AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lower Clicker? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, leave your engine off and leave your ignition off. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. Being water-based, it won't burn and never combines with diesel; damage only comes when your pump begins pulling it. If the engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally emptied and thoroughly cleaned where the car sits in Lower Clicker. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Lower Clicker, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
Do these:
- Pocket your keys, which stops someone turning the electrics on.
- If you are anywhere near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Which fluid, and roughly what volume? Save the bottle or the till receipt, and we will know.
- The van locates you quickest with a postcode starting PL14 3, or simply the name of a street close by, and so call from the car.
Things not to do:
- Not even for a second, and not to roll the car: the engine stays off.
- Plenty of diesels run their fuel pump the instant your ignition comes on, and so keep it off.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue will not mix, so it's pointless.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short distance down Lower Clicker Road.
- Emptying your tank on your own by the road isn't one to try.
The attendants working at any Lower Clicker forecourt — the Morrisons among them — will normally lend a hand pushing it clear if you ask. Stopped on your own driveway? Then it stays just as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Kept in a dedicated tank, it is squirted into the exhaust stream to clean the fumes. No part inside a fuel pump is made for this fluid — and none of that was intended to travel that way.
Inside a diesel tank it acts really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. It drops, since it is denser than diesel, and settles down where the pickup takes its supply from. A car filled on a drive in Trewint yesterday evening and not started since is the straightforward case. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up so far — but when your motor turns, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of that tank.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that crystallises in filter elements and narrow channels; meanwhile, because it eats at certain metals, every part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it remains in there. Lines carrying AdBlue spell damage by morning for a car sitting around Lower Clicker. Only inside that tank, it stays stable. Then there is the water: it brings no protection to the parts that rely on it the most — the injection pump and each injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is frequently more major than petrol
A fault of thin fuel is what you get from fuelling a diesel with petrol from the Shell. No harm is done while it sits unused, mixed into your diesel — only once the engine runs on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Since it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Nor can it be watered down, since it separates again — and the following fill won't clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters for more here, and turning your key "to see", in the heart of Lower Clicker or out in Roseland, does more harm than almost any other slip.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest job on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever across Cornwall the vehicle has stopped.
Lower Clicker: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Many vehicles place the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel one, occasionally under one flap, and in dim light the two may look identical. Nobody intends it. A container bought while driving home and tipped in at home, rather than at the filling station, is the typical story.
It tends to take place in a couple of familiar ways. The refill gets rushed outside Menheniot Primary School, because the dash lit up with a warning as the children were taken in. Someone pours the bottle in at home, just off A38, as the day ends. Otherwise, in dim light outside the pub in the village, the car gets topped up by someone opening that flap the first time.
The least known vehicles see it the most — rentals, new ones, company ones, and the other vehicle in a family with one of each fuel types. Leave it off: that is the first step to an identical mistake, wherever around Lower Clicker or the remainder of Cornwall you are.
Started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Lower Clicker?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. Through the filter, along the lines, and — given any running time — into the high-pressure pump and each injector: that is where it has gone.
Rough running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard lights or stalling: each may appear, maybe part way across Lower Clicker or returning from Trehawke Wood. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart it to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
Leave the M5, under 50 miles from Lower Clicker, at the first junction and park safely, rather than driving on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Lower Clicker to the car park by Aquapark Inflatables is a very different job from a run towards Plymouth, under 15 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with every mile. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Once the engine has been started, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where your car has stopped. Lasting damage is very unusual if it's noticed soon.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Lower Clicker?
The car stays where it is, whether that's a road near Adrenalin Quarry, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station around Lower Clicker, and the van comes to it. What got in, roughly how much, and if your engine has turned over: we ask first, because those decide the job.
Then the tank is drained where your car waits, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. The system is flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once we get there, if the engine hasn't run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the street at night.
New diesel goes in to bleed your system, and that's the final step. After that our engineers start it and you set off, whether from a parking bay by Menheniot or a driveway in Lower Clicker. Before leaving, we confirm it's running smoothly with fresh diesel in. No workshop is needed at any stage, with the whole job done then and there. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Lower Clicker itself
Lower Clicker is a small hamlet situated on the riverside in Cornwall, with a relatively low elevation of around 80 metres. Lower Clicker lies near several other small settlements, including Horningtops, Menheniot, and Doddycross, and is approximately 12 miles from Plymouth. Lower Clicker has a population of around 560 people, predominantly living in detached houses.
AdBlue drains across Lower Clicker and Cornwall
AdBlue jobs in Lower Clicker go to teams that serve the towns near it — Horningtops, Menheniot plus Doddycross — and most of Cornwall further out, throughout PL postcodes. Phone and check rather than guess if you are by a county line, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
A mobile service fits Lower Clicker, a rural hamlet: there's no need to bring the car to us, because our technicians drain it on the spot, in a drive, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
Lower Clicker: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Not one flat figure would be fair, because every job differs. 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 your car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight spot behind Menheniot Parish Hall.
That's why each call from Lower Clicker starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and whether it has run. Those answers narrow the range down to a single figure.
Before anyone sets off, you are told the quote on the phone. Then payment is on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Check your insurance whilst we are on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
In Lower Clicker and still next to the vehicle?
Then, touch nothing — that's the most helpful step there is. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if it ran is everything our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder throughout Cornwall, Lower Clicker included.