AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Elwell? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Urea mixed in water is what AdBlue is. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the system pulls it in. In Elwell, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before your motor runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where the vehicle is. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Elwell, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
To do:
- So no one can turn your ignition on, pull your keys out.
- Close to moving traffic? So put the hazards on.
- Which fluid, and roughly how much amount? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and our engineers can know.
- Tell us a postcode starting EX32 0, or whichever street is closest, and our van reaches you straight — so call from wherever you are.
Don't:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to move the vehicle.
- The ignition stays off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to run your pump.
- Adding more diesel doesn't work: AdBlue separates out rather than blending.
- Never drive it anywhere, not even a short stretch up North Barton Close.
- Don't try to drain the car yourself by the kerbside.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you move the car off the pumps if you are at a forecourt around Elwell, whether it is the JJ Garages or somewhere else. Stopped on your own driveway? Then it stays just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the engine. Kept in a dedicated tank, it's squirted into the exhaust stream to clean the fumes. A fuel pump is not designed to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It does not mix in. It sinks, since it's heavier than diesel, and settles down where the intake takes its supply from. When your system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Until then it sits beneath your diesel, which is why a vehicle topped up in Charles last night and not switched on remains the straightforward case, provided no one touches your key.
After it is sucked in, the damage takes two forms. 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, so it keeps working on the components it reaches for as long as it stays there. Overnight, a vehicle sitting in Elwell with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; where it is just in your tank, nothing changes. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and each injector as it flows; water gives none of that, which is a separate kind of damage.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the Esso and you have a fault of thin fuel. Harm just comes from running on it. Mixed into your diesel and sitting in the tank, it does nothing.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is plainly the wrong one. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Crystals and corrosion remain through the following fill, and AdBlue separates again out of your diesel, so watering it won't help. Hence the flush counts more, and trying your engine "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other slip — in Newtown or the heart of Elwell equally.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue waits just inside your tank, the simplest section of the entire system to empty, anywhere your vehicle has stopped in Devon.
Elwell: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many motors waits right next to your diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It mostly happens at home, from a container bought on the journey home, not at the forecourt.
Mostly, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside Filleigh Community Primary School. After work, a bottle goes in on a drive close to St Peters Close. Else, after dark outside the pub in the village, your car gets topped up by a driver using that flap the first time.
The least familiar vehicles see it the most — rentals, new ones, fleet cars, and the spare car in a family with both fuels. An identical slip, same first step — keep it switched off — wherever you are around Elwell or the remainder of Devon.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Elwell?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Your filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and any running takes it on to the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Expect rough running, exhaust smoke, falling power, warnings on the dash, or a stall — returning from Hoyle's Wood, say, or midway across Elwell. No starting it again to test: stop once safe, then switch it off. Every start pulls more of it through.
Leave the M5, under 50 miles from Elwell, by the first junction and stop somewhere safe, rather than driving on.
Distance counts: each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into your system, so driving towards Exeter, under 50 miles away, makes a far bigger job than crossing Elwell to the car park by St Peter. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
There's more to flush once the motor has run, and our technicians do all of it where your car has ended up. Lasting damage is very unusual if it's noticed quickly.
Elwell: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
A road by St Michael's Church, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt: anywhere your vehicle has stopped in Elwell, our technicians travel to it. What was put in, about how much, and whether your engine has turned over: our technicians ask first, since those decide the work.
Next, draining that tank on the spot removes the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing matters: the whole system is flushed all the way through because residue will not wash away by itself. Fresh diesel goes in once the fuel filter is cleaned — or swapped, if it needs to be — and then your vehicle is tested. If the engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once our technicians arrive. Low-noise enough to use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
The last step is to prime the fuel system on new diesel. Whether it is a parking space at Umberleigh or a drive around Elwell, that is where our technicians start it and you drive off. It's checked on clean diesel to make sure it runs properly before our engineers head off. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to go to a garage. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over once this job is done.
About Elwell, for a moment
Elwell is a small locality in Devon, situated inland at an elevation of 189 metres, approximately 28.9 miles from Exeter. Elwell is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock and is surrounded by nearby places such as West Buckland and East Buckland. Elwell has a population of around 505 people and is located in a rural area, with Charles Bottom nearby. Elwell is some distance from major urban centres, with London being 166.1 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Elwell and across Devon
Our vans that answer AdBlue calls around Elwell also cover the places around it, West Buckland, East Buckland and Charles Bottom among them, and most of Devon beyond, across the EX postcode area. Close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to explain? Checking is better than guessing, so ring.
Elwell is a small village, and a mobile 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 is, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Elwell: the cost of fixing it
Not one flat figure could be fair, because each job differs. What changes the cost is, firstly, whether your engine has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue went in; and finally where the car is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind St John The Baptist.
That's why each call from Elwell starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it has run. When those are known, a range turns into one firm number.
Quoted by phone before the engineer heads out, it is paid for that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
Still next to the car in Elwell?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, across Elwell or wherever in Devon, after you call 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if it ran.