, outside Colehill First School, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, a parent refills the car. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off The Vineries. Or the car is topped up in the car park at Colehill Sports & Social Club, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
It takes place most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Anywhere across Dorset, Colehill included, the mistake doesn't change, and nor does the first step: leave it off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Colehill?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. It has been pulled through the filter and your lines, and if the motor ran for any time, it has got to your high-pressure pump and the injectors.
Maybe returning from Colehill Triangle (Woodland), or midway across Colehill, the motor may go rough, smoke, lose power, light up your dash or cut out. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the vehicle to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
Leave the M27, under 25 miles from Colehill, by the first junction and stop somewhere safe, not carrying on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue further into the system. That's why a hop across Colehill to park beside St Michael and All Angels Church and a drive of under 25 miles for Salisbury are such separate jobs. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Once the motor has been started, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has stopped. Very rarely does it leave lasting damage if it is caught soon.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves in Colehill
Anywhere it has come to rest around Colehill — a forecourt, a lay-by, a driveway, a street beside Colehill Library — the van comes to the car. The work rests on three answers, which our engineers ask for before all else — what got in, the amount, and if the engine has run.
Next, draining the tank right there takes out the polluted diesel and the AdBlue together. What remains from AdBlue will not wash out unaided, and so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which matters much more with urea than for petrol. Testing your vehicle comes at the end, once fresh diesel goes in and your filter is flushed or, where needed, replaced. About half an hour on site is usual for most jobs when your motor hasn't run. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live forecourt is no issue, and it's hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
New diesel goes in to prime the system, and that is the final step. Whether it's a parking space by Parkstone (Dorset) or a drive around Colehill, that is where our technicians fire it up and you head off. Before leaving, we make sure it is running correctly with clean diesel in. No garage is needed at any point, with the whole job done on the spot. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Colehill itself
Colehill is a suburban area in Dorset, situated inland at an elevation of 51 metres, and is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock. Colehill lies near the villages of Leigh and Rowlands, and is also close to Merry Field Hill. Colehill is located approximately 19.7 miles from Salisbury and 93.2 miles from London, making it a relatively rural suburb. Colehill has a population of around 936 residents.
AdBlue drains across Dorset, Colehill included
Over the BH postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue jobs around Colehill serve most of Dorset as well, Leigh, Merry Field Hill and Rowlands included. Ring and check instead of guessing when you're by a county line, or anywhere awkward to explain.
A mobile service suits Colehill, a residential suburb: you have no need to bring your car to us, because our engineers drain it there, in a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Colehill
Every job is different, so no fixed price would be fair. Three things shift the price: whether the engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the vehicle is. That last one rests on whether a van can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight spot behind Colehill Memorial Hall.
Ahead of any quote, never afterwards, each call from Colehill begins with three checks: the liquid, the quantity, plus whether the engine ran. Their replies shrink the range down to one figure.
Quoted on the call before the van sets out, the job is settled that day — card or phone, no deposit. As our engineer is travelling, dig out your insurance: many include misfuelling.
In Colehill and still beside the car?
In that case, do nothing — that is the most helpful move available. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. 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, in Colehill or wherever in Dorset.