Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hurcott
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then leave the motor off — and your ignition too. Urea mixed in water is all AdBlue is. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when your fuel system draws it in. If your engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually emptied and carefully rinsed where your car sits around Hurcott. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Hurcott: the first few minutes
To do:
- So nobody can switch the ignition on, take the keys away.
- Put the hazards on if you're at all near moving traffic.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what was put in and roughly how much.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting DY10 3, or the name of the closest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Never do these:
- Shifting your vehicle even a few yards is no reason to start your motor.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Even a short stretch along Hurcott Road is too far to drive the vehicle.
- Don't try to drain it yourself by the kerbside.
Get the people behind the counter to help you move your vehicle away from the island if you are on a forecourt in Hurcott, whether it is the Texaco or elsewhere. On your own drive, don't touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not your engine. Stored in a separate tank, it is squirted into the exhaust stream to treat the fumes. Not one side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in an injection pump, and an injection pump cannot deal with urea.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, once poured in, will not. The behaviour is not at all like diesel's. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and collects underneath it — the very spot the intake draws from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Broadwaters last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
From there it does two kinds of harm. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that hardens in filter elements and tiny passages; meanwhile, because it eats at certain metals, every part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it stays inside. Lines carrying AdBlue spell harm overnight for a car parked in Hurcott. Just in the tank, it stays stable. Then there's the water: it brings no lubrication to the parts that rely on it the most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more serious than petrol
Top up a diesel with petrol by mistake at the Sainsbury's, and the issue is diluted fuel. Damage just comes from running on it. Mixed into the diesel and sitting inside the tank, it does nothing.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. Not burning, it can't just be run through. Deposits and corrosion remain after the next fill, and AdBlue separates again out of your diesel, and so watering it can't help. That is why the flush matters more, and trying the engine "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other mistake — in Comberton or the centre of Hurcott equally.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Anywhere around Worcestershire the vehicle has come to rest, an unrun engine means the AdBlue still inside the reservoir: the simplest part of a fuel system to empty.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Hurcott
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many motors sits right next to your diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
It tends to occur in a few familiar ways. The top-up gets hurried outside Offmore Primary School, because your dash flashed with a warning while the children were taken in. After work, a container is tipped in on a driveway near A456. Or a driver new to that flap tops up the vehicle in dim light, parked in the car park outside The Park Gate.
Hired motors, brand-new cars, company motors, or the spare vehicle in a family with one of each: the least familiar vehicles get it most. Anywhere around Worcestershire, Hurcott included, the mistake does not change, and nor does the first response: leave it switched off.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Hurcott?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. It's been pulled through the fuel filter and the lines, and if your engine ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard warnings or stalling: each may show up, maybe midway across Hurcott or coming back from Hurcott pools and wood. No restarting to test: stop once safe, then switch it off. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Hurcott lies under 10 miles from the M5; if you were on it, leave at the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than driving on.
How far it went counts. A couple of hundred yards across Hurcott to the car park by Our Lady of Ostra Brama is a very different job from a run towards Wolverhampton, under 15 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with every mile. Tell us about how far it had come.
Wherever the vehicle came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out once the motor has been run. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage when it is spotted early.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Hurcott?
The car remains where it is, whether that is a road beside St Oswald's Church Centre, a driveway, a layby or a forecourt around Hurcott, and our van travels to it. Three replies decide the job, so before anything else we ask what got in, about the amount, and if your engine has run.
Then the tank is drained where the vehicle sits, and so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue won't wash away by itself, and so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which matters much more here than for petrol. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. About half an hour on site is usual for most jobs when the motor has not run. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live filling station is no issue, and it is hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
Bleeding the system with fresh diesel comes last. Whether it's a parking bay at Kidderminster or a driveway around Hurcott, that is where our technicians fire it up and you head off. Before we go, we confirm it's running properly with new diesel in. As the job is done in full where your car is, a garage never comes into it. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Hurcott itself
Hurcott is a small hamlet in Worcestershire, situated inland at an elevation of 52 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Hurcott lies approximately 13.5 miles from Wolverhampton and 108.3 miles from London, placing it in a relatively rural setting within the West Midlands region. Hurcott is surrounded by nearby places such as Hurcott Village, Greenhill, and Offmore Farm, and has a population of around 521 residents. Hurcott remains a quiet and peaceful area, characteristic of many rural hamlets in the region.
AdBlue drains across Hurcott and Worcestershire
The vans that answer AdBlue jobs in Hurcott also cover the locations about it, Hurcott Village, Greenhill and Offmore Farm among them, and most of Worcestershire beyond, across the DY postcode area. Assuming won't help by a border or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
Anywhere the vehicle stands — a drive at home, a residential street, a car park, a forecourt — we empty it there, with no need to bring it to us; which suits Hurcott, a rural hamlet, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Hurcott
Every job is different, and so no single quote would be fair. The cost shifts first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it turns on where the car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight spot behind Offmore Church.
That's why each call from Hurcott starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and whether it has run. Given those replies, the range shrinks to one firm number.
You hear that price by phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Check your policy while we are on the way: plenty include misfuelling cover.
Alongside the car around Hurcott, right now?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to your car. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, across Hurcott or wherever within Worcestershire, once you call 0333 366 0103 saying it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.