Launceston: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, your ignition stays off and so does the motor. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when your fuel system draws it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Launceston, is normally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before your engine has run. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, Launceston: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do:
- Pocket your keys, and that prevents anyone switching the power on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- Which product, and roughly how much amount? Hang on to the bottle or your receipt, and our engineers can know.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting PL15 7, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Do not do these:
- Shifting your vehicle just a short way is no reason to start the motor.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue will not mix, so it is wasted.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short stretch down Madford Lane.
- Emptying that tank yourself by the road is not worth trying.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you move the vehicle off the pumps if you are on a forecourt around Launceston, whether it's the the nearest petrol station or elsewhere. On that drive, the vehicle remains just where it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not your motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. 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 intended to go through one.
It does not blend. Once it's poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves nothing like diesel. The pickup takes fuel from the lowest part of your tank, and that is precisely where AdBlue ends up: being heavier than diesel, it sinks. When the system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to be pulled through. Until then it waits beneath the diesel, and that is how a vehicle filled in Newport yesterday and not started stays the simple one, as long as no one touches your key.
It does two kinds of damage from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and tiny passages; meanwhile, since it eats at some metals, every part it reaches suffers for as long as it stays in there. Where the AdBlue has reached the lines, waiting overnight in Launceston makes it worse. Inside that tank only, waiting does nothing. And there is the water: it brings no lubrication to the components that need it most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
A problem of thinned fuel is what you end up with from fuelling a diesel with petrol from the Tesco. Harm only comes from running on it. Blended into the diesel and sitting inside the tank, it causes nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. Because it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Crystals and corrosion remain through the next fill, and AdBlue separates again from the diesel, so thinning it won't work. Hence the flush matters so much, and trying your engine "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other mistake — in Withnoe or the centre of Launceston equally.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If your motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in the tank, and that tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Cornwall the car is sitting.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Launceston: how it ends up there
Plenty of vehicles put the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel cap, occasionally behind a single flap, and after dark the two can look identical. No one means it. Usually it is not the filling station: someone buys a container heading home and tips it in outside the house.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. Hurrying, outside Windmill Hill Academy, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, a parent refills your car. A driver pours the container in outside their house, just off Dockey, as the day ends. Or a driver new to that flap refills your vehicle after dark, parked in the car park by Westgate Inn.
The least known cars see it most — hire cars, new cars, fleet cars, and the spare car of a home with both fuel types. Anywhere across Cornwall, Launceston included, the slip does not change, and nor does the first response: keep it off.
Started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Launceston?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in that tank. Given any running, it goes on to the injection pump and every injector, having passed through your filter and pipework.
Maybe returning from Launceston Castle, or midway across Launceston, your engine might run rough, smoke, lose pace, flash your dash or stall. No restarting to check: pull over when safe, then turn it off. More of that is pulled through with each start.
Launceston lies under 50 miles from the M5; if you were on it, leave at the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of driving on.
A quick hop across Launceston to the car park by Launceston Library is one thing; driving for Plymouth, under 25 miles away, is another, since each mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. So distance counts. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
We do all of the rinsing where the car has stopped, and once the engine has been started there is more of it. If it's spotted early, lasting damage is very uncommon.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel in Launceston: what it takes
The vehicle remains put, whether that is a road beside The Gateway Centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt around Launceston, and the van comes to it. Which fluid went in, roughly the quantity, plus whether your motor has turned over: we ask before all else, since those decide the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave together when that tank is emptied, on the spot. What remains from AdBlue won't wash away unaided, so the whole system gets a full flush, which counts much more here than for petrol. Fresh diesel goes in after the fuel filter is cleaned — or swapped, when it needs to be — and after that your car is tested. Engine not run? In that case expect about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
The last step is to prime your system on fresh diesel. Then our technicians fire it up and you drive off, whether from a parking space at Gunnislake or a drive around Launceston. Our engineers make sure it runs smoothly on fresh diesel before leaving. As the job is done in its entirety where the car is, a garage never comes into it. Afterwards, you are given paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Launceston
Launceston is a town in Cornwall, situated on the banks of the River Kensey, with a mix of terraced housing and other buildings. Launceston sits at an elevation of around 135 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. Launceston is close to several nearby places, including Chapel, St Thomas, and Kensey Valley Meadow, and is approximately 20 miles from Plymouth. Launceston has a population of around 9626 people, making it a significant urban centre in the region.
Launceston and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
AdBlue call-outs in Launceston go to vans that serve the towns around it — Chapel, St Thomas plus Kensey Valley Meadow — and much of Cornwall further out, throughout PL postcodes. Close to a border, or somewhere awkward to explain? Asking beats guessing, so phone.
Launceston is a riverside town, and a call-out drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it is, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
Launceston: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Every job is different, and so no fixed quote is fair. Three things move the price: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the vehicle is. That last one comes down to whether a technician can get to it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight spot behind Southgate Arch and gatehouse.
With that reason, every enquiry from Launceston opens by asking the identical trio — what was put in, how much, whether the engine ran — ahead of a quote. Their answers shrink a range right down to a single figure.
You get that price by phone, before anybody heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your insurance whilst we are on the way: plenty include misfuelling cover.
Still next to the car around Launceston?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the car. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, across Launceston or anywhere within Cornwall, once you call 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran.