AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Debenham? Don't Start It
Motor off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and no harm happens till your motor sucks it through. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Debenham, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your motor has been run. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around Debenham
Things to do:
- Keys out — then no one can power anything on.
- Put the hazards on if you are anywhere close to moving traffic.
- Hold on to your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what was put in and about how much.
- Give us a postcode starting IP14 6, or whichever street lies closest, and the van finds you directly — so ring wherever you stand.
Not to do:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to move the vehicle.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Don't drive the car anywhere, not even a short way along Gracechurch Street.
- Don't try to drain it yourself by the roadside.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you move your vehicle away from the pumps if you're at a forecourt in Debenham, whether it's the Evergreen Garage (Crowfield) Ltd or somewhere else. Stopped on your own drive? Then it stays just as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Stored in a dedicated tank, it's squirted into the exhaust to treat the fumes. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, after poured in, won't. Its behaviour is nothing like diesel's. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Winston last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
It does two kinds of damage from there. What remains when the water evaporates is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in tiny channels and clog filters. On top of that, it eats at certain metals in a fuel system, and keeps going until it's cleared out. A motor left standing around Debenham with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and each injector as it flows; water gives no lubrication, and that is a separate kind of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel regularly the bigger issue?
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake at the BP, and the issue is diluted fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it is inside that tank it causes no harm; the damage comes from running your motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It can't simply be run through, since it does not burn. Crystals and corrosion stay through the following tankful, and AdBlue separates again from your diesel, and so watering it can't help. Hence the flush matters more, and turning your key "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other slip — in Winston Green or the heart of Debenham equally.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Wherever across Suffolk your car has stopped, an unstarted engine means the AdBlue yet in the reservoir: the simplest bit of a fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Debenham?
It is not on purpose. Many vehicles keep the AdBlue cap beside the diesel inlet, now and then behind one flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. A bottle picked up while driving home and poured in at home, instead of at the forecourt, is the usual route.
It tends to happen in a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside Sir Robert Hitcham Church of England Voluntary Aided School. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off High Street. Another version: dim light, a pub car park by Woolpack, and someone using that flap for the first time.
Rented vehicles, new cars, fleet motors, or the second car in a home with one of each: the least known cars see it most. An identical mistake, same first step — leave it switched off — wherever you happen to be in Debenham or the remainder of Suffolk.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Debenham?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. Through the filter, along the pipework, and — given any running time — on to the injection pump and every injector: that's how far it travels.
Maybe coming back from Hogg's Kiss Wood, or midway across Debenham, your motor may go lumpy, smoke, lose power, flash your dash or stall. When you safely can, pull over and switch everything off — without turning it on again to see. Each start pulls more of that through.
Debenham sits under 50 miles from the M11; if you were on it, leave at the next junction and pull up safely instead of carrying on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue further in. That is why a hop across Debenham to park beside Dove Cottage and a drive of under 50 miles towards Colchester are such different jobs. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
We do all of the rinsing where your car has ended up, and once your engine has run there is more of it. When it is caught quickly, lasting damage is very rare.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel in Debenham: what it takes
A street beside Saint Mary Magdalene, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt: anywhere your car has stopped in Debenham, our engineers come to it. The job rests on three replies, and we ask for before all else — what went in, the quantity, and if your engine has run.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out as one when that tank is drained, on the spot. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing counts: the fuel system is cleaned all the way through because what remains won't wash out by itself. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Not run? In that case count on about half an hour on site for most jobs. The equipment is explosion-proof, and so a live forecourt is no problem, and it's hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
Lastly, the system is bled with new diesel. After that our engineers start it and you drive off, whether from a parking space by Needham Market or a driveway around Debenham. Before we leave, our technicians make sure it is running correctly with clean diesel in. The whole job is done where the car is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers want.
About Debenham, for a moment
Debenham is a village situated in the Suffolk countryside, near the River Deben, with an elevation of around 44 metres. Debenham lies close to several small settlements, including Cherrytree Green, Fen Street, and Aspall, and is approximately 26 miles from Colchester. Debenham has a population of around 1683 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Debenham is also within commuting distance of London, being around 74 miles from the capital.
AdBlue drains across Debenham and Suffolk
AdBlue call-outs around Debenham are passed to vans that cover the places around it — Cherrytree Green, Fen Street as well as Aspall — and much of Suffolk further out, throughout IP postcodes. Phone and check rather than guess when you're by a border, or anywhere awkward to explain.
Debenham is a village, 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 engineers drain it where it sits, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
Debenham: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Each job is different, so not one fixed quote would be honest. The price changes first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it turns on where the car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Debenham Village Sign.
For that in mind, each enquiry from Debenham opens with the same trio — what went in, how much, whether the engine ran — before any quote. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As our engineer is travelling, dig out your insurance: many cover misfuelling.
In Debenham and still alongside your car?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and whether it ran are everything our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest across Suffolk, Debenham included.