Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Highfields
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does the engine. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. The harm begins once it is sucked through your lines — it will not ignite, and it will not combine with diesel. In Highfields, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, right where the vehicle is. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Highfields: the first few minutes
Do these:
- Keys out — then nobody can switch anything on.
- Put your hazards on if you're anywhere near moving traffic.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what got in and roughly how much.
- Give us a postcode starting WV14 0, or whichever street is closest, and our van reaches you straight — so ring from wherever you stand.
Do not:
- Moving the vehicle just a few yards is no reason to fire up the motor.
- Turning your key to ignition by itself starts the pump going on many diesels. Skip it.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue won't blend, and so it's pointless.
- Keep the car where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short distance down Highmoor Close.
- No emptying it yourself, either, on the verge.
At a forecourt in Highfields, whether it is the Morrisons or another one, ask the staff to help you push your car away from the pump. If you're on your own drive, leave the car exactly where it sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Not the motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it's fed into your exhaust, where it treats the gas. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It does not mix in. It is heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. A vehicle topped up on a driveway in Hall Green overnight and not started since counts as the straightforward one. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up yet — but once your engine turns, that is what goes first, straight from the bottom of that tank.
From there it does two kinds of damage. What is left once the water goes is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle 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 holding AdBlue spell harm overnight for a vehicle sitting in Highfields. Only inside the tank, it stays stable. And there is the water: it brings no protection to the parts that need it the most — the injection pump and each injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake at the Shell, and the problem is diluted fuel. No damage comes as long as it sits unused, mixed into your diesel — only once your engine works on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely wrong substance. Because it doesn't burn, running it through is not an option. It doesn't stay mixed, so it cannot be weakened. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the car is in Batmans Hill or the middle of Highfields.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Never run? Then the AdBlue waits just inside the tank, the simplest section of the whole system to empty, anywhere your car has stopped across West Midlands.
Highfields: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of cars rests right next to the diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Most of the time it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. Hurrying, outside Loxdale Primary School, after a warning lamp came on during the school run, someone refills the vehicle. A driver tips the container in at home, just off Highfields Road, as the day ends. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at The White House, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It takes place most in the vehicles motorists know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever in West Midlands, Highfields as well, the slip doesn't change, and nor does the first step: keep it switched off.
Started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Highfields?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in your tank. With any running time, it goes on to the injection pump and every injector, having passed via the filter and lines.
Maybe returning from Black Country Millennium Forest, or part way across Highfields, your motor might go lumpy, smoke, drop pace, light up your dash or cut out. No restarting to test: pull over once it is safe, then switch it off. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Leave the M6, under 3 miles from Highfields, at the first junction and stop somewhere safe, not carrying on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. That's why crossing Highfields to park beside St Martin and a drive of under 5 miles for Wolverhampton are such different jobs. Let us know about how far it had come.
There's more to clean out once the motor has run, and our engineers do all of it where your car has come to a stop. Very rarely does it leave lasting damage when it's spotted soon.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Highfields: what it takes
Our engineers come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped around Highfields: a side street near Darkhouse Baptist Church, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Which fluid got in, roughly how much, plus if your engine has turned over: our engineers ask first, since those decide the job.
On the spot, that tank is then drained, and both the contaminated diesel and the urea come out at once. The fuel system is rinsed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Next, the filter: cleaned, or changed when it must be. Then fresh diesel, then a test of your vehicle. If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our engineers are there. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Priming your system with clean diesel comes at the end. At that point our technicians start it and you set off, whether from a parking bay by Coseley or a driveway in Highfields. The check before our technicians head off is that it runs smoothly on clean diesel. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never needs to go to a garage. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Highfields, for a moment
Highfields is a suburban area located near Wolverhampton, sitting at an elevation of 155 metres near a lakeside setting. Highfields is characterized by its semi-detached housing and is situated close to nearby places such as Daisy Bank, Ladymoor, and Bradley. Highfields is home to a population of approximately 5159 residents and is about 3 miles from Wolverhampton city centre. Highfields is also relatively distant from London, at around 110 miles away.
AdBlue drains across West Midlands, Highfields included
Throughout the WV postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue call-outs in Highfields serve much of West Midlands as well, Daisy Bank, Ladymoor and Bradley among them. Close to a border, or anywhere tricky to explain? Checking beats assuming, so ring.
Anywhere the car stands — your driveway at home, a side street, a car park, a filling station — our technicians empty it there, with no need to take it to us; that suits Highfields, a residential suburb, well.
Highfields: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no honest single price, because the jobs are not the same. Three things move the cost: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the vehicle is. That last one comes down to whether a technician can get to it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight space behind Beth's Arch.
What was put in, how much, and whether it ran: every Highfields call opens with precisely those, before any figure, never afterwards. The answers turn a range into a straight price.
Priced on the call before the van sets out, it is settled on the day — card or phone, no deposit. Check your policy whilst we're on the way: plenty carry misfuelling cover.
Still next to your car in Highfields?
Not touching your car is, then, the best move you can do. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Tell us it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Highfields or wherever in West Midlands.