AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Leasingham? Keep It Switched Off
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, keep your motor off and leave your ignition off. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. The trouble begins once it is sucked through the lines — it won't ignite, and it won't combine with diesel. In Leasingham, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before the motor runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, right where your car is. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around Leasingham
Things to do:
- Remove your keys, which prevents anyone turning the power on.
- Put the hazards on if you are at all near moving traffic.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what went in and roughly how much.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting NG34 8, or the name of the closest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Never:
- Moving the vehicle even a few yards is no reason to fire up your engine.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel won't weaken it.
- Leave it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short distance along The Lea.
- Emptying that tank on your own by the road isn't one to try.
Rolling your vehicle away from the pumps is a job for staff to help with, wherever Leasingham forecourt you are on, the BP or any other. Stopped on your own drive? Then it remains just where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not the motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it's fed into your exhaust, where it cleans the fumes. No part inside an injection pump is designed for this fluid — and no part of that was intended to travel that way.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It does not mix in. Denser than diesel, it drops and collects underneath it — the very spot the intake draws from. Easiest of all: one that had AdBlue in Ruskington last night and hasn't turned since. The AdBlue waits at the base of your tank, untouched — but it would be first through once your motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
Two kinds of damage come from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that hardens in filter elements and tiny passages; meanwhile, since it eats at some metals, each part it reaches suffers for as long as it remains inside. Overnight, a vehicle sitting around Leasingham with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; where it is only inside the tank, nothing changes. The water in it causes damage of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is often worse
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Texaco's forecourt leaves the fuel thin — that's the main fault. Blended into the diesel and sitting unused, it's no threat at that stage; running your engine does the damage.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong liquid. It can't simply be run through, because it doesn't burn. Nor can it be thinned, because it separates again — and the following fill will not clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters for more here, and turning your key "to see", in the centre of Leasingham or out in Brauncewell, does more harm than almost any other slip.
As with petrol, there is good news. Wherever in Lincolnshire the vehicle has stopped, an unrun motor means the AdBlue still inside the reservoir: the easiest bit of any fuel system to clear.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Leasingham: how it ends up there
It is not on purpose. Many cars have the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel inlet, occasionally under one flap, and mixing them up is simple after dark. Most of the time it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
Mostly, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside The Leasingham St Andrew's Church of England Primary School the top-up is rushed. A driver tips the container in at home, right off The Square, as the day ends. Else, after dark outside The Duke of Wellington, the vehicle gets refilled by someone opening that flap for the first time.
Hired motors, new motors, company motors, or the second car in a family with one of each: the least known cars get it the most. Leave it switched off: that's the first response to an identical slip, wherever around Leasingham or the rest of Lincolnshire you happen to be.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Leasingham, and the motor started?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in the tank. Via the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — with any running time — on to the injection pump and every injector: that's where it has gone.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard lights or stalling: any may appear, maybe part way across Leasingham or coming back from Kirkdale. Stop when safe. Switch off. Keep the vehicle off rather than restarting it to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the M1, under 50 miles from Leasingham, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere sensible instead of pressing on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Leasingham to the car park by Leasingham Village Hall is a very different job from a run towards Lincoln, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with every mile. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Our engineers do all of the flushing where the vehicle has ended up, and once the motor has run there is more of it. When it is spotted soon, permanent damage is very rare.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves around Leasingham
Wherever it has stopped around Leasingham — a forecourt, a lay-by, a driveway, a street by St. Andrew — our van comes to the vehicle. Before anything else we ask what went in, about how much, and whether the engine has been run, since those replies decide the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave together when the tank is emptied, right there. Residue from AdBlue won't wash out by itself, so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which matters far more here than with petrol. After that, the fuel filter: cleaned, or replaced if it has to be. Then clean diesel, and then a test of your vehicle. If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once our technicians are there. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Finally, the system is bled with new diesel. You drive off as soon as we have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a drive in Leasingham or in a bay at Ruskington. It's tested on fresh diesel to confirm it runs smoothly before our technicians head off. The whole job is done where the car is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Leasingham and where it is
Leasingham is a small village in Lincolnshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 35 metres, approximately 15 miles south of Lincoln. Leasingham has a population of around 1270 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Leasingham is located near other villages such as Holdingham and Cranwell, and is also close to the market town of Sleaford. Leasingham is about 105 miles north of London, making it a relatively rural community in the East Midlands region.
AdBlue drains across Lincolnshire, Leasingham included
Holdingham, Cranwell and Sleaford are among the places around Leasingham that the same vans reach, along with much of Lincolnshire beyond, throughout the NG postcode area. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are close to a border, or somewhere tricky to explain.
No towing is needed. In Leasingham, a rural village, a van that comes to you works: the vehicle is drained on the spot, whether on a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Leasingham: the cost of fixing it
Each job differs, so not one single quote is honest. What moves the price is, firstly, whether your engine has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and then where the vehicle is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Sleaford ROC Bunker.
That is why every call from Leasingham starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and if it's run. With those replies, a range shrinks to a single firm number.
Priced on the call before the van sets out, the job is settled on the day — card or phone, no deposit. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Still beside the car around Leasingham?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to the car. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Leasingham or anywhere across Lincolnshire.