AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Crantock? Keep It Switched Off
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, leave the engine off and keep your ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. The harm starts once it is pulled through your pump — it will not burn, and it will not combine with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Crantock, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your motor has been run. No step comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Crantock: the first few minutes
Do:
- Pocket the keys, and that prevents someone switching the power on.
- Close to moving traffic? Then put the hazard lights on.
- Keep your receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what was put in and roughly how much.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting TR8 5, or the name of the closest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Don't start the engine, even for a moment to move your car.
- Many diesels run their fuel pump the moment the ignition goes on, so leave the car off.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Keep the car where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short stretch along Trevowah Road.
- No draining it yourself, either, on the verge.
Rolling the car away from the pumps is a job for staff to help with, wherever Crantock forecourt you're on, the Texaco included. If you're on your own drive, leave the vehicle just where it stands.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not your motor. Kept in a separate tank, it's squirted into the exhaust to clean the fumes. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
It does not blend. Once it is tipped into the tank, AdBlue behaves not at all like fuel. It drops, since it's denser than diesel, and settles down where the intake draws its fuel from. A vehicle topped up on a drive in West Pentire overnight and left unstarted counts as the simple one. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up yet — though when the engine runs, that is what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of your tank.
It does two kinds of harm from there. It attacks some metals found in fuel systems, working on any part it reaches until it is removed from the system. And once the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that block filters and settle in narrow passages. If the AdBlue is in the lines, waiting till morning in Crantock leaves it worse. In that tank only, time costs nothing. The water in it causes harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more significant than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Esso's forecourt makes the fuel watery — that is the main issue. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it's inside that tank it causes no harm; the harm comes from running your motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Nor can it be thinned, because it splits again — and the next fill will not clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts more here, and turning your key "to see", in the heart of Crantock or out in Tresean, does more harm than almost any other slip.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the easiest job on any fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue remains in there — anywhere across Cornwall your vehicle sits.
Crantock: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
After dark, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel cap, occasionally behind one flap — may look the same. Nobody intends it; plenty of layouts invite it. Mostly it's never the forecourt: a driver buys a container driving home and pours it in at home.
Usually, it occurs in one of a few familiar ways. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Cubert Primary School the refill is rushed. Someone tips the container in at home, right off West Pentire Road, as the day ends. Otherwise, in dim light outside The Cornishman, the car gets refilled by a driver opening that flap the first time.
The least familiar vehicles get it most — rentals, new ones, company cars, and the spare car of a home with one of each fuels. Wherever you are in Crantock or the rest of Cornwall, it is the same slip and the same first answer: leave it off.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Crantock, and the motor started?
Then the AdBlue has left your tank. Via the fuel filter, along the lines, and — given any running — on to the high-pressure pump and each injector: that is how far it has gone.
Maybe coming back from Esplanade Road Green, or midway across Crantock, the engine may go rough, smoke, drop power, flash your dash or stall. Stop when safe. Switch off. Leave it off rather than testing it again. Every start pulls more of it through.
On the M5, over 50 miles from Crantock, the next junction is where to leave, and anywhere safe is where to stop — not driving on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue further into the system. That is why a hop across Crantock to park beside Crantock Methodist Church and a drive of under 10 miles towards Truro are such separate jobs. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the rinsing where the car has come to a stop, and once the motor has been run there is more of it. When it's spotted early, permanent damage is very uncommon.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Crantock?
A street beside Crantock Village Hall, a drive, a layby or a forecourt: wherever the vehicle has come to rest in Crantock, we travel to it. What went in, roughly how much, plus whether your motor has been run: we check before all else, since those shape the work.
Then your tank is drained where your car sits, so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue won't flush away by itself, and so the whole system gets a careful flush, which matters much more here than with petrol. A test of your vehicle comes last, after fresh diesel is added and your filter is flushed or, if necessary, swapped. Most of these jobs are a half-hour job once our engineers arrive, provided your engine hasn't run. Our equipment is explosion-proof, and so a busy filling station is no issue, and it is quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
Lastly, your system is bled with new diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you set off from where the car is parked, outside Newquay or on a drive in Crantock. The check before our technicians head off is that it runs correctly on fresh diesel. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never has to go to a garage. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers ask for.
About Crantock and where it is
Crantock is a small coastal village in Cornwall, situated near the town of Truro and overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Crantock sits at an elevation of 53 metres, with its detached houses and scenic views making it a popular residential area. Crantock is close to nearby places such as Trevowah, Pentire, and Treworgans, and is approximately 229.9 miles from London. Crantock has a population of around 924 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains across Cornwall, Crantock included
Trevowah, Pentire and Treworgans are among the places around Crantock that the same teams serve, together with most of Cornwall beyond, over the TR postcode area. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Crantock is a coastal village, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it sits, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Crantock: the cost of fixing it
There is no fair single price, since the jobs aren't the same. What moves the cost is, firstly, whether your engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and then where the car is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind St Carantoc's Church.
What went in, how much, and if it ran: every Crantock call begins by asking exactly those, ahead of any quote, not after. With them, the range narrows to one firm figure.
Before a van sets off, you hear our price on the phone. Then you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing in advance. As the van is travelling, check your policy: plenty include misfuelling.
Crantock: still beside the car?
In that case, do nothing — that's the best move there is. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it ran is all our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest across Cornwall, Crantock too.