Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Kingholm Quay
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, keep your motor off then keep the ignition off. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. As it is water-based, it won't burn and won't blend with diesel; trouble just starts once your pump starts pulling it. Caught before the engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Kingholm Quay. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Kingholm Quay: the first few minutes
Do these:
- So nobody can turn your ignition on, pull the keys away.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and about how much.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting DG1 4, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Don't do these:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift your vehicle: the motor stays off.
- Many diesels run their fuel pump the instant the ignition comes on, so keep the car off.
- Do not top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Leave it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short stretch along Kingholm Loaning.
- Don't try to drain the car yourself by the kerbside.
At a forecourt in Kingholm Quay, whether it is the BP or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll your car clear of the petrol pump. On your own driveway, don't move it at all.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your motor. Stored in a separate tank, it is squirted into the exhaust to treat the gases. A fuel pump isn't designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once tipped in, won't. Its behaviour is nothing like diesel's. The pickup takes fuel from the lowest part of that tank, and that is precisely where AdBlue ends up: being denser than diesel, it sinks. When your system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to be pulled through. Until then it waits underneath your diesel, which is how a car topped up in Maxwelltown yesterday and not switched on stays the straightforward one, as long as no one touches the key.
It causes two kinds of harm from there. It eats at some metals used in fuel components, attacking any part it touches till it's removed completely. And once the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that clog filters and settle in tiny passages. If the AdBlue has reached the pipework, waiting till morning around Kingholm Quay leaves things worse. Inside the tank alone, waiting costs nothing. Diesel protects the injection pump and each injector as it flows; water offers no lubrication, and that is a separate form of damage.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is commonly worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Morrisons and you have an issue of thin fuel. Mixed into the diesel and sitting still, it's no threat at that stage; running the engine does the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Since it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be thinned, since it splits back out — and the following tankful won't clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and trying your engine "to see", in the heart of Kingholm Quay or out in Georgetown, does more harm than nearly any other error.
As with petrol, there's good news. If your motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside the tank, and the tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Dumfries and Galloway the vehicle is sitting.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Kingholm Quay
Many vehicles put the AdBlue filler beside the diesel one, now and then behind a single flap, and in dim light the two can look the same. No one means it. It usually occurs outside the house, from a bottle bought en route home, not at the filling station.
A few familiar ways cover most cases. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside the local primary school. A driver pours the container in outside their house, right off Salmon Court, as the day ends. Else, in dim light by Normandy Bar, the vehicle is topped up by someone opening that flap for the first time.
Rented motors, new cars, company cars, or the second car in a home with one of each: the least familiar vehicles see it most. Keep it off: that is the first response to an identical mistake, wherever around Kingholm Quay or the remainder of Dumfries and Galloway you happen to be.
Kingholm Quay: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. It has been drawn through the filter and the lines, and if your engine ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors.
You may see the engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Coronel's Wood or halfway across Kingholm Quay. Stop when safe. Turn off. Leave the car off rather than restarting it to check. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
On the A74(M), under 15 miles from Kingholm Quay, the first junction is where to leave, and somewhere safe is where to park — not driving on.
Hopping across Kingholm Quay to the car park by Kingholm Quay Community Centre is one matter; heading towards Carlisle, under 50 miles away, is another, since every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So distance matters. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
There is more to flush once your engine has been run, and we do all of it where the car has come to a stop. When it is noticed quickly, long-term damage is very rare.
Kingholm Quay: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
Wherever it has come to rest around Kingholm Quay — a forecourt, a layby, a driveway, a road beside War Memorial — the van comes to your vehicle. What got in, about how much, and if the motor has been run: our technicians ask first, because those decide the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out together when that tank is drained, right there. A full flush counts far more with AdBlue than after petrol, since what remains will not wash out on its own. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour job once we arrive, if the motor hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
The final step is to prime the fuel system on fresh diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you drive off from where the car is parked, at Dumfries or on a driveway in Kingholm Quay. We check it runs smoothly on new diesel before we go. No garage is needed at any stage, with the whole job done then and there. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Kingholm Quay and where it is
Kingholm Quay is a suburban area located on the riverside in Dumfries and Galloway, with a mix of terraced housing and a population of around 833 residents. Kingholm Quay sits at an elevation of 20 metres, near the nearby places of Islesteps, Troqueer, and Larchfield. Kingholm Quay is situated close to the city of Carlisle, which is approximately 28.5 miles away. Kingholm Quay is also relatively distant from London, at a distance of around 283.5 miles.
AdBlue drains across Dumfries and Galloway, Kingholm Quay included
Over the DG postcode area, the vans taking AdBlue jobs in Kingholm Quay serve most of Dumfries and Galloway as well, Islesteps, Troqueer and Larchfield among them. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask rather than guessing.
No towing is needed. In Kingholm Quay, a residential suburb, a van that comes to you works: your car is emptied on the spot, whether in a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Kingholm Quay: the cost of fixing it
There's no fair single price, because the jobs aren't the same. The cost changes first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that got in. After that it rests on where the vehicle is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight spot behind Crichton Memorial Church.
That's why every call from Kingholm Quay starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and if it has run. Given those replies, the range shrinks to a single firm number.
Our price is quoted on the call, before anyone leaves; settling up comes on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
Still next to your car around Kingholm Quay?
In that case, touch nothing — that's the best step available. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Kingholm Quay or anywhere in Dumfries and Galloway.