AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Foggy Furze? Keep It Switched Off
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and no harm starts till your engine pulls it through. Caught before your engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Foggy Furze. No step comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Foggy Furze, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do straight away
Do these:
- Take your keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you are at all near moving traffic.
- Which fluid, and about what amount? Hang on to the bottle or your receipt, and our engineers can know.
- The van locates you quickest with a postcode starting TS25 5, or just the name of a street close by, and so phone from the car.
Things not to do:
- Moving your car even a few yards is no reason to fire up the engine.
- Plenty of diesels run their fuel pump the instant the ignition goes on, and so keep the car off.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Never drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short distance along Stockton Road.
- Beside the road, don't try emptying it yourself.
Rolling the car off the island is a job for staff to help with, wherever Foggy Furze forecourt you are on, the Morrisons included. If you're on your own drive, leave it exactly where it sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your engine. Kept in a dedicated tank, it's injected into the exhaust stream to clean the gases. Neither side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and an injection pump cannot deal with urea.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It does not mix in. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and collects underneath it — the very place the intake draws from. Once your pump runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Until then it waits beneath the diesel, which is why a vehicle filled in Bellevue last night and never switched on stays the simple case, as long as no one touches the key.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and tiny channels; and, because it eats at certain metals, each part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it stays inside. A vehicle left standing around Foggy Furze with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank is not. Then there's the water: it brings no protection to the parts that need it most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Petrol put into a diesel on Esso's forecourt makes your fuel thin — that is the main fault. Blended into your diesel and left still, it is harmless for now; using your motor is the damage.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely wrong liquid. It can't just be run through, since it doesn't burn. Nor can it be watered down, because it splits back out — and the following fill will not clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts for more with AdBlue, and trying the engine "to see", in the centre of Foggy Furze or out in Owton Manor, does more harm than nearly any other slip.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If your engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside the tank, and that tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Durham your car is sitting.
Foggy Furze: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, now and then behind a single flap — can look the same. No one means it; many designs allow it. Usually it is not the forecourt: someone picks up a container heading home and tips it in outside the house.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. The top-up is rushed outside St Aidan's Church of England Memorial Primary School, because the dash flashed with a warning as the kids were dropped off. Someone tips the bottle in at home, just off Westbrooke Avenue, as the day ends. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap refills your vehicle in dim light, parked in the car park outside The Greenside.
The least known cars see it the most — hire cars, brand-new ones, company ones, and the other vehicle in a home with one of each fuels. Anywhere across Durham, Foggy Furze included, the slip does not change, and nor does the first response: leave it switched off.
Foggy Furze: started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. Via the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — with any running time — into the injection pump and every injector: that is where it travels.
Expect rough running, exhaust smoke, falling power, lights on the dash, or a stall — returning from The Rec, say, or part way across Foggy Furze. Stop when it is safe. Turn off. Keep the vehicle off instead of testing it again. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
If you were on the A1(M), under 15 miles from Foggy Furze, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
A quick hop across Foggy Furze to the car park by Belle View Community Sports & Youth Centre is one thing; heading for Durham, under 25 miles away, is another, since each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So mileage counts. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
We do all of the flushing where your car has ended up, and once the engine has been started there is more of it. Very seldom does it leave long-term damage when it is noticed soon.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel around Foggy Furze: what it takes
Wherever it has come to rest in Foggy Furze — a filling station, a lay-by, a drive, a road beside 2nd-Hand Central — the van travels to the vehicle. Which fluid was put in, roughly how much, plus whether the motor has turned over: our technicians ask first, because those shape the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave together after the tank is emptied, on the spot. A careful flush counts much more with AdBlue than after petrol, because residue won't clear away on its own. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Engine not run? In that case count on about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a busy filling station is no problem, and it is quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
The final step is to prime the system on clean diesel. Whether it is a parking space outside Seaton Carew or a drive in Foggy Furze, that is where we fire it up and you set off. Before we go, our engineers make sure it is running correctly with fresh diesel in. Our technicians do it all wherever the car has stopped, and it never has to go to a garage. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Foggy Furze, briefly
Foggy Furze is a suburban area located on the coast of north-east England, with an elevation of around 14 metres above sea level. Foggy Furze sits near the mouth of the Tees estuary, close to nearby places such as Longhill, Rift House, and Stranton. Foggy Furze has a population of approximately 6408 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Foggy Furze is situated about 16 miles from the city of Durham and around 223 miles north of London.
Foggy Furze and Durham: AdBlue drains across the area
AdBlue call-outs in Foggy Furze go to teams that cover the places around it — Longhill, Rift House plus Stranton — and most of Durham further out, throughout TS postcodes. Near a boundary, or somewhere awkward to explain? Asking is better than guessing, so ring.
A mobile service fits Foggy Furze, a residential suburb: you have no need to bring your car to us, because our engineers drain it there, on a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
Foggy Furze: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no fair single price, because the jobs are not the same. The price changes first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that got in. After that it depends on where the car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind St Aidan's Church.
Before a quote, not afterwards, every enquiry from Foggy Furze begins with the same three checks: the liquid, the quantity, and whether the engine ran. When those are answered, a range turns into a single firm figure.
Before a van heads out, you are told our price by phone. And you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van gets there.
Foggy Furze: still beside the car?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with your car is to not touch it. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, in Foggy Furze or wherever within Durham, once you call 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.