Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Landkey Newland
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then keep the motor off — and your ignition too. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. As it is water-based, it won't burn and never combines with diesel; trouble just starts when your pump begins drawing it. In Landkey Newland, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the motor runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush, right where the vehicle is. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Landkey Newland
Things to do:
- Keys out — that way no one can switch anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- Which product, and about how much volume? Save the bottle or your receipt, and we will know.
- The van finds you fastest with a postcode starting EX32 0, or simply the name of a street close by, and so phone from the spot.
Things not to do:
- Do not start the engine, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- Your ignition stays off: on lots of diesels, switching it on is enough to start your pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short way up Blakes Hill Road.
- By the road, don't try draining it yourself.
Moving the vehicle off the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever Landkey Newland forecourt you are on, the Tesco or any other. At home, your car stays just as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the engine. From a separate tank it goes straight to your exhaust, treating what the engine lets out. Neither side fits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and a pump can't deal with urea.
It does not blend. After it is poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Harford last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
After it's sucked in, the harm comes in two forms. What remains once the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle in tiny passages and block filters. Worse, it eats at some metals in a fuel system, and keeps going until it's flushed out. Pipes holding AdBlue mean harm by morning for a vehicle parked in Landkey Newland. Just inside your tank, it stays stable. Then there is the water: it brings no protection to the components that rely on it most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is often more significant than petrol
Top up a diesel with petrol by mistake over at the Esso, and this problem is thinned fuel. Blended into the diesel and left unused, it's no threat for now; running your motor is the harm.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid as such is plainly the wrong one. It cannot simply be run through, since it does not burn. Deposits and corrosion remain after the following fill, and AdBlue separates back out of the diesel, and so thinning it won't work. Hence the flush matters more, and turning the key "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other slip — in Whiddon or the heart of Landkey Newland alike.
As with petrol, there's good news. If your motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in your tank, and the tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Devon the vehicle is standing.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Landkey Newland: how it ends up there
Plenty of vehicles put the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, now and then behind one flap, and after dark the two can appear identical. No one means it. A container bought when driving home and tipped in at home, rather than at the filling station, is the typical story.
Mostly, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside Landkey Community Primary Academy. Someone tips the container in at home, right off Cherry Tree Drive, as the day ends. One more version: darkness, the car park outside The Castle, and someone using that flap the first time.
Rented vehicles, brand-new vehicles, company motors, or the second vehicle in a home with both fuels: the least familiar vehicles get it the most. Leave it switched off: that's the first step to an identical slip, anywhere in Landkey Newland or the rest of Devon you happen to be.
Started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Landkey Newland?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. Given any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and each injector, after passing via your filter and lines.
You may notice the motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Millenium Green or halfway across Landkey Newland. Pull over when it is safe. Turn off. Keep the car off rather than testing it again. More of that is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M5, under 50 miles from Landkey Newland, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
How far it went counts. A couple of hundred yards across Landkey Newland to the car park by War Memorial is a very different job from a run towards Exeter, under 50 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with each mile. Let us know about how far it had come.
Wherever the car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after the engine has been run. When it's noticed quickly, long-term damage is very unusual.
Landkey Newland: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
The car stays put, whether that is a street beside Landkey Sculpture, a drive, a layby or a filling station around Landkey Newland, and the van travels to it. Which fluid got in, about the quantity, plus if the engine has turned over: our engineers ask first, because those shape the job.
On the spot, your tank is then drained, and both the polluted diesel and the urea come out as one. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush matters: the fuel system is cleaned all the way through because residue won't wash out unaided. Fresh diesel goes in once the filter is cleaned — or replaced, if it needs to be — and after that the vehicle is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour job once our technicians turn up, if your engine has not run. The equipment is explosion-proof, so a busy filling station is no problem, and it is hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
Bleeding your system with new diesel comes last. After that our engineers start it and you drive off, whether from a parking bay at Barnstaple or a driveway around Landkey Newland. It is checked on fresh diesel to make sure it runs correctly before our engineers leave. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never has to go to a workshop. At the end, you are given the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Landkey Newland itself
Landkey Newland is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Devon, with a mix of detached housing and a relatively low elevation of 39 metres. Landkey Newland lies near the village of Landkey and is part of the wider area that includes Landkey Town and Swimbridge Newland. Landkey Newland is located approximately 31 miles from Exeter and 170 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Landkey Newland has a population of around 1905 residents, living in predominantly detached homes.
AdBlue drains across Landkey Newland and Devon
Over the EX postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue jobs in Landkey Newland reach much of Devon too, Landkey, Landkey Town and Swimbridge Newland included. Near a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down? Asking is better than assuming, and so phone.
Anywhere your car stands — a drive at home, a residential street, a parking area, a forecourt — our technicians drain it on the spot, with no need to take it to us; which suits Landkey Newland, a residential suburb, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Landkey Newland: the cost of fixing it
There is no fair single quote, because the jobs are not the same. Three things shift the price: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the car is. That last one turns on whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight gap behind Landkey Village Hall.
For that reason, each enquiry from Landkey Newland begins with the identical trio — what went in, how much, whether it ran — ahead of any quote. Those replies narrow the range right down to a single number.
Quoted by phone before the engineer heads out, it is settled on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
Landkey Newland: still beside your car?
Then, touch nothing — that is the best move there is. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, in Landkey Newland or anywhere within Devon.