AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Heavitree? Don't Start It
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then keep your motor off — and the ignition as well. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and no harm happens until the engine pulls it round. Caught before the engine has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Heavitree. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Heavitree: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- Keys out — then nobody can switch anything on.
- If you are anywhere close to moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- Hold on to your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what got in and about how much.
- Ring just where you are. Say a EX1 3 postcode or the closest street name, and no one has to search for you.
Things not to do:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift the car: your engine remains off.
- Your ignition stays off: on lots of diesels, turning it on is enough to start your pump.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue won't blend, and so it is wasted.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short stretch up East Wonford Hill.
- Beside the road, do not try draining it yourself.
Rolling your car away from the island is a job for attendants to help with, whichever Heavitree forecourt you are on, the BP included. Parked on your own driveway? Then it stays exactly as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not the motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. From a dedicated reservoir it is fed straight to the exhaust, cleaning what the engine emits. Not one side suits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and a pump can't deal with urea.
Poured in with the diesel, it stays apart instead of mixing — quite unlike fuel. The pickup sucks fuel from the deepest part of the tank, and that is precisely where AdBlue settles: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. Easiest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Whipton last night and hasn't been started since. The liquid sits at the base of the tank, undrawn — but it will be the first thing through if the engine runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. What is left when the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they lodge in narrow channels and block filters. On top of that, it attacks some metals in the fuel system, and carries on till it is flushed out. Pipes carrying AdBlue mean harm by morning for a vehicle parked around Heavitree. Just inside that tank, it stays stable. Then there's the water: it offers no protection to the parts that rely on it most — the injection pump and each injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel commonly the bigger issue?
Petrol put into a diesel on Esso's forecourt makes your fuel thin — that's the whole fault. No damage comes as long as it stays unused, blended into the diesel — only once the engine works on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be thinned, because it separates again — and the next fill will not rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters more here, and trying your engine "to see", in the centre of Heavitree or out in Polsloe, costs more than nearly any other mistake.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Wherever in Devon the vehicle has stopped, an unstarted motor means the AdBlue still inside the tank: the easiest part of a fuel system to clear.
Heavitree: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Many motors place the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, occasionally under one flap, and in dim light the two may appear the same. Nobody means it. Most of the time it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
Usually, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Woodwater Academy the top-up is rushed. In the evening, a bottle is tipped in on a driveway close to St Loyes Gardens. Or the car is topped up in the car park outside Royal Oak, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
It comes up most in a rental, a brand-new car, a fleet vehicle, or the other motor of a home with both fuel types — the cars people use the least. Wherever in Devon, Heavitree as well, the mistake does not change, and nor does the first step: leave it switched off.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Heavitree, and your engine started?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. With any running time, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and every injector, having passed via your filter and pipework.
Perhaps returning from Heavitree Pleasure Ground, or midway across Heavitree, your motor may run rough, smoke, drop power, flash your dash or stall. No starting it again to check: pull over when safe, then turn everything off. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Leave the M5, under 3 miles from Heavitree, by the first junction and park safely, rather than driving on.
Mileage matters: each mile carries the AdBlue further in, so driving towards Exeter, under 3 miles away, gives a far larger job than crossing Heavitree to the car park by St Loye's Chapel. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Once your engine has run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has ended up. Long-term damage is very uncommon if it's noticed early.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Heavitree?
A street by Heavitree Bowling Club, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station: wherever your car has come to rest in Heavitree, we travel to it. Three answers shape the work, and so before anything else we ask which fluid went in, about the amount, plus if the motor has run.
Then that tank is cleared where the car sits, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing matters: the fuel system is flushed all the way through because what remains won't wash out by itself. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Not run? Then count on roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a busy filling station is no issue, and it's hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
Last, the fuel system is primed with clean diesel. You set off as soon as our technicians have started the car, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a drive in Heavitree or in a bay by Polsloe Bridge. It's tested on clean diesel to confirm it runs smoothly before we leave. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never needs to be taken to a garage. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours once this job is done.
About Heavitree itself
Heavitree is a suburban area located on the eastern edge of Exeter, situated near the River Exe in Devon. Heavitree sits at a relatively low elevation of around 25 metres, with nearby areas including Wonford, St Loyes, and Polsloe Bridge. Heavitree is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, reflecting the typical residential development of the South West region. Heavitree is close to the city centre of Exeter, being only 1.7 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Heavitree and Devon
Wonford, St Loyes and Polsloe Bridge are among the places near Heavitree that the same teams serve, along with most of Devon further out, throughout the EX postcode area. Guessing won't help close to a county line or anywhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
No towing is needed. In Heavitree, a residential suburb, a mobile service fits: the car is emptied on the spot, whether in a drive, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Heavitree: the cost of fixing it
Every job is different, and so not one fixed price is fair. Three things change the cost: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where your car is. That last one rests on whether a van can get to it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight spot behind Park Life Heavitree.
What got in, how much, and if it ran: each Heavitree call opens by asking precisely that, before a quote, never afterwards. Given those replies, a range shrinks to one firm number.
The quote is given on the call, before anyone sets off; payment comes on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. While the van is on the way, check your insurance: many cover misfuelling.
Beside the vehicle in Heavitree, still?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Heavitree or wherever within Devon, once you call 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether the engine ran.