AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Lavenham? Keep It Switched Off
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor mixes, and nothing starts until your engine pulls it through. In Lavenham, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the engine runs usually comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where the vehicle is. First, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps right now, Lavenham: AdBlue in the diesel tank
To do:
- Pull the keys out, and so nobody switches your ignition on.
- Put your hazards on if you're anywhere near moving traffic.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and about what quantity, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Our van finds you quickest with a postcode starting CO10 9, or just the name of a street close by, and so phone from the spot.
Never do these:
- Shifting your car just a few yards is no reason to start the motor.
- Many diesels run their pump the instant your ignition comes on, and so leave the car off.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Don't drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short distance up High Street.
- No draining it yourself, either, at the roadside.
Moving the car off the island is a job for staff to help with, whichever Lavenham forecourt you're on, the the nearest petrol station included. If you're on your own drive, leave it just where it sits.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your motor. Stored in a dedicated tank, it is squirted into the exhaust stream to clean the fumes. A fuel pump is not made to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, once poured in, won't. The behaviour is nothing like diesel's. It is heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Preston St Mary last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that hardens in filters and tiny passages; meanwhile, because it attacks some metals, every part it touches suffers for as long as it remains inside. A vehicle left sitting in Lavenham with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank isn't. The water in it does harm of its own: your high-pressure pump and your injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's frequently worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake over at the Tesco, and the problem is thinned fuel. Harm just comes from running on it. Blended into the diesel and sitting inside the tank, it does nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. It does not burn, and so it can't simply be run through. Nor can it be thinned, since it splits again — and the following tankful will not rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and trying your engine "to see", in the centre of Lavenham or out in Smithwood Green, does more harm than nearly any other slip.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. If your engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in your tank, and that tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Suffolk your car is sitting.
Lavenham: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel cap, now and then under a single flap — may appear the same. No one means it; plenty of layouts allow it. It mostly happens outside the house, from a bottle grabbed on the journey home, rather than at the forecourt.
It tends to happen in a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside Lavenham Community Primary School. After work, a bottle is tipped in on a drive near Market Lane. Or the car is topped up in the car park at The Greyhound, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
The least familiar vehicles see it most — hire cars, new cars, company cars, and the other car in a home with both fuels. Wherever around Suffolk, Lavenham as well, the mistake does not change, and neither does the first step: keep it switched off.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Lavenham, and the engine started?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. It's been pulled through the fuel filter and the lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has got to your high-pressure pump and the injectors.
Expect rough running, smoke, lost power, lights on the dash, or a cut-out — returning from Dyehouse Field Wood, perhaps, or part way across Lavenham. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart it to check. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Exit the M11, under 50 miles from Lavenham, at the next junction and park safely, not driving on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Lavenham to the car park by Guildhall of Corpus Christi is a very different job from a run towards Colchester, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with each mile. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Once your engine has run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where your car has come to a stop. Very rarely does it leave lasting damage when it's noticed early.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Lavenham?
The vehicle stays put, whether that is a street near There But Not There, a drive, a layby or a filling station around Lavenham, and our van travels to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and if the engine has been run, since those replies determine the work.
Next, draining the tank on the spot removes the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. A full flush matters much more with AdBlue than after petrol, because what remains will not clear away on its own. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our technicians get there, provided the motor has not run. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a busy forecourt is no problem, and it's hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
New diesel goes in to bleed the system, and that's the final step. At that point our technicians fire it up and you head off, whether from a parking bay by Sudbury Suffolk or a driveway in Lavenham. The test before we go is that it runs properly on fresh diesel. As the job is done in its entirety where the car is, a workshop never comes into it. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers want.
About Lavenham, briefly
Lavenham is a village in Suffolk, situated on the banks of the River Brett at an elevation of around 67 metres. Lavenham lies approximately 57 miles from London and 16 miles from Colchester, with nearby villages including Washmere Green and Brent Eleigh. Lavenham has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by terraced homes. Lavenham is home to around 1224 residents, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains across Lavenham and Suffolk
Over the CO postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue call-outs in Lavenham reach most of Suffolk too, Washmere Green, Rooksey Green and Brent Eleigh included. Guessing doesn't help by a county line or somewhere tricky to describe; phone and ask.
Lavenham is a village, and a call-out drain suits it: whether the car 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 moved to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Lavenham: the cost of fixing it
Because the callouts differ, a flat figure wouldn't be fair. Three things move the price: whether the motor has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where your car is. That last one comes down to whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight gap behind Little Hall.
What got in, how much, plus if the engine ran: every Lavenham enquiry begins by asking precisely those, before any figure, not after. The replies turn a range into a straight quote.
Quoted by phone before the van sets out, it is paid for on the day — card or phone, no deposit. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
Beside the vehicle around Lavenham, right now?
Then, touch nothing — that is the most helpful move there is. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, across Lavenham or wherever in Suffolk, after you ring 0333 366 0103 to say it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.