Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Liskeard
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. The trouble starts once it's pulled through the lines — it won't burn, and it will not blend with diesel. If your motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally emptied and thoroughly cleaned where your car stands in Liskeard. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Liskeard: the first few minutes
To do:
- Remove the keys, and that prevents someone turning the power on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- The empty bottle or the receipt shows us the product and the quantity, and so do not bin it away.
- Our van locates you fastest with a postcode starting PL14 6, or just the name of a street nearby, so phone from the car.
Never do these:
- No starting your motor — not briefly, not to reposition your car.
- Many diesels run their fuel pump the instant the ignition comes on, so leave the car off.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel will not thin it.
- Never drive the car anywhere, not even a short distance along The Parade.
- Don't try to drain the vehicle yourself by the kerbside.
Get the people behind the counter to help you roll your car away from the island if you are at a forecourt around Liskeard, whether it's the BP or somewhere else. If you are on your own drive, leave the car precisely where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not the engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it is fed into the exhaust, where it cleans the fumes. Neither side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and an injection pump can't deal with urea.
It does not blend. After it's poured into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like diesel. Heavier than diesel, it drops and collects underneath it — the same spot the pickup sucks from. The first thing the system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Moorswater last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. What remains once the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in tiny channels and clog filters. On top of that, it attacks some metals in the fuel system, and carries on till it is flushed out. Overnight, a car sitting around Liskeard with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; if it's only inside that tank, nothing changes. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and every injector as it flows; water offers no lubrication, which is a separate form of damage.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is often more significant than petrol
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Morrisons's forecourt leaves the fuel watery — that is the main issue. Harm just comes from running on it. Mixed into your diesel and sitting in your tank, it causes nothing.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely wrong liquid. It can't just be run through, because it doesn't burn. Crystals and corrosion remain after the following tankful, and AdBlue splits back out of the diesel, and so watering it won't work. That is why the flush matters more, and turning your key "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other slip — in Looe Mills or the heart of Liskeard equally.
As with petrol, there is good news. Emptying a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever across Cornwall your car sits.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Liskeard
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, now and then behind one flap — may appear the same. No one intends it; many layouts invite it. It usually happens outside the house, from a container bought en route home, rather than at the forecourt.
Usually, it happens in one of a few familiar ways. The refill is rushed outside St Martin's CofE Primary School, after your dash flashed with a warning as the kids were dropped in. Someone pours the bottle in at home, right off Pike Street, as the day ends. Or your car is topped up in the car park outside The King Doniert, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
Rented motors, new cars, company cars, or the spare car in a family with both fuels: the least familiar cars see it the most. Wherever you're in Liskeard or the rest of Cornwall, it is the same slip and the same first answer: leave it off.
Liskeard: started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. The fuel filter and pipework have had it pulled through, and any running takes it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Watch for lumpy running, exhaust smoke, falling power, warnings on the dash, or a stall — coming back from Westbourne Gardens, perhaps, or part way across Liskeard. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. More of that is pulled through with each start.
Liskeard lies under 50 miles from the M5; if you were on it, leave at the first junction and pull up somewhere safe rather than carrying on.
Distance matters: every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into your system, and so driving towards Plymouth, under 25 miles away, makes a much larger job than hopping across Liskeard to the car park by Liskeard Town Hall. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the flushing where the car has ended up, and once the engine has been run there is more of it. Long-term damage is very rare when it's caught quickly.
Liskeard: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
Anywhere it has stopped in Liskeard — a forecourt, a layby, a driveway, a street by Liskeard and District Museum — our van travels to your car. Three replies shape the work, and so first we ask which fluid was put in, roughly what quantity, plus whether your engine has run.
On the spot, the tank is then drained, and both the polluted diesel and the urea come out at once. Residue from AdBlue won't wash out by itself, and so the whole system gets a careful flush, which matters much more with urea than with petrol. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our engineers are there. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Lastly, the system is primed with fresh diesel. You drive off as soon as our technicians have started it, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a drive around Liskeard or in a bay at the nearest station. The test before our engineers head off is that it runs smoothly on fresh diesel. No garage is needed at any stage, with the entire job done then and there. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers want.
About Liskeard itself
Liskeard is a town in eastern Cornwall, situated inland at an elevation of around 134 metres, and is characterised by its predominantly terraced housing. Liskeard lies near several smaller settlements, including Addington, Trembraze, and Lamellion, and is approximately 15 miles from Plymouth. Liskeard has a population of around 10901 people and is located about 202 miles west of London. Liskeard remains a significant urban centre in the region, with a mix of residential and commercial areas.
Liskeard and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
Addington, Trembraze and Lamellion are among the towns around Liskeard that the same teams serve, along with much of Cornwall further out, over the PL postcode area. Guessing doesn't help by a border or anywhere tricky to pin down; phone and check.
No moving is needed. In Liskeard, a town, a mobile service works: your vehicle is emptied where it stands, be it on a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
Liskeard: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Each job is different, so not one single quote would be honest. The cost shifts first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that got in. After that it depends on where the car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Greenbank Community Church.
Ahead of a quote, never after, every enquiry from Liskeard begins with the same three checks: the fuel, the amount, plus if it ran. With those replies, a range narrows to one fixed number.
You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As the van is travelling, dig out your insurance: plenty cover misfuelling.
Liskeard: still next to the car?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, then, the best thing you can do. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, across Liskeard or wherever in Cornwall, once you call 0333 366 0103 saying it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether it ran.