AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Etherley Dene? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, leave the motor off then keep your ignition off. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. As it is water-based, it won't ignite and won't blend with diesel; damage only starts when the pump starts drawing it. In Etherley Dene, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before your motor runs usually comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where the vehicle is. First, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Etherley Dene
Things to do:
- Take your keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Near moving traffic? Then put the hazard lights on.
- Hold on to the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and about how much.
- The van finds you quickest with a postcode starting DL14 0, or simply the name of a street close by, so call from the spot.
Never do these:
- Do not start the engine, even for a moment to move the car.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue won't blend, so it's wasted.
- Don't drive the car anywhere, not even a short way up Foxglove Drive.
- Do not try to drain the car yourself by the roadside.
The staff on duty at any Etherley Dene forecourt — the JET included — will usually help pushing it aside if you ask. On that drive, the car stays exactly as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the engine. From a dedicated reservoir it goes straight to your exhaust, cleaning what the motor emits. A fuel pump is not made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and collects underneath it — the very spot the pickup sucks from. Simplest of all: a vehicle that got AdBlue in Escomb last night and hasn't turned since. The AdBlue waits at the foot of that tank, undrawn — though it will be first through once your motor starts, ahead of any diesel at all.
Two kinds of damage come from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps labouring on the parts it reaches for as long as it stays there. Pipes carrying AdBlue spell damage overnight for a vehicle parked in Etherley Dene. Just inside your tank, it stays stable. Then there is the water: it offers no lubrication to the components that rely on it the most — the injection pump and each injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Petrol put into a diesel on Morrisons's forecourt makes your fuel watery — that's the whole fault. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it's in that tank it does no harm; the damage comes from running your motor on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid as such is plainly the wrong one. It does not burn, and so it can't simply be run through. Deposits and corrosion remain after the next fill, and AdBlue splits again out of your diesel, so thinning it can't help. Hence the flush matters so much, and turning your key "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other slip — in California or the centre of Etherley Dene equally.
As with petrol, there is good news. If the engine has not run, the AdBlue is still inside your tank, and that tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Durham the car is sitting.
Etherley Dene: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, occasionally under a single flap — can look the same. No one intends it; plenty of layouts allow it. It usually occurs at home, from a bottle grabbed en route home, rather than at the forecourt.
A couple of familiar ways cover most cases. Hurrying, outside Escomb Primary School, after a warning lamp came on during the school run, someone tops up your car. In the evening, a bottle goes in on a driveway close to Snowdrop Way. One more pattern: dim light, a pub car park by The Masons Arms, and a driver using that flap the first time.
It takes place most in the motors drivers 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 are in Etherley Dene or the rest of Durham, it is the same slip and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Etherley Dene: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. The filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and any running carries it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Expect rough running, exhaust smoke, lost power, lights on the dash, or a cut-out — coming back from West Mills Playing Fields, say, or part way across Etherley Dene. No starting it again to check: pull over when it is safe, then turn everything off. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Leave the A1(M), under 10 miles from Etherley Dene, by the next junction and stop safely, rather than driving on.
A quick hop across Etherley Dene to the car park by Escomb War Memorial is one thing; driving for Durham, under 10 miles away, is another, because each mile carries the AdBlue further in. So mileage counts. Let us know about how far it had come.
Once the engine has been started, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the car has stopped. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage when it's spotted soon.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves in Etherley Dene
Anywhere it has come to rest around Etherley Dene — a filling station, a lay-by, a drive, a road by Bishop Auckland RUFC — our van comes to your vehicle. The work depends on three replies, and we get first — which fluid got in, the quantity, and if your motor has turned over.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave as one after the tank is drained, on the spot. What remains from AdBlue won't flush out by itself, so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which matters much more with urea than for petrol. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Lastly, the fuel system is primed with clean diesel. You set off as soon as our technicians have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a drive around Etherley Dene or in a bay outside Bishop Auckland. Before we go, our technicians confirm it is running correctly with clean diesel in. No garage is needed at any stage, with the entire job done on the spot. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers ask for.
About Etherley Dene, for a moment
Etherley Dene is a suburban area situated on the riverside in County Durham, with a mix of detached housing and a population of around 2473 residents. Etherley Dene sits at an elevation of 117 metres, close to nearby places such as Etherley Moor and Woodhouses. Etherley Dene is located near the city of Durham, approximately 9.7 miles away, and is part of the wider North East region. Etherley Dene benefits from its scenic riverside setting, with the River Wear flowing through the area.
AdBlue drains across Durham, Etherley Dene included
Etherley Moor, Woodhouses and High Escomb are among the towns around Etherley Dene that the same vans serve, together with most of Durham beyond, throughout the DL postcode area. Phone and ask instead of guessing when you're by a border, or somewhere tricky to explain.
A mobile service fits Etherley Dene, a residential suburb: you have no need to bring the vehicle to us, because our technicians drain it there, on a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Etherley Dene: the cost of fixing it
No flat figure could be honest, since every job differs. What changes the price is, first, whether the motor has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue went in; and then where your car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight spot behind Auckland Youth and Community Centre.
Which fluid was put in, what quantity, and whether it ran: every Etherley Dene enquiry begins by asking exactly that, before any quote, never after. Those answers turn a range into a straight quote.
Before a van sets off, you are told our quote on the phone. Then payment is on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
In Etherley Dene and still beside the vehicle?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, right now, the most useful thing open to you. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, across Etherley Dene or anywhere within Durham, after you call 0333 366 0103 saying it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether it ran.