Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Goat
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, keep the motor off then keep the ignition off. Urea mixed in water is all AdBlue is. Being water-based, it won't ignite and won't blend with diesel; damage just comes when your pump starts drawing it. If the engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally drained and carefully flushed where your car sits in Goat. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Goat, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do straight away
Things to do:
- Pull the keys out, and so nobody switches your ignition on.
- If you're anywhere close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or your receipt tells us the fluid and the amount, so do not throw it out.
- Give us a postcode starting CA13 0, or whichever street is nearest, and our van finds you directly — so call from wherever you stand.
Things not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift your car: your motor stays off.
- Plenty of diesels power their fuel pump the instant your ignition comes on, and so keep the vehicle off.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel won't weaken it.
- Don't drive it anywhere, not even a short distance up Saint Leonard's Close.
- Emptying your tank yourself by the road is not worth trying.
The staff on duty at any Goat forecourt — the Oakhurst Petrol Station among them — will usually help rolling it aside if you ask. If you are on your own drive, leave it precisely where it sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not your engine. Stored in a separate tank, it is squirted into the exhaust to clean the gases. No part in a fuel pump is designed for this fluid — and no part of it was intended to go that way.
Poured in with your diesel, it keeps apart rather than mixing — quite unlike fuel. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. A car filled on a drive in Bridekirk yesterday evening and left unstarted is the straightforward one. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up so far — but when the motor turns, that is what goes first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
From there it does two kinds of harm. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that hardens in filter elements and tiny channels; and, since it eats at some metals, every part it touches suffers for as long as it stays in there. A vehicle left standing in Goat with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure 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 commonly the bigger problem?
Petrol put into a diesel on Essex Garage's forecourt leaves the fuel watery — that is the whole fault. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it's inside the tank it does no damage; the harm comes from running the motor on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is plainly the wrong one. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Whether your car is in Dovenby or the centre of Goat, firing it up "to see" does more harm in this case than almost any other mistake, and the flush matters for more. Why: it won't stay blended, and so diluting it is impossible; and deposits and corrosion outlast the following fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Not started? Then the AdBlue sits only inside your tank, the simplest section of the entire system to empty, wherever the car has come to rest in Cumbria.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Goat: how it ends up there
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, now and then behind one flap — may appear the same. No one intends it; plenty of designs allow it. A container bought while heading home and tipped in outside the house, instead of at the forecourt, is the usual story.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Fairfield Primary School the refill is hurried. Close to Wakefield Road, a driver tips a bottle in on the drive in the evening. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park outside The Fletcher Christian, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
The least known cars get it most — rentals, brand-new ones, fleet ones, and the other vehicle in a home with one of each fuels. Leave it off: that is the first step to the same slip, anywhere in Goat or the remainder of Cumbria you are.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Goat?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. Via the filter, through the pipework, and — given any running time — into the injection pump and each injector: that's how far it has gone.
Expect lumpy running, smoke, lost power, lights on your dash, or a stall — returning from Cockermouth Cricket Club, perhaps, or midway across Goat. No starting it again to test: pull over when it is safe, then switch it off. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
On the Southwaite Services Northbound, under 25 miles from Goat, the next junction is where to leave, and somewhere sensible is where to park — not carrying on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Goat to the car park by Saint Joesephs Church is a very different job from a run towards Carlisle, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with every mile. Let us know about how far it had come.
Once the motor has been run, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where the car has come to a stop. Permanent damage is very rare when it's caught quickly.
Goat: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
Anywhere it has stopped around Goat — a forecourt, a layby, a drive, a road beside Wordworth House — our van travels to the vehicle. Which fluid went in, roughly how much, and if your motor has turned over: our technicians ask before all else, since those decide the work.
Next, draining the tank on the spot removes the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. What remains from AdBlue won't flush out unaided, and so the whole system gets a full flush, which matters much more with urea than for petrol. Next, the fuel filter: flushed, or changed when it must be. After that clean diesel, and then a check of your vehicle. Engine not run? In that case expect roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
The last step is to prime the system on fresh diesel. You set off as soon as our engineers have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a driveway in Goat or in a space outside Maryport. Before leaving, our technicians check it is running properly with new diesel in. We do it all wherever the car has stopped, and it never needs to go to a garage. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers want.
About Goat and where it is
Goat is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Cumbria, with a mix of terraced housing and a population of around 2721 residents. Goat sits at an elevation of 44 metres, near the cities of Carlisle and Cockermouth, and is part of the wider North West region. Goat is located approximately 256 miles from London, and its riverside setting provides a distinctive character to the area. Goat is close to other nearby places such as Wordsworth Terrace and Papcastle.
Goat and Cumbria: AdBlue drains across the area
Cockermouth, Wordsworth Terrace and Papcastle are among the places around Goat that the same vans serve, together with much of Cumbria beyond, throughout the CA postcode area. Guessing won't help by a border or anywhere hard to describe; ring and check.
Goat is a residential suburb, and a mobile drain suits it: whether your car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it is, so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Goat?
Because each callouts vary, a single price would not be fair. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that got in. After that it rests on where your car is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight gap behind United Reformed Church.
For that in mind, every call from Goat begins with the identical trio — which fluid went in, what quantity, whether the engine ran — ahead of any quote. Their answers narrow a range down to a single number.
You hear that quote by phone, before anybody sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As the van is travelling, check your policy: many cover misfuelling.
Alongside your car around Goat, right now?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, then, the best move you can do. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, in Goat or wherever within Cumbria, after you ring 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran.