Lower Dimson: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then leave your engine off — and the ignition as well. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. The trouble begins once it's sucked through the lines — it won't ignite, and it won't combine with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Lower Dimson, is generally what AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it is caught before your motor has run. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Lower Dimson: the first few minutes
Do these:
- Pocket the keys, which prevents someone switching the electrics on.
- If you're at all close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Which fluid, and about what volume? Hang on to the bottle or your receipt, and we can know.
- Ring right where you are. Say a PL18 9 postcode or the closest street sign, and no one has to search for you.
Not to do:
- Shifting your vehicle even a short way is no reason to fire up the motor.
- Many diesels power their pump the instant the ignition goes on, and so keep the car off.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short way down King Street.
- By the road, don't try draining it yourself.
On a forecourt in Lower Dimson, whether it's the Asda or another one, ask the staff to help you roll the vehicle clear of the pump. On your own drive, do not touch it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Meant for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the motor. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sprayed into the exhaust, and there it treats the fumes. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
Poured in with the diesel, it stays apart rather than mixing — entirely unlike fuel. The intake takes fuel from the lowest part of that tank, and that's just where AdBlue ends up: being heavier than diesel, it sinks. Easiest of all: one that had AdBlue in Dimson last night and has not turned since. The AdBlue waits at the foot of the tank, untouched — though it would be first through if your motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
After it's pulled in, the harm comes in two forms. It eats at some metals used in fuel systems, working on any part it reaches till it's cleared from your system. And when the water goes, the urea forms crystals that block filters and lodge in tiny channels. Where the AdBlue is in the lines, leaving it overnight around Lower Dimson leaves it worse. Inside your tank alone, time costs nothing. The water in it does damage of its own: the high-pressure pump and the injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more significant than petrol
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Gulf's forecourt leaves your fuel thin — that is the whole fault. Harm just comes from running on it. Blended into the diesel and left inside your tank, it causes none.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Whether your vehicle is in Higher Dimson or the centre of Lower Dimson, turning it over "to see" costs more in this case than almost any other mistake, and the flush counts more. The reasons: it will not remain mixed, so diluting it fails; and deposits and corrosion survive the next tankful.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue waits only inside the tank, the easiest bit of the whole system to clear, anywhere your car has stopped across Cornwall.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Lower Dimson
It's not on purpose. Many cars have the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel inlet, now and then under one flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. A container bought when driving home and poured in outside the house, rather than at the filling station, is the typical story.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. The top-up gets hurried outside Copper Valley Junior Academy, because the dash flashed with a warning while the children were dropped off. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Woodland Close. Or your car is topped up in the car park outside The Buccaneer, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
Rented motors, brand-new motors, fleet vehicles, or the second vehicle in a family with one of each: the least familiar cars get it the most. Anywhere in Cornwall, Lower Dimson included, the slip does not change, and nor does the first step: leave it off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Lower Dimson?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. Given any running time, it goes on to the injection pump and each injector, after passing via your filter and pipework.
Watch for lumpy running, smoke, lost power, warnings on your dash, or a cut-out — returning from Millennium Garden, say, or part way across Lower Dimson. No restarting to check: stop when safe, then switch everything off. More of it is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M5, under 50 miles from Lower Dimson, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
Mileage counts: each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into your system, and so driving towards Plymouth, under 15 miles away, makes a far larger job than crossing Lower Dimson to the car park by Gunnislake Crusade Fellowship Centre. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Once the motor has run, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the car has come to a stop. Permanent damage is very rare if it's noticed quickly.
Lower Dimson: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
A street by Wheal Talk, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station: anywhere your vehicle has come to rest in Lower Dimson, our engineers travel to it. Which fluid went in, roughly the quantity, plus whether the motor has turned over: our technicians check before all else, since those decide the work.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one when your tank is emptied, on the spot. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush counts: the whole system is flushed all the way through because what remains won't wash away unaided. Clean diesel goes in after the fuel filter is cleaned — or swapped, if it needs to be — and after that the car is tested. Engine not run? Then expect about half an hour on site for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
The last step is to prime your system on new diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you set off from where the vehicle is parked, at Gunnislake or on a driveway around Lower Dimson. Before we leave, our technicians confirm it is running correctly with fresh diesel in. No workshop is needed at any point, with the whole job done then and there. Afterwards, there is paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Lower Dimson itself
Lower Dimson is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Cornwall, with a mix of detached housing and a population of around 1361 residents. Lower Dimson sits at an elevation of 94 metres, close to the nearby settlements of Middle Dimson, Gunnislake, and North Dimson. Lower Dimson is located near the city of Plymouth, which is approximately 11 miles away, and is part of the wider South West region. Lower Dimson has a relatively small community, with easy access to the surrounding countryside.
Lower Dimson and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
The vans that answer AdBlue call-outs around Lower Dimson also cover the places around it, Middle Dimson, Gunnislake and North Dimson among them, and most of Cornwall beyond, across the PL postcode area. Guessing doesn't help close to a county line or somewhere tricky to describe; ring and ask.
No moving is needed. In Lower Dimson, a residential suburb, a mobile service fits: the car is emptied where it stands, be it on a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Lower Dimson
There is no honest single quote, since the jobs are not the same. The price shifts first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it depends on where your car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind William the Miner.
That's why each call from Lower Dimson starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and whether it has run. Those answers turn a range into a straight quote.
Quoted by phone before the engineer heads out, it is settled on the day — card or phone, no deposit. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
In Lower Dimson and still alongside the vehicle?
Not touching your car is, right now, the most useful thing you can do. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Lower Dimson or anywhere within Cornwall, once you ring 0333 366 0103 saying it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.