Firth Park: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does your motor. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. As it is water-based, it will not burn and won't blend with diesel; trouble only starts when your pump starts drawing it. If your motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally drained and carefully cleaned where your car sits around Firth Park. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Firth Park: the first few minutes
Do these:
- Take your keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and roughly what quantity, keep your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Our van finds you fastest with a postcode starting S5 6, or simply the name of a street nearby, and so call from the spot.
Things not to do:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to move your car.
- Plenty of diesels run their fuel pump the moment the ignition comes on, and so leave the car off.
- Pouring in extra diesel doesn't work: AdBlue separates out rather than blending.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short stretch up Hucklow Road.
- Don't try to drain the car yourself at the roadside.
Get the people behind the counter to help you roll the vehicle away from the island if you're at a forecourt in Firth Park, whether it's the JET or elsewhere. On the drive, the car stays exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not the motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Kept in a separate tank, it is injected into the exhaust stream to clean the fumes. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. The intake takes fuel from the lowest part of your tank, and that's just where AdBlue ends up: being heavier than diesel, it sinks. A car filled on a drive in Fir Vale overnight and not started since is the straightforward case. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up so far — but once the motor runs, that's what goes first, straight from the bottom of your tank.
From there it does two kinds of damage. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that crystallises in filter elements and tiny passages; meanwhile, because it eats at some metals, each part it touches suffers for as long as it remains inside. A car left standing in Firth Park with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank isn't. Diesel protects the injection pump and every injector as it flows; water offers none of that, which is a separate kind of harm.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is often more major than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Shell's forecourt leaves your fuel thin — that is the main problem. Mixed into the diesel and sitting unused, it is no threat for now; using your engine is the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Since it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Nor can it be watered down, since it splits again — and the next tankful will not rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters more with AdBlue, and trying the engine "to see", in the heart of Firth Park or out in Grimesthorpe, does more harm than nearly any other error.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest part on any fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever across South Yorkshire the vehicle sits.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Firth Park?
Plenty of cars place the AdBlue cap beside the diesel cap, occasionally under a single flap, and after dark the two may look the same. Nobody intends it. Mostly it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
It tends to occur in a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Hucklow Primary School. After work, a bottle is tipped in on a driveway near Sicey Avenue. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap tops up the vehicle in dim light, stopped in the car park outside the pub in the village.
Rented vehicles, brand-new vehicles, company cars, or the second car in a family with one of each: the least familiar cars get it most. Wherever you're around Firth Park or the remainder of South Yorkshire, it is the same mistake and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Firth Park?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Via the fuel filter, through the pipework, and — with any running — into the injection pump and every injector: that is how far it travels.
Expect rough running, exhaust smoke, lost power, warnings on the dash, or a cut-out — returning from the green space at the edge of the village, say, or midway across Firth Park. Pull over when it is safe. Switch off. Leave it off rather than restarting it to check. More of it is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M1, under 3 miles from Firth Park, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into your system. That's why crossing Firth Park to park beside The Giants Hand and a drive of under 3 miles towards Sheffield are very separate jobs. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Once your engine has run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has stopped. Permanent damage is very uncommon when it's noticed quickly.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Firth Park?
Our technicians come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped around Firth Park: a side street close to Pavement Plate (Beetroot Houmous), a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The job rests on three answers, and we ask for before all else — which fluid was put in, the quantity, and whether your motor has run.
Then the tank is cleared where the car stands, and so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue will not flush out unaided, and so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which matters much more with urea than with petrol. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Roughly half an hour on site is typical for most jobs where the engine hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Lastly, the fuel system is bled with new diesel. Whether it is a parking bay at Meadowhall or a drive around Firth Park, that is where we start the car and you head off. Our engineers make sure it runs properly on new diesel before we leave. Because the job is done in full where the vehicle is, a workshop never comes into it. Afterwards, you are given the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Firth Park, briefly
Firth Park is a suburban area in South Yorkshire, situated near the River Don and approximately 2.6 miles from Sheffield city centre. Firth Park has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by terraced homes. Firth Park sits at an elevation of around 103 metres, in a location that is relatively close to nearby places such as Pismire Hill and High Wincobank.
AdBlue drains around Firth Park and across South Yorkshire
Our teams that answer AdBlue calls in Firth Park also cover the locations round it, Pismire Hill, Sheffield Lane Top and High Wincobank among them, and most of South Yorkshire beyond, across the S postcode area. Guessing doesn't help close to a county line or anywhere tricky to describe; phone and check.
A van that comes to you fits Firth Park, a residential suburb: you have no need to take your vehicle to us, because our technicians drain it there, in a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Firth Park
There's no fair single quote, since the jobs are not the same. Three things shift the cost: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the car is. That last one turns on whether a van can reach it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight gap behind Firth Park Library.
Ahead of any quote, never afterwards, each enquiry from Firth Park begins with three checks: the fuel, the quantity, plus if it ran. Once those are answered, a range becomes one firm figure.
The price is quoted during the call, before a van sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. While the van is travelling, check your policy: plenty include misfuelling.
In Firth Park and still beside the car?
Not touching your car is, then, the best thing open to you. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, about how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Firth Park or anywhere in South Yorkshire.