Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Greenhill
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Urea mixed in water is what AdBlue is. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and no harm happens till your engine pulls it through. If your engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and carefully purged where the vehicle stands in Greenhill. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
Greenhill, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
Do:
- Keys out — that way nobody can switch anything on.
- If you are at all near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and about what quantity, keep the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Tell us a postcode starting WR11 4, or whichever street is nearest, and our van finds you directly — so call from wherever you are.
Things not to do:
- Moving the vehicle even a few yards is no reason to start the engine.
- Many diesels run their pump the instant your ignition comes on, and so leave it off.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue will not mix, and so it is wasted.
- Do not drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short way along Victoria Avenue.
- Emptying your tank on your own by the road isn't worth trying.
On a forecourt in Greenhill, whether it is the Tesco or another one, ask the attendants to help you push the car clear of the pump. Parked on your own drive? Then it stays just where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your motor. Kept in a dedicated tank, it's injected into the exhaust to clean the fumes. A fuel pump isn't made to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. It is heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. Simplest of all: one that got AdBlue in Hampton overnight and has not been started since. The liquid sits at the foot of your tank, untouched — though it would be first through if your engine starts, before any diesel at all.
From there it does two kinds of harm. What is left once the water goes is urea, which turns into crystals: they lodge in narrow channels and block filters. On top of that, it eats at certain metals in the fuel system, and keeps going until it is cleared out. Overnight, a vehicle sitting in Greenhill with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; if it's just in your tank, nothing changes. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and each injector as it passes; water offers no lubrication, and that is a separate form of harm.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is regularly worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the another forecourt nearby and you have an issue of thin fuel. Blended through your diesel and sitting unused, it's no threat at that stage; running the engine does the damage.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is plainly the wrong one. It cannot just be run through, since it doesn't burn. Whether your car is in Four Pools or the centre of Greenhill, firing it up "to see" does more harm in this case than nearly any other mistake, and the flush matters more. Why: it won't stay blended, so diluting it is impossible; and deposits and corrosion survive the next fill.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Wherever around Worcestershire the car has come to rest, an unrun engine leaves the AdBlue yet inside the reservoir: the easiest part of any fuel system to clear.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Greenhill: how it ends up there
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, occasionally under one flap — can look the same. No one means it; plenty of designs invite it. A bottle bought when driving home and tipped in outside the house, instead of at the forecourt, is the typical route.
Usually, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. The refill is rushed outside St Mary's Catholic Primary School, after the dash lit up with a warning as the children were taken in. After work, a bottle is tipped in on a drive close to Windsor Road. One more pattern: dim light, a pub car park outside The Old Swanne Inne, and someone opening that flap for the first time.
It occurs most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever you are around Greenhill or the remainder of Worcestershire, it's the same slip and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Greenhill: started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in your tank. With any running, it goes on to the injection pump and every injector, having passed via the filter and pipework.
You may notice the motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Prince Henry's School Field or halfway across Greenhill. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart it to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Leave the Strensham Interchange, under 10 miles from Greenhill, by the next junction and stop safely, rather than carrying on.
Mileage counts: each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in, so driving towards Worcester, under 15 miles away, gives a far larger job than crossing Greenhill to the car park by The Henrician. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to clean out once your engine has run, and we do all of it where the vehicle has stopped. If it is noticed soon, lasting damage is very rare.
Greenhill: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
The car remains where it is, whether that's a road near Prince Henry's Sports Complex, a driveway, a layby or a filling station in Greenhill, and the van travels to it. The job rests on three answers, which we ask for before all else — which fluid went in, the amount, and if the engine has turned over.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave as one when the tank is drained, right there. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush counts: the fuel system is cleaned all the way through because residue will not wash away by itself. After that, your filter: flushed, or changed if it has to be. Then fresh diesel, then a test of your vehicle. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when your engine has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Last, the system is primed with new diesel. Whether it is a parking bay at Evesham or a drive around Greenhill, that is where our technicians start it and you drive off. It's checked on clean diesel to make sure it runs properly before our engineers head off. As the job is done in full where the car is, a workshop never comes into it. Your insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — both yours once the job is done.
About Greenhill itself
Greenhill is a suburban area located on the riverside in Worcestershire, with a relatively low elevation of 45 metres. Greenhill sits near the city of Worcester, approximately 13.5 miles away, and is also close to other nearby places such as Evesham, Bengeworth, and Twyford. Greenhill has a population of around 4203 people and is characterised by a predominance of flat housing. Greenhill is situated in the West Midlands region, about 87.7 miles from London.
Greenhill and Worcestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
Our vans that answer AdBlue calls around Greenhill also cover the locations around it, Evesham, Bengeworth and Twyford among them, and most of Worcestershire beyond, across the WR postcode area. Guessing doesn't help close to a county line or somewhere tricky to pin down; phone and check.
Anywhere the car stands — a driveway at home, a side street, a car park, a forecourt — our engineers empty it there, and there's no need to bring it to us; that suits Greenhill, a residential suburb, well.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Greenhill?
Every job differs, and so not one fixed quote would be honest. Three things move the cost: whether the engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where your car is. That last one rests on whether a technician can get to it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight gap behind St Marys Parish Centre.
What was put in, how much, plus if the engine ran: every Greenhill enquiry begins by asking exactly that, ahead of a quote, not after. With them, a range narrows to a single firm number.
Before anyone heads out, you are told our quote by phone. And payment is on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing in advance. As our engineer is on the way, dig out your insurance: plenty cover misfuelling.
Alongside your car in Greenhill, right now?
Right now, the best thing to do with the car is to not touch it. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Greenhill or wherever within Worcestershire.