Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Dorrington
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and nothing starts till your engine sucks it round. Caught before the engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Dorrington. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Dorrington
Do:
- Take your keys out, so no one switches the ignition on.
- If you are at all close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and about what quantity, save your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Our van finds you quickest with a postcode starting SY5 7, or just the name of a street close by, so call from the car.
Things not to do:
- Do not start the engine, even for a moment to shift your car.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel won't weaken it.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short stretch down The Bank.
- No draining it yourself, either, on the roadside.
At a forecourt in Dorrington, whether it is the Esso or another one, ask the attendants to help you push the vehicle away from the pump. At your own drive, do not touch it at all.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not your engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sprayed into your exhaust, and there it treats the gas. A fuel pump is not designed to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, after poured in, will not. The behaviour is nothing like diesel's. Denser than diesel, it drops and pools underneath it — the very spot the intake draws from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Wheathall last night, and has not been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. It eats at certain metals used in fuel components, attacking whatever it reaches until it is removed completely. And once the water goes, the urea forms crystals that clog filters and lodge in narrow channels. Pipes carrying AdBlue spell damage by morning for a car sitting in Dorrington. Only inside your tank, it stays stable. The water in it does damage of its own: the high-pressure pump and the injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's often worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Sainsbury's and you have a problem of thin fuel. Blended into your diesel and sitting unused, it is no threat at that stage; using your motor is the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it can't just be run through. Whether your car sits in Longnor or the heart of Dorrington, turning it over "to see" costs more in this case than almost any other slip, and the flush counts for more. The reasons: it won't remain mixed, so diluting it fails; and crystals and corrosion outlast the next fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest job on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue remains in there — anywhere across Shropshire the car sits.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Dorrington
Plenty of motors put the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, now and then under one flap, and after dark the two may look the same. No one intends it. A bottle picked up when driving home and poured in at home, rather than at the forecourt, is the typical route.
Mostly, it occurs in one of a few familiar ways. The refill gets rushed outside St Edward's CofE Primary School, after the dash lit up with a warning as the kids were taken in. In the evening, a bottle goes in on a drive close to Church Road. Or someone new to that flap tops up the car after dark, stopped in the car park by The Horseshoes.
It takes place most in the motors people know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever you're in Dorrington or the rest of Shropshire, it is the same mistake and the same first answer: leave it off.
Dorrington: started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. With any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and every injector, having passed via the filter and lines.
You may notice the engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Corfield's Coppice or halfway across Dorrington. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. More of that is pulled through with each start.
On the M54, under 15 miles from Dorrington, the first junction is where to leave, and somewhere sensible is where to stop — not driving on.
Hopping across Dorrington to the car park by Saint Edward's, Dorrington is one thing; heading for Wolverhampton, under 50 miles away, is something else, since each mile carries the AdBlue further in. So mileage counts. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once the motor has been started, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the car has ended up. Permanent damage is very uncommon if it is noticed quickly.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel around Dorrington: what it takes
We come to the car, wherever it has stopped in Dorrington: a side street close to Dorrington Village Hall, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. What went in, roughly how much, and whether your engine has turned over: our technicians ask first, since those shape the work.
Then the tank is cleared where your car stands, so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue will not wash out unaided, so the whole system gets a full flush, which matters much more here than with petrol. Fresh diesel goes in once your filter is cleaned — or replaced, if it needs to be — and then your vehicle is tested. Engine not run? Then count on about half an hour on site for most jobs. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
The last step is to bleed the system on fresh diesel. You head off as soon as our engineers have started the engine, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a driveway in Dorrington or in a bay outside Church Stretton. We check it runs smoothly on new diesel before leaving. As the job is done in its entirety where the car is, a garage never comes into it. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Dorrington, for a moment
Dorrington is a small village in Shropshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 110 metres. Dorrington lies near the villages of Great Ryton and Little Ryton, and is close to Stapleton. Dorrington has a population of approximately 522 people, and its housing stock is predominantly made up of detached homes. Dorrington is located about 27 miles from Wolverhampton and 136 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Shropshire, Dorrington included
AdBlue call-outs around Dorrington are passed to vans that serve the towns around it — Great Ryton, Little Ryton plus Stapleton — and most of Shropshire further out, throughout SY postcodes. Close to a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down? Checking beats assuming, and so ring.
No moving is needed. In Dorrington, a rural village, a mobile service works: the car is drained where it stands, whether in a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Dorrington: the cost of fixing it
Every job is different, so no single price is fair. What shifts the cost is, firstly, whether your engine has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue got 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 gap behind St Thomas, Ryton Mission Church.
Which fluid went in, how much, and whether the engine ran: every Dorrington enquiry opens by asking precisely those, before any quote, never afterwards. Given them, a range shrinks to a single firm number.
You get that quote by phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
In Dorrington and still beside the car?
Right now, the best thing to do with the car is to leave it. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus whether it ran is everything our technicians ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder throughout Shropshire, Dorrington included.