Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Featherstone
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when the fuel system draws it in. In Featherstone, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the engine runs usually comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Featherstone
Things to do:
- So nobody can turn the ignition on, take the keys out.
- Put the hazard lights on if you are anywhere near moving traffic.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what went in and about how much.
- Give us a postcode starting WV10 7, or whatever street is nearest, and the van finds you directly — so ring from wherever you are.
Not to do:
- No starting your motor — not for a second, not to shift your car.
- Many diesels run their pump the instant the ignition comes on, and so keep the vehicle off.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short way up South Crescent.
- Don't try to drain the car yourself at the roadside.
On a forecourt around Featherstone, whether it is the Harvest Energy or another one, ask the staff to help you roll the car clear of the pump. On the drive, your car remains exactly where it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not the engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. From a dedicated tank it is fed straight to your exhaust, treating what the motor emits. A fuel pump is not made to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, after tipped in, won't. Its behaviour is not at all like diesel's. The intake sucks fuel from the lowest part of that tank, and that's just where AdBlue settles: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. When your system runs, the AdBlue is first to be pulled through. Until then it sits underneath your diesel, and that is why a car topped up in Bushbury yesterday and not started stays the straightforward one, provided no one touches your key.
Once it's drawn in, the harm comes in two forms. What is left when the water goes is urea, which turns into crystals: they lodge in narrow channels and clog filters. On top of that, it eats at some metals in a fuel system, and carries on till it's cleared out. Lines holding AdBlue spell damage overnight for a vehicle parked in Featherstone. Just inside your tank, it stays the same. The water in it does damage of its own: the high-pressure pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger fault?
Put petrol in a diesel at the M6 Diesel and you have an issue of thin fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and while it's inside the tank it causes no harm; the harm comes from running the motor on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is plainly the wrong one. It does not burn, and so it cannot just be run through. Deposits and corrosion remain after the following tankful, and AdBlue separates back from your diesel, and so watering it can't help. That is why the flush counts more, and turning your key "to see" costs more with AdBlue than almost any other slip — in Westcroft or the centre of Featherstone equally.
The same good news applies as with petrol. If the motor has not run, the AdBlue is still in your tank, and that tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Staffordshire your car is sitting.
Featherstone: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of vehicles sits right next to the diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it's not the forecourt: someone picks up a container heading home and tips it in outside the house.
A few familiar ways account for the majority of them. The refill is rushed outside Featherstone Academy, because your dash lit up with a warning while the children were taken in. After work, a container is tipped in on a driveway close to Cannock Road. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap tops up your car in dim light, parked in the car park by Red White & Blue.
It happens most in the motors drivers know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Keep it switched off: that's the first step to the same slip, anywhere in Featherstone or the remainder of Staffordshire you happen to be.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Featherstone, and the motor started?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer in that tank. Through your filter, through the lines, and — given any running — on to the high-pressure pump and every injector: that's how far it has gone.
You may see the motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Black Country Millennium Forest or halfway across Featherstone. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
Featherstone sits under a mile from the M54; if you were on it, leave by the first junction and stop safely rather than driving on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. That's why crossing Featherstone to park near Moseley Old Hall and a drive of under 5 miles for Wolverhampton are such different jobs. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
We do all of the rinsing where the car has ended up, and once the engine has run there is more of it. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage when it is noticed soon.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Featherstone?
Our technicians come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Featherstone: a side street near Church of St Mary and St Luke, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The job rests on three replies, which our engineers get first — which fluid went in, the quantity, and if the engine has turned over.
Next, draining that tank on the spot removes the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. What remains from AdBlue won't wash out unaided, so the whole system gets a careful flush, which matters far more here than for petrol. A test of your vehicle comes last, after clean diesel is added and the fuel filter is cleaned or, where necessary, replaced. About half an hour on site is usual for most jobs where the engine hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
The last step is to prime your system on new diesel. You set off as soon as we have started the engine, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a drive around Featherstone or in a bay at Landywood. Before leaving, our engineers check it's running correctly with fresh diesel in. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to go to a workshop. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers want.
About Featherstone and where it is
Featherstone is a village in Staffordshire, situated inland at an elevation of 139 metres, approximately 4.3 miles from Wolverhampton. Featherstone has a population of around 1776 people, with predominantly semi-detached housing. Featherstone is close to nearby places such as Moseley, Shareshill, and Little Saredon, and is about 114.4 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains across Staffordshire, Featherstone included
Moseley, Shareshill and Little Saredon are among the places near Featherstone that the same teams reach, together with most of Staffordshire further out, throughout the WV postcode area. Assuming doesn't help close to a county line or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and ask.
Anywhere the car sits — your drive at home, a side street, a parking area, a filling station — we empty it there, with no need to bring it to us; that suits Featherstone, a rural village, well.
Featherstone: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Since the jobs differ, a flat figure would not be fair. Whether your engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the price. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the position of your car, because an open drive is simpler for a van to get to safely than a tight spot behind Willenhall Rugby Club.
What went in, how much, plus if it ran: every Featherstone call opens by asking exactly those, before a figure, never after. Those answers narrow a range right down to one figure.
Priced by phone before the engineer heads out, the job is settled on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
Alongside the car in Featherstone, right now?
Then, touch nothing — that's the best move available. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus whether the engine ran is all our technicians need. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder across Staffordshire, Featherstone included.