AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Exning? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, keep the engine off and keep your ignition off. Urea mixed in water is all AdBlue is. The trouble starts once it is sucked through your pump — it will not ignite, and it won't blend with diesel. Caught before your motor has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Exning. Nothing comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
Exning, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do straight away
Do these:
- Pull your keys out, and so nobody switches your ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- Which fluid, and about how much quantity? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and our technicians will see.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting CB8 7, or the name of the closest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Don't do these:
- Moving the vehicle even a short way is no reason to start the motor.
- 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 thin it.
- Even a short distance along Oxford Street is too far to drive the car.
- No emptying it yourself, either, on the roadside.
At a forecourt in Exning, whether it is the BP or another one, ask the staff to help you roll your car clear of the pump. If you are on your own drive, leave the car just where it sits.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the engine. Kept in a separate tank, it is injected into the exhaust stream to treat the fumes. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and collects underneath it — the same place the intake draws from. Once your system runs, the AdBlue is first to be pulled through. Until then it waits beneath the diesel, which is why a car topped up in Burwell last night and not started remains the simple one, provided no one touches your key.
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's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps labouring on the components it reaches for as long as it remains there. Lines carrying AdBlue mean harm overnight for a vehicle sitting in Exning. Only inside that tank, it stays the same. Water protects nothing. The injection pump and every injector depend on diesel running through them, so the water part damages them by itself.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Petrol put into a diesel on Tesco's forecourt makes your fuel thin — that is the whole problem. Blended into the diesel and left unused, it's harmless at that stage; using your engine is the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Deposits and corrosion remain after the next tankful, and AdBlue splits again from your diesel, and so thinning it won't help. That is why the flush matters so much, and turning the key "to see" costs more with AdBlue than almost any other slip — in Snailwell or the centre of Exning alike.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest job on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue stays in there — anywhere across Suffolk the vehicle has stopped.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Exning?
Many motors place the AdBlue cap beside the diesel cap, occasionally behind one flap, and in dim light the two can appear identical. No one means it. Mostly it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the pump.
A few familiar ways cover most cases. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside Exning Primary School. A driver pours the container in at home, just off Swan Lane, as the day ends. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap refills your vehicle after dark, parked in the car park by White Swan.
It happens most in the cars 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 in Suffolk, Exning as well, the mistake doesn't change, and neither does the first step: keep it off.
Exning: started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. The fuel filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and some running time takes it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Perhaps returning from Studlands Park, or part way across Exning, your motor might run rough, smoke, lose power, flash the dash or stall. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart it to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the M11, under 15 miles from Exning, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
Hopping across Exning to the car park by Exning Methodist Church is one thing; driving towards Ely, under 15 miles away, is another, because every mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So mileage counts. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Our technicians do all of the cleaning where the car has come to a stop, and once the motor has been run there is more of it. Noticed early, it very seldom leaves lasting damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Exning?
The vehicle remains where it is, whether that's a road near St Martin (Exning and Landwade Parish Church), a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt around Exning, and our van travels to it. Three answers decide the job, so before anything else our technicians ask what got in, roughly what quantity, plus if your engine has turned over.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave as one after that tank is drained, on the spot. A full flush matters much more after AdBlue than after petrol, because what remains will not wash out by itself. Testing the vehicle follows at the end, once clean diesel is added and the fuel filter is cleaned or, if necessary, replaced. Not run? In that case expect about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Lastly, the system is bled with fresh diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you set off from where the vehicle is parked, by Newmarket or on a drive around Exning. It's checked on new diesel to be sure it runs properly before our technicians head off. As the job is done in full where the car is, a garage never comes into it. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers ask for.
About Exning, briefly
Exning is a village situated on the riverside in Suffolk, with an elevation of around 17 metres, and is located near Studlands Park and Landwade. Exning has a population of approximately 1445 people and predominantly consists of detached housing. Exning is close to the city of Ely, about 10 miles away, and is around 56 miles from London. Exning benefits from its rural setting and proximity to nearby Old Pembroke Farm.
Exning and Suffolk: AdBlue drains across the area
Studlands Park, Landwade and Old Pembroke Farm are among the towns around Exning that the same teams serve, along with much of Suffolk beyond, throughout the CB postcode area. Guessing won't help by a county line or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and ask.
A mobile service fits Exning, a village: there's no need to bring your car to us, because our technicians empty it there, in a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
Exning: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
No single figure would be honest, since each job differs. Three things move the cost: whether the engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where your car is. That last one turns on whether our van can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight spot behind Exning Village Sign.
For that reason, each enquiry from Exning begins with the same trio — what got in, what quantity, whether it ran — before any quote. With them, the range shrinks to one firm number.
You hear that price on the phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Still beside the car in Exning?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to your car. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Exning or anywhere around Suffolk.