AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Houndstone? Don't Start It
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does the engine. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. As it is water-based, it will not ignite and won't blend with diesel; damage only starts once your pump starts pulling it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Houndstone, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your engine has run. No step comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Houndstone, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do right away
To do:
- Remove the keys, which stops anyone switching the power on.
- Near moving traffic? Then put your hazards on.
- Which product, and about how much volume? Save the bottle or the receipt, and we can know.
- The van locates you fastest with a postcode starting BA22 8, or just the name of a street nearby, so call from the spot.
Don't:
- No starting the motor — not briefly, not to reposition the car.
- The ignition remains off: on lots of diesels, switching it on is enough to run the fuel pump.
- Adding more diesel doesn't help: AdBlue separates out instead of blending.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short distance along Boundary Avenue.
- No draining it yourself, at all, at the verge.
At a forecourt around Houndstone, whether it is the Asda or another one, ask the attendants to help you push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. On your own drive, don't touch it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the engine. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. A fuel pump is not made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
It does not blend. After it is tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves nothing like diesel. 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. Easiest of all: a vehicle that got AdBlue in Vagg overnight and hasn't turned since. The AdBlue sits at the foot of that tank, untouched — though it would be first through once the engine runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. It attacks some metals found in fuel components, attacking any part it touches until it is cleared completely. And once the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that block filters and settle in tiny passages. Overnight, a vehicle parked around Houndstone with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; where it's just inside that tank, nothing changes. And there is the water: it brings no protection to the components that need it most — the injection pump and every injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger problem?
A fault of thin fuel is what you end up with after filling a diesel with petrol at the Murco. Blended into the diesel and sitting still, it's harmless for now; using the engine does the damage.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong liquid. It does not burn, so it cannot just be run through. Whether the car sits in Preston Plucknett or the heart of Houndstone, turning it over "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other slip, and the flush matters for more. Why: it will not remain mixed, so diluting it is impossible; and deposits and corrosion survive the following fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest part on any fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue remains in there — anywhere across Somerset your car has stopped.
Houndstone: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
After dark, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel cap, now and then behind one flap — may look the same. No one intends it; plenty of layouts invite it. Mostly it is not the filling station: a driver buys a container driving home and pours it in outside the house.
It tends to occur in a couple of familiar ways. The top-up is rushed outside Preston CofE Primary School, because the dash lit up with a warning as the children were taken off. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Lufton Way. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at The Arrow, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
It takes place most in the cars drivers know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Leave it off: that's the first step to the same mistake, anywhere in Houndstone or the remainder of Somerset you happen to be.
Started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Houndstone?
Then that tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Via the filter, through the lines, and — given any running — on to the injection pump and each injector: that is where it has gone.
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power, dashboard lights or stalling: any might appear, maybe midway across Houndstone or returning from Abbey Manor Park. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart it to check. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Exit the M5, under 25 miles from Houndstone, by the first junction and park somewhere safe, rather than carrying on.
How far it went counts. A couple of hundred yards across Houndstone to the car park by Huish Park is a very different job from a run towards Wells, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with every mile. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Once your engine has been started, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where your car has stopped. Lasting damage is very unusual when it is caught quickly.
Houndstone: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
The vehicle stays put, whether that's a road near South Somerset Heritage Collection, a drive, a layby or a forecourt in Houndstone, and the van travels to it. What was put in, roughly how much, and if the motor has turned over: our technicians ask first, because those shape the work.
Next, draining the tank right there removes the polluted diesel and the AdBlue in one go. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush matters: the fuel system is cleaned right through because what remains won't wash out unaided. Testing your car follows last, after clean diesel is added and the fuel filter is flushed or, if needed, replaced. Roughly half an hour on site is usual for most jobs when the engine hasn't run. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime your system, and that is the final step. Firing it up comes next, and then you drive off from where the car is parked, outside Yeovil Pen Mill or on a drive in Houndstone. Before leaving, our technicians make sure it is running smoothly with new diesel in. As the job is done in its entirety where the car is, a workshop never comes into it. At the end, you are given the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Houndstone and where it is
Houndstone is a suburban area in Somerset, situated inland at an elevation of around 90 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Houndstone lies near the villages of Lufton and Thorne Coffin, and is approximately 17.8 miles from the city of Wells. Houndstone is also within commuting distance of larger urban areas, with London being around 116.7 miles away. Houndstone has a population of around 3050 residents.
Houndstone and Somerset: AdBlue drains across the area
Over the BA postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue jobs in Houndstone serve much of Somerset as well, Lufton, Thorne Coffin and Alvington among them. Near a boundary, or anywhere awkward to explain? Asking beats guessing, and so phone.
A van that comes to you fits Houndstone, a residential suburb: you have no need to bring your car to us, because our engineers drain it on the spot, on a drive, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Houndstone
Because each callouts vary, a single price would not be honest. The cost changes first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that went in. After that it turns on where your car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight spot behind St Andrew's.
What got in, how much, and if the engine ran: each Houndstone call opens with exactly that, ahead of any figure, not after. Their answers narrow the range right down to one figure.
Before a van sets off, you are told the price by phone. Then you pay on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van gets there.
Beside the car in Houndstone, still?
Not touching your car is, then, the best thing open to you. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus if the engine ran is all our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder throughout Somerset, Houndstone included.