AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Commonside? Don't Start It
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does your engine. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and no harm happens till the motor pulls it round. If the motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally drained and carefully rinsed where your car sits in Commonside. First, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
What to do straight away, Commonside: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Things to do:
- Keys out — then nobody can power anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and roughly what quantity, save the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting NG16 6, or the name of the closest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Do not start your engine, even for a moment to move the vehicle.
- Plenty of diesels run their pump the moment the ignition comes on, and so keep the car off.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel won't thin it.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short distance up Commonside.
- No draining it yourself, either, at the verge.
Moving the vehicle off the pumps is a job for attendants to help with, whichever Commonside forecourt you are on, the BP included. Stopped on your own drive? Then it remains exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The engine is not what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. Not one side suits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and an injection pump can't deal with urea.
Poured in with your diesel, it keeps apart rather than blending — quite different from fuel. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Dove Green last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
Two kinds of harm come from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that hardens in filter elements and narrow channels; meanwhile, since it eats at certain metals, every part it touches suffers for as long as it stays in there. If the AdBlue has reached the pipework, leaving it till morning in Commonside leaves things worse. In the tank alone, waiting does nothing. And there's the water: it brings no lubrication to the components that rely on it most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel regularly the bigger issue?
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Gulf's forecourt makes the fuel thin — that's the main problem. Mixed through your diesel and left unused, it's harmless at that stage; running the motor is the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Since it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it can't be thinned. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Allens Green or the middle of Commonside.
As with petrol, there is good news. Anywhere across Nottinghamshire the vehicle has come to rest, an unrun motor leaves the AdBlue still in the tank: the easiest bit of a fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Commonside?
Plenty of vehicles put the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, occasionally under a single flap, and in dim light the two may look identical. Nobody means it. It mostly happens outside the house, from a bottle bought en route home, rather than at the filling station.
A couple of familiar ways account for the majority of them. Hurrying, outside Holly Hill Primary and Nursery School, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, a parent tops up the car. Close to Mansfield Road, someone tips a bottle in at home after work. Else, in dim light by Horse And Jockey, the vehicle is topped up by a driver using that flap for the first time.
Rented cars, new cars, company motors, or the spare car in a home with one of each: the least familiar cars get it most. Same mistake, same first response — leave it switched off — anywhere you happen to be around Commonside or the remainder of Nottinghamshire.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Commonside?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. It has been drawn through your filter and the fuel lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors.
Perhaps coming back from Selston Town Football Club & Selston Town Cricket Club, or part way across Commonside, your engine might go rough, smoke, lose power, light up your dash or stall. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart it to check. More of that is pulled through with each start.
Commonside lies under a mile from the M1; if you were on it, exit by the next junction and pull up somewhere safe instead of driving on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Commonside to the car park by Selston Leisure Centre is a very different job from a run towards Nottingham, under 15 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with each mile. Let us know about how far it had come.
There's more to flush once your engine has been run, and our technicians do all of it where your car has come to a stop. Noticed quickly, it very rarely leaves lasting damage.
Commonside: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
Our engineers come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Commonside: a side street close to Tin Hat Centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether the engine has run, since those replies settle the work.
Then that tank is cleared where the vehicle stands, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Your system is flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Not run? Then expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
The last step is to prime the system on fresh diesel. Then our technicians fire it up and you drive off, whether from a parking space outside Kirkby in Ashfield or a driveway around Commonside. We make sure it runs properly on fresh diesel before we go. Our technicians do it all wherever the car has stopped, and it never has to be taken to a garage. At the end, you are given the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Commonside
Commonside is a suburban area in Nottinghamshire, situated approximately 10.6 miles from Nottingham and 119.4 miles from London. Commonside sits at an elevation of around 137 metres, characterised by detached housing and a relatively small population of around 1982 residents. Commonside is located near other local places such as Rosemaryhill, Hall Green, and Selston, in the East Midlands region of England.
AdBlue drains in Commonside and across Nottinghamshire
AdBlue jobs in Commonside are passed to vans that cover the towns near it — Rosemaryhill, Hall Green as well as Selston — and most of Nottinghamshire further out, across NG postcodes. Phone and check instead of guessing if you are by a county line, or somewhere awkward to pin down.
Commonside is a residential suburb, and a call-out drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it stands, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Commonside: the cost of fixing it
Because the callouts vary, a single price would not be fair. Whether the motor has run, and for how long, comes first in what moves the price. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the position of the car, since an open driveway is easier for our van to get to safely than a tight space behind Selston Community Partnership Library.
Which fluid got in, what quantity, and if the engine ran: every Commonside call begins by asking exactly those, ahead of a quote, never afterwards. Their answers shrink a range right down to a single figure.
The quote is given during the call, before a van leaves; settling up happens on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As the van is travelling, check your insurance: many include misfuelling.
Still alongside the car around Commonside?
Then, the best thing to do with the car is to leave it. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, in Commonside or wherever in Nottinghamshire, after you call 0333 366 0103 saying it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and if it ran.