AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Crews Hole? Keep It Switched Off
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does your motor. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. Being water-based, it will not ignite and won't blend with diesel; trouble just comes when the pump starts pulling it. If the motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally drained and thoroughly purged where the car sits in Crews Hole. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Crews Hole
Do:
- Pocket your keys, which prevents someone switching the electrics on.
- If you are anywhere close to moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and about what quantity, keep your receipt or the empty bottle.
- The van finds you fastest with a postcode starting BS5 8, or simply the name of a street nearby, so call from the spot.
Do not:
- No starting your motor — not briefly, not to shift the vehicle.
- The ignition remains off: on lots of diesels, turning it on is enough to run the pump.
- Adding extra diesel does not work: AdBlue separates out rather than blending.
- Do not drive the car anywhere, not even a short stretch along Quayside Lane.
- Draining that tank yourself by the road isn't worth trying.
The attendants on duty at any Crews Hole forecourt — the Saintsbury's included — will usually help rolling it clear if you ask. On the drive, the vehicle remains exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. Stored in a dedicated tank, it's injected into the exhaust stream to treat the fumes. Nothing inside an injection pump is made for this liquid — and no part of it was intended to go that way.
Poured in with the diesel, it keeps apart instead of mixing — entirely different from fuel. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. Easiest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Whiteway overnight and hasn't turned since. The liquid waits at the base of that tank, undrawn — but it will be the first thing through if the motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
It does two kinds of damage from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that hardens in filters and tiny channels; meanwhile, because it eats at some metals, each part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it stays inside. A vehicle left sitting in Crews Hole with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. The water in it does damage of its own: your high-pressure pump and the injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the Texaco and you have an issue of thin fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and while it's in the tank it does no damage; the harm comes from running your engine on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is plainly the wrong one. Not burning, it cannot just be run through. It doesn't stay mixed, so it can't be weakened. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the car is in Jeffries Hill or the middle of Crews Hole.
As with petrol, there is good news. Emptying a tank is the easiest job on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue stays in there — anywhere in Bristol your car sits.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Crews Hole?
Plenty of cars put the AdBlue cap beside the diesel cap, now and then behind one flap, and after dark the two may appear identical. No one intends it. Most of the time it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
A few familiar ways cover the majority of them. The refill gets rushed outside E-Act the Kingfisher School, because your dash flashed with a warning while the kids were dropped off. After work, a container goes in on a drive close to Troopers Hill Road. Or a driver new to that flap refills the vehicle after dark, parked in the car park outside The Bull Inn.
It occurs most in the motors drivers know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Keep it switched off: that's the first response to an identical slip, wherever around Crews Hole or the rest of Bristol you happen to be.
Started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Crews Hole?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. Via the fuel filter, through the lines, and — with any running time — on to the injection pump and every injector: that's how far it has gone.
You may see the engine running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Troopers Hill Local Nature Reserve or halfway across Crews Hole. No starting it again to check: pull over when it is safe, then turn everything off. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
On the M32, under 3 miles from Crews Hole, the first junction is where to leave, and anywhere safe is where to park — not carrying on.
Distance matters: each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into your system, so driving for Bristol, under 3 miles away, makes a much larger job than crossing Crews Hole to the car park by The Scout Association. 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 flush after the motor has been running. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage if it's spotted soon.
What clearing AdBlue from a diesel involves around Crews Hole
A road by St Aidan's with St George's, a drive, a layby or a filling station: wherever the vehicle has come to rest around Crews Hole, our technicians come to it. What got in, about the quantity, plus whether the engine has been run: our technicians ask before all else, since those decide the work.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave together after that tank is emptied, right there. Your system is flushed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel goes in once your filter is cleaned — or swapped, if it needs to be — and then the car is tested. Not run? Then expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
The last step is to prime the system on clean diesel. Whether it is a parking space by Lawrence Hill or a drive in Crews Hole, that is where we fire it up and you head off. Our engineers make sure it runs correctly on fresh diesel before leaving. The whole job is done where the car is, so it never has to go to a garage. The insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours once the job is done.
About Crews Hole, for a moment
Crews Hole is a suburban area in Bristol, situated on the riverside with views of the surrounding countryside. Crews Hole has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterized by terraced homes. Crews Hole is located close to several local parks, including St Annes Park, and is near the communities of Conham and Kingswood. Crews Hole is approximately 2.8 miles from Bristol city centre, making it a convenient residential area.
AdBlue drains in Crews Hole and across Bristol
Throughout the BS postcode area, the vans taking AdBlue call-outs around Crews Hole reach most of Bristol too, St Annes Park, Conham and Kingswood among them. Assuming won't help close to a border or anywhere tricky to describe; ring and ask.
Crews Hole is a residential suburb, and a mobile drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it stands, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Crews Hole?
No flat price would be fair, since every job is different. The price changes first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it turns on where the vehicle is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind Sumerhill Methodist Church.
What was put in, how much, plus whether the engine ran: each Crews Hole call begins with precisely those, before a figure, never afterwards. Given those replies, the range narrows to a single fixed figure.
Priced on the call before the engineer heads out, the job is paid for that day — card or phone, no deposit. Check your insurance while we are on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
In Crews Hole and still alongside your car?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if the engine ran are all we ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder throughout Bristol, Crews Hole included.