Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hartle
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, keep the engine off then keep your ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when the system pulls it in. In Hartle, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the motor runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. No step comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
Hartle, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do right away
To do:
- Remove your keys, and that prevents someone turning the electrics on.
- Put your hazards on if you're at all close to moving traffic.
- So you can tell us which liquid it was and roughly what quantity, save the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call right where you are. Say a DY9 9 postcode or the closest street name, and no one has to search for you.
Do not:
- No starting your engine — not briefly, not to shift the car.
- The ignition remains off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to run the fuel pump.
- Adding extra diesel doesn't work: AdBlue separates out rather than thinning.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short stretch down Mearse Lane.
- Don't try to drain the car yourself at the kerbside.
On a forecourt around Hartle, whether it is the Shell or another one, ask the staff to help you roll the vehicle away from the petrol pump. Parked on your own drive? Then it remains exactly as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not your motor. Kept in a dedicated tank, it's squirted into the exhaust to clean the gases. A fuel pump isn't made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
It doesn't blend. After it is tipped into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. It drops, since it is denser than diesel, and settles down where the intake draws its supply from. Once the pump runs, the AdBlue is first to go through. Until then it sits beneath your diesel, which is how a vehicle filled in Broom Hill yesterday and not started remains the straightforward case, provided nobody touches your key.
Once it is sucked in, the harm takes two forms. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps working on the components it reaches for as long as it remains there. Overnight, a vehicle sitting in Hartle with AdBlue in its lines grows worse; where it is just inside the tank, it doesn't. And there's the water: it brings no protection to the components that need it most — the injection pump and each injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger issue?
Put petrol in a diesel at the Esso and you have a fault of thin fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it is inside the tank it does no harm; the harm comes from running your motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a problem of the wrong substance altogether. It can't simply be run through, because it does not burn. Deposits and corrosion remain through the following tankful, and AdBlue splits again out of your diesel, and so thinning it won't help. Hence the flush matters so much, and turning your key "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other slip — in Newtown or the heart of Hartle equally.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If the motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside your tank, and that tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Worcestershire the car is sitting.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Hartle?
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, occasionally under one flap — may look the same. No one intends it; many designs invite it. Mostly it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
A few familiar ways account for the majority of them. The refill gets hurried outside Belbroughton CofE Primary School, because your dash flashed with a warning while the kids were dropped off. After work, a container goes in on a driveway close to Hartle Lane. Or a driver new to that flap refills your vehicle after dark, stopped in the car park outside The Bell.
It crops up most in a hire car, a new car, a fleet motor, or the other motor of a family with one of each fuel types — the vehicles drivers know the least. Wherever around Worcestershire, Hartle included, the mistake doesn't change, and neither does the first step: leave it switched off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Hartle?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. Via the fuel filter, through the pipework, and — given any running time — on to the high-pressure pump and every injector: that's where it travels.
Watch for lumpy running, exhaust smoke, falling power, warnings on the dash, or a cut-out — returning from Hollies Hill Wood, say, or part way across Hartle. No starting it again to test: stop once it is safe, then turn it off. Each start pulls more of it through.
On the M5, under 3 miles from Hartle, the first junction is where to exit, and anywhere safe is where to stop — not carrying on.
A quick hop across Hartle to the car park by Holy Trinity Church is one matter; heading for Birmingham, under 15 miles away, is something else, because each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So distance matters. Let us know about how far it had come.
Once the engine has been run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where your car has ended up. Long-term damage is very rare if it's noticed early.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Hartle: what it takes
The vehicle remains where it is, whether that's a street near St Christopher, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt around Hartle, and our van travels to it. Three replies decide the work, and so first our technicians ask which fluid was put in, roughly the amount, and if your motor has turned over.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one when that tank is emptied, on the spot. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing matters: the whole system is flushed right through since what remains will not flush out unaided. A test of the car follows last, after fresh diesel is added and the filter is flushed or, if needed, replaced. Most of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our technicians turn up, provided the motor has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Bleeding your system with new diesel comes last. You set off as soon as our engineers have started the engine, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a driveway in Hartle or in a space by Hagley. Before leaving, we make sure it is running correctly with new diesel in. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never needs to go to a garage. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers ask for.
About Hartle and where it is
Hartle is a small hamlet in Worcestershire, situated inland at an elevation of 131 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Hartle lies near several other villages, including Belbroughton, Bell End, and Holy Cross, and is approximately 10.6 miles from Birmingham. Hartle is a relatively small community, with a population of around 735 people. Hartle is also within commuting distance of larger cities, being around 104 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Hartle and Worcestershire
Over the DY postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue call-outs around Hartle reach most of Worcestershire too, Belbroughton, Bell End and Holy Cross included. Ring and check instead of guessing when you are by a county line, or somewhere awkward to explain.
A van that comes to you suits Hartle, a rural hamlet: there's no need to take your vehicle to us, since our engineers drain it on the spot, in a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Hartle?
Not one flat figure could be honest, because every job is different. Three things shift the price: whether the motor has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the car is. That last one comes down to whether our van can get to it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight spot behind Belbroughton Cricket Club.
That is why each call from Hartle starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and whether it has run. Once they are known, a range turns into a single firm number.
Our price is quoted on the call, before a van sets off; payment comes on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
Hartle: still beside your car?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to the car. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Hartle or anywhere across Worcestershire.