Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Foxholes
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, keep your engine off then leave the ignition off. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. As it is water-based, it will not burn and won't blend with diesel; damage only comes when your pump begins pulling it. In Foxholes, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, right where the vehicle is. No step comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
What to do right now, Foxholes: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do:
- Pull your keys out, and so no one switches your ignition on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you are anywhere near moving traffic.
- Which product, and about what quantity? Hang on to the bottle or your receipt, and our engineers will know.
- Give us a postcode starting BH14 0, or whatever street lies closest, and the van reaches you straight — so call from wherever you stand.
Never:
- Not even for a second, and not to roll your car: your engine remains off.
- The ignition remains off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to run your fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel won't weaken it.
- Leave the vehicle where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short way up Hilton Close.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, on the verge.
The attendants working at any Foxholes filling station — the Esso included — will normally help pushing it aside if you ask. Parked on your own drive? Then it stays exactly as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your engine. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it is sprayed into the exhaust, where it treats the fumes. Nothing in a fuel pump is made for this liquid — and none of that was meant to travel that way.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, once tipped in, won't. Its behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It drops, because it is denser than diesel, and settles down where the intake takes its supply from. A vehicle filled on a driveway in Upper Parkstone yesterday evening and not started since is the straightforward case. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up yet — though when the engine turns, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of your tank.
Two kinds of harm come from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps labouring on the components it hits for as long as it stays there. Lines carrying AdBlue spell damage by morning for a car sitting around Foxholes. Just in the tank, it stays the same. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and each injector depend on diesel flowing through them, so the water part damages them in its own right.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger fault?
Put petrol in a diesel at the Tesco and you have an issue of thin fuel. No damage comes while it sits put, mixed into the diesel — only when your motor runs on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a problem of the wrong substance altogether. It doesn't burn, and so it cannot just be run through. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it cannot be diluted. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Mannings Heath or the middle of Foxholes.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Wherever around Dorset the car has come to rest, an unrun motor leaves the AdBlue still in the reservoir: the simplest bit of a fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Foxholes?
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue cap and the diesel cap, now and then behind one flap — may appear the same. No one intends it; plenty of designs invite it. Mostly it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
A couple of familiar ways account for the majority of them. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Ocean Academy Poole the top-up is hurried. In the evening, a bottle goes in on a driveway close to Haymoor Road. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at Sweet Home Inn, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
It crops up the most in a hire car, a brand-new vehicle, a company vehicle, or the spare motor in a family with both fuels — the cars drivers know the least. Anywhere in Dorset, Foxholes as well, the slip doesn't change, and neither does the first response: leave it switched off.
Foxholes: started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. It's been sucked through the fuel filter and your lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure pump and your injectors.
You may notice the engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Haskells Recreation Ground or halfway across Foxholes. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart it to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Exit the M27, under 25 miles from Foxholes, by the next junction and park somewhere safe, rather than carrying on.
How far it went counts. A couple of hundred yards across Foxholes to the car park by Chapel is a very different job from a run towards Salisbury, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with every mile. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once your engine has been run, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where your car has stopped. Spotted quickly, it very rarely leaves permanent damage.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel in Foxholes: what it takes
Our engineers come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped in Foxholes: a side street close to Sea View Centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The job rests on three answers, which we ask for first — which fluid went in, the quantity, and whether your motor has run.
Then your tank is drained where the vehicle waits, and so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A careful flush matters far more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what remains will not wash away by itself. After that, your filter: cleaned, or changed if it has to be. After that clean diesel, then a check of your vehicle. About half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs where the engine hasn't run. Explosion-proof pumps make a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they run quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
The final step is to prime the system on new diesel. You head off as soon as we have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a driveway in Foxholes or in a bay at Parkstone (Dorset). The test before our technicians head off is that it runs smoothly on new diesel. Since the job is done in full where your car is, a workshop never comes into it. Afterwards, there is paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Foxholes
Foxholes is a suburban area in Dorset, situated near the coast and approximately 24 miles from Salisbury. Foxholes has a population of around 6104 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Foxholes sits at an elevation of 44 metres, with nearby places including Newtown, Oakdale, and Parkstone. Foxholes is also relatively close to the regional city of Bournemouth, while being about 96 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Dorset, Foxholes included
Our teams that answer AdBlue jobs around Foxholes also cover the spots about it, Newtown, Oakdale and Parkstone among them, and most of Dorset beyond, across the BH postcode area. Assuming won't help by a border or somewhere tricky to pin down; ring and check.
No moving is needed. In Foxholes, a residential suburb, a mobile service fits: the car is drained where it stands, be it on a drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Foxholes: the cost of fixing it
Each job differs, so no fixed quote would be fair. Whether the motor has run, and for how long, comes first in what moves the price. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the position of the car, since an open drive is simpler for a van to reach safely than a tight space behind St Clements.
That's why every call from Foxholes starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it has run. Once they are answered, a range becomes a single fixed number.
Our quote is given on the call, before a van sets off; payment comes on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your insurance whilst we're on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
Still alongside the car around Foxholes?
Then, do nothing — that is the most helpful move there is. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus whether the engine ran are all our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder across Dorset, Foxholes too.