Firth Moor: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. Being water-based, it won't ignite and never combines with diesel; damage only comes once your pump starts pulling it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Firth Moor, is usually what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before the engine has run. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Your next steps straight away, Firth Moor: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Things to do:
- Remove your keys, which prevents someone turning the power on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- Which fluid, and roughly how much amount? Hang on to the bottle or the receipt, and we will know.
- Tell us a postcode starting DL1 4, or whatever street is closest, and our van finds you directly — so ring from wherever you stand.
Never do these:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift the car: your engine stays off.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Pouring in extra diesel doesn't work: AdBlue separates out instead of blending.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short stretch along Lanethorpe Road.
- Beside the road, do not attempt emptying it on your own.
On a forecourt around Firth Moor, whether it's the Morrisons or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll the car clear of the petrol pump. On that drive, the car stays just where it was left.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not the engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. Nothing in a fuel pump is designed for this liquid — and none of that was meant to travel that way.
Tipped in with your diesel, it keeps apart rather than mixing — entirely different from fuel. The pickup sucks fuel from the deepest part of the tank, and that's just where AdBlue settles: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. Simplest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Darlington overnight and has not turned since. The liquid waits at the foot of the tank, untouched — but it would be the first thing through if your engine starts, ahead of any diesel at all.
After it's pulled in, the harm takes two forms. What remains when the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in narrow passages and clog filters. Worse, it attacks some metals in the fuel system, and keeps going till it's flushed out. Pipes carrying AdBlue mean harm overnight for a car sitting in Firth Moor. Only in that tank, it stays stable. Water protects nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel running through them, and so the water content harms them in its own right.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is often worse than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Shell's forecourt leaves your fuel watery — that is the main fault. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it is inside your tank it causes no harm; the damage comes from running your engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Not burning, it cannot just be run through. Nor can it be thinned, since it splits again — and the following fill won't rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts for more with AdBlue, and turning your key "to see", in the centre of Firth Moor or out in Red Hall, does more harm than nearly any other error.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest part on a fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever around Durham the car sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Firth Moor: how it ends up there
It is not on purpose. Many cars have the AdBlue cap beside the diesel inlet, occasionally behind a single flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. Most of the time it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
It tends to occur in a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside St Teresa's Catholic Primary School. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Westminster Road. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at The Wheatsheaf, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It happens most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever you're around Firth Moor or the remainder of Durham, it's the same mistake and the same first answer: leave it off.
Started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Firth Moor?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. Via your filter, along the lines, and — given any running — on to the high-pressure pump and every injector: that's how far it travels.
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power, dashboard warnings or stalling: any may show up, perhaps part way across Firth Moor or returning from Tommy Crooks Park. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart it to check. More of that is pulled through with each start.
Leave the A66(M), under 3 miles from Firth Moor, at the next junction and park safely, rather than driving on.
Distance counts: each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into the system, so driving for Durham, under 25 miles away, makes a much larger job than crossing Firth Moor to the car park by Geneva Road Evangelical Baptist Church. Let us know about how far it had come.
There is more to flush once the engine has been started, and we do all of it where the car has stopped. Long-term damage is very unusual when it is spotted early.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Firth Moor: what it takes
Wherever it has stopped around Firth Moor — a forecourt, a layby, a drive, a road beside St Teresa's — our van travels to your vehicle. The work rests on three answers, which our technicians get before all else — which fluid got in, the amount, and if the engine has turned over.
On the spot, your tank is then drained, and both the polluted diesel and the urea come out at once. Your system is purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Not run? In that case expect roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime your system, and that is the last step. Starting it comes next, and then you set off from where your car is parked, outside Darlington or on a driveway around Firth Moor. It's tested on clean diesel to be sure it runs smoothly before our technicians leave. No workshop is required at any point, with the entire job done then and there. Your insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Firth Moor, for a moment
Firth Moor is a suburban area located on the riverside in County Durham, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Firth Moor sits at an elevation of 47 metres, near the city of Durham and close to nearby places such as Eastbourne and Bank Top. Firth Moor is part of the wider urban area surrounding Durham, with easy access to the city and its amenities. Firth Moor has a population of around 7891 people, making it a sizable residential community.
AdBlue drains around Firth Moor and across Durham
The vans that answer AdBlue call-outs in Firth Moor also cover the locations about it, Eastbourne, Bank Top and Black Banks among them, and most of Durham beyond, across the DL postcode area. Close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down? Checking is better than guessing, so phone.
No towing is needed. In Firth Moor, a residential suburb, a van that comes to you fits: the car is drained where it stands, be it in a drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Firth Moor: the cost of fixing it
Every job differs, so no single quote is fair. What moves the cost is, firstly, whether the engine has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and after that where your car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind St Herbert's Church.
Which fluid went in, how much, and if the engine ran: every Firth Moor enquiry begins with precisely that, before a figure, never after. Their replies narrow the range right down to a single figure.
Quoted by phone before the engineer heads out, it is paid for on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. While our engineer is on the way, check your insurance: plenty include misfuelling.
In Firth Moor and still next to your car?
Then, the best thing to do with the car is to not touch it. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, across Firth Moor or wherever within Durham, after you ring 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.