Fence: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, leave your engine off then keep your ignition off. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. It does not burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when your fuel system draws it in. In Fence, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, just where the vehicle is. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Fence, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
Do:
- So no one can switch the ignition on, take your keys away.
- If you're anywhere near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or your receipt tells us the fluid and the quantity, so do not throw it away.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting BB12 9, or the name of the nearest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- No starting the motor — not for a second, not to shift your car.
- Plenty of diesels run their fuel pump the instant your ignition comes on, and so leave the vehicle off.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel won't weaken it.
- Even a short stretch up St Annes Way is too far to drive the vehicle.
- Do not try to drain the car yourself by the roadside.
Get the people behind the counter to help you roll the vehicle away from the pumps if you are on a forecourt around Fence, whether it is the Texaco or somewhere else. On your own driveway, don't touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Meant for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your motor. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it's fed into the exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Nothing in a fuel pump is made for this fluid — and no part of that was intended to go through one.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once poured in, will not. Its behaviour is nothing like fuel's. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Higham last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
Two kinds of damage follow from there. It eats at some metals found in fuel components, working on whatever it touches till it's cleared completely. And once the water evaporates, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and lodge in narrow passages. Pipes carrying AdBlue mean damage overnight for a car parked around Fence. Only in the tank, it stays the same. And there's the water: it brings no lubrication to the components that rely on it the most — the injection pump and each injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel commonly the bigger issue?
Petrol put into a diesel on Esso's forecourt leaves the fuel thin — that's the main issue. Damage just comes from running on it. Blended into the diesel and sitting inside the tank, it causes none.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong liquid. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. Crystals and corrosion remain through the next fill, and AdBlue separates back from your diesel, and so watering it can't work. That is why the flush counts so much, and turning your key "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other slip — in Newchurch in Pendle or the heart of Fence equally.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest part on any fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue stays in there — anywhere around Lancashire your vehicle has stopped.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Fence: how it ends up there
It is not deliberate. Plenty of vehicles have the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel one, now and then under a single flap, and mixing them up is simple in poor light. Usually it is never the forecourt: a driver picks up a container driving home and pours it in at home.
A couple of familiar ways cover the majority of them. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Wheatley Lane Methodist Primary School the refill is rushed. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Saint Annes Drive. Another version: dim light, the car park outside The White Swan, and a driver using that flap for the first time.
The least familiar vehicles see it the most — rentals, new ones, company ones, and the other motor of a family with one of each fuels. An identical slip, an identical first response — leave it switched off — anywhere you are in Fence or the remainder of Lancashire.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Fence, and your engine started?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in the tank. The filter and pipework have had it sucked through, and some running time carries it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Rough running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard warnings or stalling: any might appear, maybe part way across Fence or returning from Pendle Hall Plantation. No starting it again to check: stop once it is safe, then switch everything off. Each start pulls more of it through.
Exit the M65, under a mile from Fence, by the next junction and stop safely, rather than driving on.
Hopping across Fence to the car park by St Anne's Church is one thing; heading towards Preston, under 25 miles away, is something else, since every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So mileage counts. Let us know about how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the cleaning where your car has stopped, and once the motor has run there is more of it. Lasting damage is very unusual if it is caught early.
Fence: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
A road beside Wheatley Lane Methodist Church, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt: wherever the car has stopped around Fence, our technicians come to it. Three replies shape the job, so first our technicians ask which fluid went in, about what quantity, plus if the engine has run.
Next, emptying that tank on the spot takes out the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. Residue from AdBlue will not flush away by itself, and so the fuel system gets a full flush, which counts much more here than for petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour job once our engineers arrive, provided the engine has not run. Quiet enough to use outside a house at night, and safe on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Priming the system with fresh diesel comes at the end. You set off as soon as our technicians have started the car, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a driveway around Fence or in a bay at Brierfield. It's tested on new diesel to make sure it runs correctly before we go. No workshop is required at any point, with the whole job done on the spot. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Fence, briefly
Fence is a small village in Lancashire, situated inland at an elevation of 196 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Fence lies approximately 18 miles north of Preston and around 184 miles northwest of London, placing it in a rural setting. Fence is surrounded by nearby places such as Wheatley Lane, Waterside, and Spen Brook, and has a population of around 580 residents. Fence retains a quiet, rural character, typical of many villages in the North West of England.
AdBlue drains across Lancashire, Fence included
The teams that answer AdBlue jobs around Fence also cover the spots about it, Wheatley Lane, Waterside and Spen Brook among them, and most of Lancashire beyond, across the BB postcode area. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Anywhere your car sits — a driveway at home, a side street, a car park, a filling station — we drain it there, and there's no need to bring it to us; which suits Fence, a rural village, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Fence
Not one flat price would be honest, since every job differs. Whether the motor has been running, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the cost. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the position of the vehicle, because an open driveway is easier for a technician to get to safely than a tight gap behind St. John's.
For that in mind, each enquiry from Fence opens by asking the identical trio — what went in, how much, if the engine ran — before a quote. When those are known, a range becomes one fixed number.
You get that quote by phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your policy while we are on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Beside your car in Fence, still?
In that case, do nothing — that's the most helpful step available. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and whether the engine ran is all our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest across Lancashire, Fence too.