Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Crownhill
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, your ignition remains off and so does your engine. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. As it is water-based, it won't burn and never combines with diesel; damage only comes once your pump starts drawing it. In Crownhill, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your engine runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where your car is. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Crownhill, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do straight away
To do:
- So no one can switch the ignition on, take your keys away.
- If you are anywhere close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- So you can tell us which liquid it was and about what quantity, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- The van locates you fastest with a postcode starting PL6 5, or just the name of a street close by, and so call from the car.
Do not:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift the vehicle: the engine stays off.
- Switching the key to ignition by itself starts the pump going on many diesels. Avoid it.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel will not thin it.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, including a short distance along Budshead Road.
- No draining it yourself, at all, on the roadside.
On a forecourt in Crownhill, whether it is the Texaco or another one, ask the attendants to help you push your car away from the pump. On your own driveway, don't move it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not the engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to fresh it. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
It doesn't combine. Once it's poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts nothing like fuel. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. A vehicle topped up on a driveway in Honicknowle yesterday evening and left unstarted is the straightforward one. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up yet — but once your motor turns, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of your tank.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps running on the components it hits for as long as it stays there. A motor left sitting in Crownhill with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. Then there's the water: it offers no protection to the components that need it the most — the injection pump and every injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
A problem of thin fuel is what you end up with from fuelling a diesel with petrol at the Esso. Mixed through your diesel and sitting still, it is no threat at that stage; running the engine is the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. Crystals and corrosion remain through the following fill, and AdBlue separates back from the diesel, so watering it can't help. Hence the flush matters so much, and trying your engine "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other mistake — in Whitleigh or the heart of Crownhill equally.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue sits only inside the tank, the simplest bit of the whole system to clear, wherever the car has stopped across Devon.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Crownhill?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many cars waits right next to the diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A bottle bought when heading home and poured in outside the house, rather than at the filling station, is the usual story.
A few familiar ways account for most cases. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Widey Court Primary School the top-up is rushed. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Budshead Way. Else, after dark outside The Tamar, your vehicle gets topped up by a driver opening that flap for the first time.
The least familiar cars see it the most — rentals, brand-new ones, fleet cars, and the other vehicle in a family with one of each fuels. Wherever in Devon, Crownhill included, the mistake doesn't change, and neither does the first step: keep it off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Crownhill?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside the tank. With any running, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and every injector, having passed through the filter and lines.
Maybe returning from Bladder Meadow, or midway across Crownhill, the engine might go lumpy, smoke, drop power, flash the dash or stall. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the vehicle to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the M5, under 50 miles from Crownhill, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue further in. That is why a hop across Crownhill to park near Crownhill Centre and a drive of under 3 miles for Plymouth are such distinct jobs. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Wherever the vehicle came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out after the engine has been started. Noticed soon, it very rarely leaves permanent damage.
Crownhill: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
Wherever it has come to rest around Crownhill — a forecourt, a lay-by, a driveway, a road beside Crownhill Methodist Church — the van travels to your car. Before anything else our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and whether your motor has been 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. A careful flush matters much more with AdBlue than after petrol, because residue won't wash out on its own. Testing your vehicle comes last, after fresh diesel is added and the filter is flushed or, where necessary, replaced. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our engineers get there, if your engine hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Finally, the fuel system is bled with clean diesel. At that point our engineers start it and you set off, whether from a parking bay at Plymouth or a drive around Crownhill. The check before our engineers head off is that it runs properly on fresh diesel. Our technicians do it all wherever the car has stopped, and it never has to be taken to a garage. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both afterwards.
About Crownhill, briefly
Crownhill is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Plymouth in Devon, sitting at an elevation of 107 metres. Crownhill is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing and is situated near the neighbouring areas of Manadon, Derriford, and Hartley Vale. Crownhill is close to the coast and is approximately 2.9 miles from Plymouth city centre. Crownhill has a population of around 4452 residents.
Crownhill and Devon: AdBlue drains across the area
Our teams that answer AdBlue call-outs in Crownhill also cover the locations around it, Manadon, Derriford and Hartley Vale among them, and most of Devon beyond, across the PL postcode area. Guessing doesn't help by a border or somewhere tricky to describe; phone and check.
Crownhill is a residential suburb, and an on-site drain suits it: whether your car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it sits, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Crownhill
Each job is different, so no single price would be fair. Three things move the price: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where your car is. That last one turns on whether a van can reach it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight space behind Crownhill Fort.
Ahead of any figure, not afterwards, every enquiry from Crownhill opens with three questions: the fuel, the amount, and whether the engine ran. Their answers narrow the range down to a single number.
Our quote is given during the call, before a van leaves; settling up comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Look at your policy while we are on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
In Crownhill and still alongside your car?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to your car. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus whether the engine ran is everything our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest across Devon, Crownhill too.