AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Fairmile? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that's where you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor mixes, and nothing starts until the engine pulls it round. Caught before your engine has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Fairmile. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Fairmile
Do:
- Remove your keys, which prevents anyone turning the electrics on.
- Close to moving traffic? So put your hazards on.
- Which product, and roughly what volume? Hang on to the bottle or your receipt, and our engineers will see.
- Call just where you are. Say a BH23 2 postcode or the nearest street sign, and nobody has to search for you.
Don't:
- No starting the motor — not for a second, not to shift the car.
- Many diesels run their pump the moment your ignition goes on, so keep the car off.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel will not thin it.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short way along Bronte Avenue.
- Emptying that tank yourself beside the road is not worth trying.
Rolling the vehicle away from the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever Fairmile forecourt you're on, the Murco included. On the drive, the car stays exactly where it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the motor. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it's fed into your exhaust, and there it treats the gas. Not one side fits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and a pump cannot deal with urea.
Poured in with the diesel, it keeps apart instead of blending — quite different from fuel. Denser than diesel, it sinks and pools below it — the same spot the pickup sucks from. Easiest of all: one that had AdBlue in Tuckton overnight and has not turned since. The liquid sits at the foot of that tank, untouched — though it would be first through once your motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
Once it is pulled in, the damage comes in two forms. 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 working on the components it gets to for as long as it stays there. If the AdBlue has reached the pipework, waiting overnight in Fairmile leaves things worse. In the tank alone, time does nothing. Then there's the water: it brings no lubrication to the parts that need it most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is often worse
An issue of thin fuel is what you end up with after filling a diesel with petrol from the Esso. Damage just comes from running on it. Mixed into the diesel and left inside your tank, it does none.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. It does not stay mixed, so it cannot be thinned. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the car is in Burton or the middle of Fairmile.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue sits just inside your tank, the easiest section of the whole system to empty, anywhere the car has stopped around Dorset.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Fairmile
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue cap and the diesel cap, now and then behind a single flap — can appear the same. No one intends it; plenty of designs allow it. Most of the time it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
Mostly, it occurs in one of a few familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Twynham Primary School the refill is hurried. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Fairmile Road. One more pattern: dim light, a pub car park by The Stourvale, and a driver opening that flap for the first time.
Rented cars, new motors, fleet vehicles, or the spare car in a family with both fuels: the least known cars get it most. Leave it switched off: that is the first response to the same slip, wherever in Fairmile or the rest of Dorset you happen to be.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Fairmile?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. It's been drawn through the filter and the lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure pump and the injectors.
You may notice your engine running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Queen Elizabeth II Field or halfway across Fairmile. No restarting to test: pull over when it is safe, then switch it off. Each start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M27, under 15 miles from Fairmile, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
Hopping across Fairmile to the car park by The Family Church Christchurch is one matter; driving towards Southampton, under 25 miles away, is another, since every mile carries the AdBlue further in. So distance matters. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to clean out once your engine has been started, and our engineers do all of it where your car has come to a stop. Lasting damage is very rare when it is caught early.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves around Fairmile
Wherever it has stopped around Fairmile — a filling station, a lay-by, a drive, a street by St Georges Chapel — the van travels to the vehicle. Which fluid was put in, roughly the quantity, and whether the motor has been run: our technicians ask before all else, since those decide the work.
Next, emptying that tank on the spot takes out the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue in one go. The fuel system is cleaned thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. A test of your vehicle follows last, once clean diesel is added and the fuel filter gets flushed or, where needed, replaced. About half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when your motor has not run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the street at night.
Bleeding the fuel system with clean diesel comes at the end. You set off as soon as we have started it, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a driveway around Fairmile or in a bay at Christchurch. The test before our engineers go is that it runs properly on clean diesel. Our technicians do it all wherever the car has stopped, and it never has to be taken to a workshop. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Fairmile itself
Fairmile is a coastal suburban area in Dorset, situated near the city of Christchurch and close to Jumpers Common. Fairmile has a relatively low elevation of around 7 metres above sea level, and its population of approximately 6890 people live in predominantly detached housing. Fairmile is located near St Catherines Hill and is within commuting distance of Southampton, which is about 20 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Fairmile and Dorset
AdBlue call-outs in Fairmile go to teams that cover the towns around it — Jumpers Common, Christchurch plus St Catherines Hill — and most of Dorset further out, throughout BH postcodes. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're by a border, or somewhere awkward to explain.
Fairmile is a residential suburb, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it is, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Fairmile?
No single price would be honest, because every job is different. What changes the price is, firstly, whether your engine has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and after that where the car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight spot behind Twynham Chapel.
That's why each call from Fairmile starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and whether it has run. Those answers narrow the range down to a single number.
The price is quoted on the call, before a van sets off; payment comes on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
In Fairmile and still beside your car?
Then, touch nothing — that's the most helpful step available. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Fairmile or anywhere within Dorset, once you ring 0333 366 0103 to say it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.