AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Hardwick? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is how you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when the fuel system pulls it in. Caught before the engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Hardwick. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
Hardwick, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do at once
Do these:
- Pull the keys out, and so no one switches your ignition on.
- Close to moving traffic? So put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or your receipt tells us the fluid and the quantity, and so do not bin it away.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting TS19 8, or the name of the closest street, gets our van to you without a search.
Do not:
- Shifting your car just a short way is no reason to start your motor.
- Switching the key to ignition by itself starts your pump going on many diesels. Skip it.
- Adding more diesel doesn't work: AdBlue settles out instead of blending.
- Keep the vehicle where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short stretch along High Newham Road.
- No draining it yourself, at all, at the roadside.
Moving your car away from the island is a job for staff to help with, wherever Hardwick forecourt you're on, the BP included. Parked on your own drive? Then it remains exactly as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to fresh it. A fuel pump isn't made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
Tipped in with your diesel, it stays apart rather than mixing — quite unlike fuel. The intake sucks fuel from the lowest part of your tank, and that's just where AdBlue settles: being denser than diesel, it sinks. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Ragworth last night and has not been started since. The liquid sits at the foot of the tank, untouched — though it would be first through if the motor starts, ahead of any diesel at all.
After it's sucked in, the harm takes two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that crystallises in filter elements and tiny passages; and, since it eats at some metals, every part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it remains inside. Overnight, a vehicle sitting around Hardwick with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; where it's just in the tank, it doesn't. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and each injector as it flows; water offers none of that, which is a second form of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's frequently worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error at the Tesco, and the problem is thinned fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it's in the tank it does no damage; the harm comes from running the engine on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is plainly the wrong one. Because it does not burn, running it through is not an option. It does not stay mixed, so it can't be thinned. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether your car is in Gilpin Brown or the middle of Hardwick.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If your motor has not run, the AdBlue is still inside your tank, and the tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Durham the vehicle is sitting.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Hardwick
After dark, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, occasionally behind one flap — may look the same. No one intends it; plenty of designs allow it. Mostly it's not the filling station: a driver picks up a container driving home and pours it in at home.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. Hurrying, outside Hardwick Green Primary Academy, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, someone refills the car. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Hardwick Road. Or your car is topped up in the car park outside The Hardwick, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
Hired cars, brand-new cars, company vehicles, or the second car in a family with both fuels: the least familiar vehicles see it most. An identical mistake, same first step — leave it off — anywhere you are in Hardwick or the remainder of Durham.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Hardwick?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. It has been pulled through the filter and your lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure pump and the injectors.
You may see your engine running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Newham Grange Park or halfway across Hardwick. When safe, stop and turn it off — without restarting to test. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
Hardwick lies under 10 miles from the A1(M); if you were on it, exit by the next junction and pull up safely rather than carrying on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Hardwick to the car park by St. Peter and Paul is a very different job from a run towards Durham, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with each mile. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once your engine has run, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where your car has ended up. Lasting damage is very uncommon when it's noticed quickly.
Hardwick: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
We come to your car, wherever it has stopped in Hardwick: a side street close to St. Chad's Church, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether the engine has run, since those replies settle the work.
Then your tank is cleared where your car stands, so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. The fuel system is purged thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel goes in after the fuel filter is flushed — or replaced, if it needs to be — and after that the vehicle is tested. If the motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our engineers are there. Quiet enough to use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
New diesel goes in to prime the system, and that's the final step. Then our engineers fire it up and you set off, whether from a parking space at Stockton or a driveway in Hardwick. Before leaving, we make sure it's running smoothly with fresh diesel in. No garage is required at any point, with the entire job done on the spot. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Hardwick, for a moment
Hardwick is a suburban area located on the riverside in County Durham, with an elevation of 32 metres above sea level. Hardwick sits near the cities of Durham and other nearby places such as Roseworth, Bishopsgarth, and Elm Tree. Hardwick has a population of approximately 7280 residents and is characterised by predominantly terraced housing. Hardwick is situated in the North East region of England, around 218.5 miles from London.
Hardwick and Durham: AdBlue drains across the area
Roseworth, Bishopsgarth and Elm Tree are among the towns near Hardwick that the same vans serve, along with much of Durham further out, throughout the TS postcode area. Assuming won't help close to a county line or somewhere tricky to describe; phone and check.
Hardwick is a residential suburb, and a call-out drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it sits, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Hardwick
Because the callouts differ, a flat price would not be honest. Three things shift the cost: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the vehicle is. That last one rests on whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight spot behind Roseworth Community & Social Club.
That's why every call from Hardwick starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and if it has run. Those answers turn a range into a straight quote.
You get that quote by phone, before anybody sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
In Hardwick and still beside the vehicle?
Then, touch nothing — that is the best move available. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, across Hardwick or wherever in Durham, once you phone 0333 366 0103 to say it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if it ran.