AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Long Sutton? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, leave your engine off then leave the ignition off. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when the fuel system draws it in. In Long Sutton, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your motor runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Long Sutton: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- Take your keys out, and so nobody switches the ignition on.
- If you are anywhere near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Which product, and roughly how much amount? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and our engineers will see.
- Tell us a postcode starting TA10 9, or whichever street is nearest, and the van reaches you straight — so call from wherever you stand.
Not to do:
- Shifting your car even a few yards is no reason to fire up your motor.
- Switching the key to ignition by itself starts your pump going on many diesels. Skip it.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Keep the car where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short way down Shute Lane.
- Emptying that tank on your own by the road isn't one to try.
Rolling the car away from the island is a job for staff to help with, whichever Long Sutton forecourt you are on, the Esso included. At home, your car remains exactly where it was left.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your engine. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
It does not blend. Once it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Long Load last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
It does two kinds of harm from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and tiny passages; and, since it attacks some metals, each part it touches suffers for as long as it remains inside. If the AdBlue is in the pipework, leaving it till morning in Long Sutton makes it worse. Inside your tank alone, time does nothing. The water in it does harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is frequently more major than petrol
Top up a diesel with petrol in error over at the Texaco, and this issue is diluted fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and while it is inside your tank it does no damage; the harm comes from running your engine on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong liquid. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Whether the car is in Pibsbury or the heart of Long Sutton, firing it up "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other slip, and the flush matters for more. Why: it will not stay blended, so diluting it is impossible; and deposits and corrosion survive the next fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. If your motor has not run, the AdBlue is still inside your tank, and the tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in Somerset the vehicle is sitting.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Long Sutton?
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, now and then behind a single flap — may look the same. Nobody means it; plenty of layouts invite it. A container bought while driving home and poured in at home, instead of at the filling station, is the usual route.
A few familiar ways cover the majority of them. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Long Sutton CofE Primary School the top-up is rushed. In the evening, a container is tipped in on a drive near Martock Road. Otherwise, in dim light by The Lime Kiln Inn, the vehicle is topped up by a driver opening that flap for the first time.
The least familiar vehicles see it most — rentals, new ones, company cars, and the other vehicle of a family with both fuels. Wherever you're around Long Sutton or the remainder of Somerset, it is the same error and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Long Sutton?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. It's been sucked through the fuel filter and the lines, and if your engine ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure pump and the injectors.
Expect rough running, smoke, falling power, warnings on your dash, or a cut-out — coming back from Long Sutton Golf Club, perhaps, or midway across Long Sutton. 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.
If you were on the M5, under 15 miles from Long Sutton, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
Distance matters: each mile carries the AdBlue deeper in, and so heading towards Wells, under 15 miles away, makes a far larger job than crossing Long Sutton to the car park by Holy Trinity. Tell us about how far it had come.
There's more to clean out once your engine has been started, and our technicians do all of it where the car has ended up. Very rarely does it leave lasting damage when it is caught quickly.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Long Sutton?
Our technicians come to the car, wherever it has stopped around Long Sutton: a side street close to Friends Meeting House, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Which fluid got in, roughly how much, plus whether your engine has turned over: our engineers ask first, since those shape the job.
On the spot, the tank is then drained, and both the polluted diesel and the urea come out as one. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing matters: the fuel system is cleaned all the way through because what remains will not flush out by itself. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. About half an hour on site is typical for most jobs where your motor has not run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough not to disturb the street at night.
The last step is to prime the fuel system on clean diesel. At that point we fire it up and you head off, whether from a parking bay outside Yeovil Pen Mill or a driveway in Long Sutton. Before we leave, our engineers check it's running properly with fresh diesel in. We do it all wherever the car has stopped, and it never needs to be taken to a garage. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers ask for.
About Long Sutton
Long Sutton is a small village in inland Somerset, situated near the villages of Little Load, Upton, and Knole. Long Sutton lies approximately 13.5 miles from the city of Wells and 118.6 miles from London, in a low-lying area with an elevation of around 15 metres. Long Sutton has a population of around 854 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing.
AdBlue drains across Somerset, Long Sutton included
Throughout the TA postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue call-outs in Long Sutton reach much of Somerset as well, Little Load, Upton and Knole included. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Long Sutton is a rural village, and an on-site drain suits it: whether your car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it stands, so it never needs to be moved to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Long Sutton: the cost of fixing it
Each job differs, and so not one single quote is honest. Three things shift the price: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the vehicle is. That last one comes down to whether a van can get to it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight spot behind Melbury Roman Villa (Scheduled Monument).
That's why each call from Long Sutton starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and if it's run. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
Before anyone sets off, you are told the price by phone. And payment is on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As our engineer is on the way, dig out your policy: plenty include misfuelling.
In Long Sutton and still alongside your car?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Long Sutton or anywhere around Somerset.