AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Fladbury? Keep It Switched Off
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does the engine. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. As it is water-based, it won't ignite and won't blend with diesel; damage only comes when the pump starts drawing it. If your engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally emptied and carefully purged where the vehicle stands in Fladbury. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
What to do straight away, Fladbury: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do these:
- Keys out — then nobody can switch anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and about what quantity, keep your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting WR10 2, or the name of the closest street, gets our van to you without a search.
Do not do these:
- Not even briefly, and not to roll your car: the motor remains off.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel will not weaken it.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, including a short stretch up Butt Furlong.
- Emptying your tank yourself by the road is not worth trying.
Get the people behind the counter to help you roll your vehicle off the pumps if you are on a forecourt around Fladbury, whether it is the Shell or somewhere else. At home, your car stays exactly as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your engine. Its own tank holds it, and from there it's fed into your exhaust, and there it treats the gas. No part in a fuel pump is designed for this fluid — and none of that was intended to travel that way.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once poured in, won't. The behaviour is not at all like fuel's. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. Easiest of all: a vehicle that got AdBlue in Cropthorne overnight and has not been started since. The AdBlue sits at the base of your tank, undrawn — though it would be the first thing through if your engine runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
From there it does two kinds of damage. 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, and so it keeps working on the components it gets to for as long as it stays there. Where the AdBlue has reached the lines, waiting till morning around Fladbury leaves things worse. In the tank only, time costs nothing. The water in it does damage of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is often more serious than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake over at the Tesco, and the problem is thinned fuel. Harm only comes from running on it. Mixed into the diesel and sitting inside the tank, it does none.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is plainly the wrong one. It can't just be run through, since it does not burn. Whether the vehicle sits in Hill Furze or the centre of Fladbury, turning it over "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other slip, and the flush counts for more. The reasons: it won't stay blended, and so watering it down is impossible; and crystals and corrosion survive the next tankful.
As with petrol, there's good news. Wherever across Worcestershire your car has come to rest, an unstarted engine means the AdBlue yet inside the tank: the easiest part of any fuel system to empty.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Fladbury?
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many vehicles waits right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A container picked up when heading home and poured in outside the house, instead of at the forecourt, is the usual story.
A few familiar ways account for the majority of them. Hurrying, outside Fladbury CofE Primary School and Preschool, after a warning light came on during the school run, someone refills the vehicle. Close to Weston Orchard, a driver tips a container in at home in the evening. Or the car is topped up in the car park at Anchor Inn, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
Rented cars, brand-new vehicles, fleet vehicles, or the second car in a family with one of each: the least familiar cars get it most. Anywhere across Worcestershire, Fladbury included, the slip does not change, and nor does the first step: keep it off.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Fladbury?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside the tank. It's been drawn through the filter and your lines, and if your engine ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors.
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power, dashboard warnings or stalling: each might show up, maybe midway across Fladbury or returning from Evesham Golf Course. No starting it again to check: stop once safe, then turn everything off. More of it is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M5, under 10 miles from Fladbury, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
Distance matters: each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in, so driving for Worcester, under 15 miles away, makes a much larger job than crossing Fladbury to the car park by Fladbury Village Hall & Social Club. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush once your engine has been started. Noticed soon, it very seldom leaves long-term damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Fladbury?
A road beside St John the Baptist, a driveway, a layby or a filling station: wherever the car has stopped around Fladbury, our technicians come to it. Before anything else we ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether the motor has run, because those replies decide this work.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out as one when that tank is drained, on the spot. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing matters: the fuel system is cleaned right through since what remains will not flush out by itself. Next, the fuel filter: cleaned, or replaced when it must be. Then clean diesel, then a check of the car. Engine not run? In that case expect about half an hour on site for most jobs. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a busy filling station is no problem, and it is hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
Lastly, the system is bled with fresh diesel. Then we start the engine and you set off, whether from a parking bay outside Pershore or a driveway in Fladbury. Before leaving, we confirm it is running smoothly with fresh diesel in. Our technicians do it all wherever your car has ended up, and it never needs to be taken to a garage. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Fladbury itself
Fladbury is a village situated on the banks of the River Avon in Worcestershire, with a low elevation of around 32 metres. Fladbury has a mix of old and new housing, but predominantly features detached homes. Fladbury is located near several other small settlements, including Fladbury Cross and Lower Moor, and is within a short drive of the city of Worcester. Fladbury is also around 90 miles west of London, making it a relatively rural community.
AdBlue drains across Worcestershire, Fladbury included
Our vans that answer AdBlue call-outs in Fladbury also cover the places around it, Fladbury Cross, Lower Moor and Charlton among them, and most of Worcestershire beyond, across the WR postcode area. Assuming won't help by a county line or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and ask.
A van that comes to you suits Fladbury, a village: there's no need to bring your car to us, since our engineers empty it there, on a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Fladbury: the cost of fixing it
There's no fair single price, since the jobs aren't the same. Three things shift the cost: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where your car is. That last one rests on whether a technician can get to it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight gap behind St Michael.
Before a quote, never afterwards, each call from Fladbury opens with three questions: the liquid, the quantity, plus whether the engine ran. Given those replies, the range narrows to a single firm figure.
Priced by phone before the engineer heads out, it is paid for on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. As our engineer is on the way, check your insurance: plenty include misfuelling.
Fladbury: still alongside the vehicle?
Then, the best thing to do with your car is to leave it. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Say it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether it ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, in Fladbury or anywhere within Worcestershire.