--- title: Lizard: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank? Don't Start canonical: https://www.petrolinadieselcar.co.uk/adblue-in-diesel/lizard-cornwall/ location: Lizard county: Cornwall latitude: 49.968840 longitude: -5.203570 service: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank updated: 2026-10-05 --- # AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Lizard? Keep It Switched Off Motor off, ignition off: that is where you begin if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. The harm begins once it is sucked through your lines — it won't ignite, and it will not combine with diesel. Caught before your engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Lizard. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else. ## Lizard, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do straight away Things to do: - Pull your keys out, so no one switches the ignition on. - Close to moving traffic? Then put the hazards on. - The empty bottle or your receipt shows us the fluid and the amount, so do not throw it away. - The van finds you quickest with a postcode starting TR12 7, or simply the name of a street nearby, so phone from the spot. Not to do: - Do not start the motor, even for a moment to shift the car. - The ignition remains off: on lots of diesels, switching it on is enough to start the pump. - AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel will not weaken it. - Do not drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short stretch up Beacon Terrace. - Beside the road, don't attempt draining it yourself. Get the people behind the counter to help you roll your car off the island if you are on a forecourt in Lizard, whether it is the Kynance Garage or elsewhere. On your own driveway, do not touch it at all. ## What AdBlue does in a diesel tank Not your motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. From a dedicated reservoir it is fed straight to your exhaust, treating what your engine lets out. No part inside an injection pump is made for this fluid — and none of it was meant to go through one. It does not combine. Once it's poured into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like diesel. It is heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Cadgwith last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has sucked it in. It does two kinds of harm from there. What remains when the water evaporates is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in tiny passages and clog filters. Worse, it eats at some metals in the fuel system, and keeps going till it is cleared out. A vehicle left standing around Lizard with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank is not. The water in it does damage of its own: the high-pressure pump and your injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing. ## Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is regularly worse Petrol pumped into a diesel on another forecourt nearby's forecourt leaves the fuel watery — that is the main problem. It mixes with the diesel, and while it is inside that tank it does no damage; the damage comes from running your engine on it. The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable liquid. It can't just be run through, because it doesn't burn. It doesn't stay mixed, so it can't be weakened. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in St Ruan or the middle of Lizard. The good news is the same as with petrol. Never started? Then the AdBlue sits only in your tank, the easiest section of the entire system to clear, wherever the vehicle has come to rest in Cornwall. ## AdBlue in a diesel tank in Lizard: how it ends up there In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, now and then under a single flap — can look the same. No one intends it; plenty of designs allow it. Usually it is never the forecourt: someone picks up a bottle driving home and pours it in at home. A couple of familiar ways cover most cases. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Landewednack Community Primary School. A driver pours the container in at home, right off The Square, as the day ends. Otherwise, after dark outside The Top House Inn, your vehicle gets topped up by a driver opening that flap for the first time. It crops up most in a rental, a new vehicle, a fleet car, or the spare car in a home with both fuels — the cars drivers know the least. Keep it switched off: that is the first step to the same slip, anywhere in Lizard or the rest of Cornwall you happen to be. ## Lizard: started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then the AdBlue has left the tank. Your filter and lines have had it sucked along, and any running takes it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector. Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, dropping power, dashboard lights or cutting out: each might show up, perhaps part way across Lizard or coming back from Sea Acres 9 hole course. Stop when it is safe. Turn off. Leave it off instead of restarting it to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through. If you were on the M5, over 50 miles from Lizard, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on. Every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. That's why crossing Lizard to park beside GWR Road Motor Services and a drive of under 25 miles for Truro are very separate jobs. Let us know about how far it had come. There is more to clean out once the engine has run, and we do all of it where the vehicle has come to a stop. If it's caught soon, lasting damage is very uncommon. ## What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Lizard? We come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped in Lizard: a side street close to Grumpy-guts, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The job depends on three replies, which we ask for before all else — what went in, the quantity, and whether the motor has turned over. Then that tank is drained where the vehicle stands, so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue will not flush away unaided, so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which matters far more here than for petrol. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Engine not run? In that case count on roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof. The final step is to bleed your system on clean diesel. At that point we fire it up and you drive off, whether from a parking bay by the nearest station or a driveway in Lizard. Before we go, our engineers confirm it is running correctly with clean diesel in. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never needs to be taken to a workshop. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both afterwards. ## About Lizard itself Lizard is a small coastal village in Cornwall, situated on the Lizard Peninsula at an elevation of around 75 metres. Lizard sits near several scenic coves, including Housel Bay and Church Cove, and is surrounded by a rugged coastline. Lizard is a popular destination for those seeking a tranquil atmosphere, with many detached homes and a strong sense of community. Lizard is located approximately 21 miles from Truro, the nearest city. ## Lizard and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area Over the TR postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue jobs around Lizard serve most of Cornwall as well, Housel Bay, Church Cove and Grade included. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than assuming. A van that comes to you fits Lizard, a coastal village: you have no need to bring your vehicle to us, since our technicians drain it on the spot, in a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a forecourt. ## What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Lizard Because the jobs differ, a single price wouldn't be honest. Whether the engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the cost. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the location of the car, since an open driveway is easier for our van to reach safely than a tight space behind Lizard Reading Room. That's why every call from Lizard starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and whether it's run. Those answers turn a range into a straight price. Before anyone sets off, you hear our quote on the phone. And payment is on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there. ## In Lizard and still next to the vehicle? Not touching the car is, then, the most useful move open to you. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Say it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and if it ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, in Lizard or anywhere within Cornwall.