Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ford
Motor off, ignition off: that's where you begin if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. The harm starts once it's pulled through the lines — it won't ignite, and it will not blend with diesel. Caught before the engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Ford. No step comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Ford: the first few minutes
To do:
- Take your keys out, and so nobody switches the ignition on.
- If you are at all close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Hold on to the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what got in and about how much.
- Our van finds you fastest with a postcode starting SP4 6, or just the name of a street close by, so call from the car.
Things not to do:
- Don't start your engine, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- Plenty of diesels power their pump the moment your ignition comes on, so leave the car off.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue will not mix, and so it is wasted.
- Even a short distance up Green Lane is too far to drive the vehicle.
- Draining that tank on your own by the road isn't one to try.
The attendants on duty at any Ford forecourt — the BP included — will usually lend a hand pushing it aside if you ask. If you're on your own drive, leave the vehicle precisely where it stands.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The engine is not what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. From a separate tank it goes directly to your exhaust, cleaning what your motor lets out. Neither side fits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and a pump can't deal with urea.
It doesn't blend. After it is poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like diesel. Heavier than diesel, it drops and collects underneath it — the same spot the pickup sucks from. A vehicle topped up on a drive in Hurdcott yesterday evening and not started since is the simple one. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though once the engine runs, that's what goes first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that hardens in filter elements and narrow passages; and, since it eats at some metals, each part it touches suffers for as long as it stays in there. Pipes carrying AdBlue mean damage by morning for a vehicle parked around Ford. Just in that tank, it stays the same. And there's the water: it brings no protection to the components that need it the most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is commonly more major than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Shell and you have a fault of thin fuel. Mixed into your diesel and left unused, it's no threat for now; using your motor does the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. It doesn't burn, and so it cannot simply be run through. Crystals and corrosion remain after the next tankful, and AdBlue splits again from your diesel, so thinning it can't help. That is why the flush matters more, and trying your engine "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other slip — in Winterbourne Earls or the heart of Ford equally.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Anywhere in Wiltshire your car has come to rest, an unrun motor leaves the AdBlue still inside the tank: the simplest part of a fuel system to clear.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Ford: how it ends up there
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, now and then under one flap — can look the same. No one means it; many layouts invite it. Mostly it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
It tends to occur in a couple of familiar ways. Rushing, outside Greentrees Primary School, after a warning light came on during the school run, a parent tops up the vehicle. A driver tips the bottle in at home, just off Roman Road (Venta-Sorviodunum), as the day ends. Another pattern: dim light, a pub car park by Hampton Inn, and someone opening that flap the first time.
Rented motors, new vehicles, fleet vehicles, or the spare car in a home with both fuels: the least known cars see it most. Anywhere across Wiltshire, Ford included, the slip does not change, and neither does the first response: keep it switched off.
Ford: started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in your tank. With any running time, it travels to the injection pump and each injector, after passing through the fuel filter and lines.
Perhaps coming back from Castle Hill Country Park, or part way across Ford, your engine may go rough, smoke, lose pace, light up your dash or stall. When safe, pull over and switch everything off — without turning it on again to see. Each start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M27, under 15 miles from Ford, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
How far it went counts. A couple of hundred yards across Ford to the car park by Boscombe Down Aviation Collection is a very different job from a run towards Salisbury, under 3 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with each mile. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever the car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after your engine has been started. Caught soon, it very rarely leaves lasting damage.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves in Ford
A street by Fastness, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station: anywhere the car has come to rest around Ford, our technicians come to it. Before anything else we ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether your engine has been run, because those replies settle this work.
Then the tank is emptied where your car waits, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A careful flush matters much more after AdBlue than with petrol, since residue will not clear out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Clean diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that is the last step. Firing it up comes next, and then you set off from where the vehicle is parked, at Salisbury or on a drive around Ford. The check before we go is that it runs properly on new diesel. No workshop is required at any point, with the whole job done then and there. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers want.
About Ford
Ford is a village in Wiltshire, situated on the banks of the River Avon, with Hampton Park and Old Sarum nearby. Ford sits at an elevation of 53 metres, close to the city of Salisbury, which is approximately 2 miles away. Ford has a population of around 1178 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Ford is located in the South West region of England, about 76.6 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Wiltshire, Ford included
Hampton Park, Old Sarum and Bishopdown are among the towns around Ford that the same teams serve, along with much of Wiltshire further out, over the SP postcode area. Close to a border, or anywhere awkward to explain? Asking is better than guessing, so phone.
Wherever your car sits — your driveway at home, a residential street, a parking area, a forecourt — our technicians drain it on the spot, with no need to take it to us; that suits Ford, a village, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Ford: the cost of fixing it
There's no honest single quote, since the jobs aren't the same. The price moves first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that went in. After that it rests on where the car is and whether our van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight spot behind Old Sarum and Longhedge Community Centre.
Which fluid got in, how much, and if the engine ran: each Ford call opens with exactly that, ahead of a quote, never afterwards. Given them, a range narrows to one firm figure.
You get that quote on the phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As our engineer is travelling, check your insurance: many cover misfuelling.
In Ford and still next to the car?
Not touching your car is, then, the best thing you can do. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Tell us it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and if it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Ford or anywhere in Wiltshire.