Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Kingsdown
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, leave your engine off then leave your ignition off. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. The harm begins once it's sucked through the pump — it won't ignite, and it won't combine with diesel. If the motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally drained and thoroughly purged where the car stands around Kingsdown. Nothing comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Kingsdown
Do these:
- Take the keys out, so no one switches the ignition on.
- Near moving traffic? Then put the hazards on.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and about what quantity, save the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Give us a postcode starting BS6 5, or whichever street lies nearest, and the van reaches you straight — so call wherever you are.
Do not do these:
- Don't start your engine, even for a moment to move the vehicle.
- Turning your key to ignition alone starts the pump going on many diesels. Avoid it.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel won't thin it.
- Never drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short way along Montague Place.
- Draining the tank yourself by the road isn't worth trying.
Rolling the car off the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever Kingsdown forecourt you are on, the Esso included. If you're on your own drive, leave it just where it sits.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your motor. From a dedicated tank it goes straight to your exhaust, cleaning what the engine lets out. A fuel pump isn't 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. The intake takes fuel from the deepest part of the tank, and that's just where AdBlue settles: being heavier than diesel, it sinks. A vehicle filled on a drive in Victoria Park yesterday evening and left unstarted is the simple case. Nothing has sucked the AdBlue up so far — but when your motor turns, that is what goes first, straight from the bottom of that tank.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. What remains once the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle in narrow passages and block filters. On top of that, it attacks certain metals in the fuel system, and carries on until it's flushed out. If the AdBlue has reached the pipework, leaving it overnight around Kingsdown leaves things worse. Inside the tank only, waiting costs nothing. Then there is the water: it offers no protection to the parts that need it most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is frequently more significant than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Shell and you have a problem of thin fuel. No harm is done as long as it stays unused, mixed into the diesel — only once your engine runs on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Not burning, it cannot just be run through. Crystals and corrosion remain through the following fill, and AdBlue separates again out of your diesel, and so watering it can't help. Hence the flush matters so much, and turning your key "to see" does more harm here than almost any other mistake — in Redland or the centre of Kingsdown equally.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest part on a fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever in Bristol your vehicle has stopped.
Kingsdown: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many motors rests right next to your diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
It tends to take place in a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Cotham Gardens Primary School. In the evening, a container goes in on a driveway near Saint Matthews Road. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park outside The Kingsdown Vaults, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
It takes place most in the motors people know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. An identical mistake, same first step — keep it switched off — anywhere you happen to be around Kingsdown or the remainder of Bristol.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Kingsdown, and the motor started?
Then that tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Through the fuel filter, through the pipework, and — with any running — into the injection pump and each injector: that's how far it has gone.
Rough running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard lights or cutting out: any may show up, maybe part way across Kingsdown or returning from Kingsdown Park. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. Every start pulls more of that through.
Kingsdown sits under a mile from the M32; if you were on it, leave at the first junction and pull up safely rather than driving on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue further in. That is why a hop across Kingsdown to park beside Portland Methodist Chapel and a drive of under a mile towards Bristol are very different jobs. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
There is more to flush once the engine has run, and our engineers do all of it where the vehicle has come to a stop. When it's spotted quickly, permanent damage is very uncommon.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves around Kingsdown
Anywhere it has come to rest around Kingsdown — a forecourt, a lay-by, a drive, a street by ESC Kingsdown — the van travels to the vehicle. Before anything else we ask what went in, about how much, and whether the engine has been run, since those replies determine the work.
Next, emptying the tank on the spot removes the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue in one go. The system is purged thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. After that, the fuel filter: cleaned, or changed when it has to be. After that fresh diesel, and then a check of your car. Not run? Then count on roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. The equipment is explosion-proof, so a live filling station is no fault, and it's hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
Lastly, the fuel system is bled with fresh diesel. Starting the car comes next, and then you head off from where the vehicle is parked, by Redland or on a drive around Kingsdown. Before we leave, we confirm it is running properly with new diesel in. Our engineers do it all wherever the car has stopped, and it never needs to go to a workshop. Afterwards, there is paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Kingsdown
Kingsdown is a suburban area located just north of Bristol city centre, at an elevation of around 72 metres. Kingsdown sits in a densely populated part of the city, with nearby areas including Cotham and Tyndalls Park. Kingsdown is characterized by its predominantly flat-based housing stock, reflecting its urban setting. Kingsdown is close to the amenities and services of Bristol, being only 0.6 miles from the city centre.
AdBlue drains across Kingsdown and Bristol
Cotham, Tyndalls Park and Bristol are among the towns around Kingsdown that the same teams serve, along with much of Bristol further out, throughout the BS postcode area. Near a border, or anywhere tricky to pin down? Asking beats guessing, so phone.
Wherever your vehicle sits — your driveway at home, a side street, a car park, a forecourt — our engineers drain it on the spot, with no need to take it to us; which suits Kingsdown, a residential suburb, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Kingsdown: the cost of fixing it
Because the jobs differ, a flat price would not be fair. Whether the motor has run, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the price. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the position of the vehicle, because an open drive is simpler for a van to reach safely than a tight gap behind Paul Adrian Dirac.
Which fluid went in, how much, plus whether the engine ran: every Kingsdown enquiry begins by asking exactly that, before a figure, never afterwards. When they are answered, a range turns into one fixed figure.
The price is given during the call, before a van leaves; payment happens on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
Next to the car around Kingsdown, right now?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with your vehicle is to leave it. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and if the engine ran are all we need. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder throughout Bristol, Kingsdown too.