Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Marsh Mills
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, keep the motor off then leave the ignition off. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when your fuel system draws it in. Caught before your motor has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Marsh Mills. First, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Marsh Mills: the first few minutes
To do:
- Keys out — that way no one can switch anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- The empty bottle or your receipt shows us the product and the amount, and so don't throw it out.
- Give us a postcode starting PL6 8, or whichever street is closest, and our van finds you directly — so ring wherever you are.
Never do these:
- No starting the engine — not for a second, not to shift your vehicle.
- Switching the key to ignition alone starts the pump running on many diesels. Skip it.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue will not blend, and so it is wasted.
- Even a short stretch along Coypool Road is too far to drive the car.
- Beside the road, do not attempt draining it yourself.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you move the vehicle off the island if you're on a forecourt around Marsh Mills, whether it is the Sainsbury's or somewhere else. At home, the car stays just where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the engine. From a separate tank it goes directly to your exhaust, treating what your motor emits. Neither side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and an injection pump can't take urea.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, after poured in, won't. Its behaviour is not at all like fuel's. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and pools underneath it — the same spot the intake sucks from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Leigham last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
Two kinds of damage come from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that crystallises in filters and tiny passages; meanwhile, since it attacks certain metals, each part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it remains in there. Lines holding AdBlue spell harm by morning for a car parked in Marsh Mills. Only inside your tank, it stays the same. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and every injector as it flows; water offers none of that, which is a second kind of harm.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger fault?
A fault of thin fuel is what you end up with after fuelling a diesel with petrol at the Texaco. Blended into the diesel and sitting still, it's harmless for now; using the engine does the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It does not burn, and so it can't just be run through. Nor can it be thinned, since it separates again — and the next tankful will not rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and trying the engine "to see", in the heart of Marsh Mills or out in Underwood, does more harm than almost any other slip.
As with petrol, there's good news. Emptying a tank is the easiest job on any fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue stays in it — wherever across Devon your car has stopped.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Marsh Mills?
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel cap, occasionally behind one flap — can look the same. No one means it; many layouts allow it. It mostly happens outside the house, from a container grabbed on the journey home, not at the filling station.
A couple of familiar ways account for the majority of them. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Woodford Primary School the top-up is rushed. Near Longbridge Road, someone tips a bottle in at home after work. Or your car is topped up in the car park at Windmill Inn, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It comes up most in a rental, a new vehicle, a company vehicle, or the spare motor of a home with one of each fuels — the vehicles drivers use least. Leave it switched off: that's the first response to an identical mistake, wherever around Marsh Mills or the rest of Devon you are.
Started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Marsh Mills?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer in the tank. With any running time, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and each injector, having passed through the filter and lines.
You may notice your engine running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Efford Marsh Nature Reserve or halfway across Marsh Mills. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the vehicle to check. Every start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the M5, under 50 miles from Marsh Mills, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into your system. That is why crossing Marsh Mills to park near St Boniface Arena and a drive of under 5 miles towards Plymouth are such different jobs. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
There is more to flush once the motor has been run, and we do all of it where the car has stopped. When it is noticed quickly, long-term damage is very unusual.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Marsh Mills?
The vehicle remains put, whether that is a road beside Plymouth Coliseum, a driveway, a layby or a filling station around Marsh Mills, and the van comes to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and if your engine has been run, because those replies determine the work.
Next, draining your tank right there takes out the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. Residue from AdBlue will not flush away by itself, and so the whole system gets a careful flush, which matters much more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. If the motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Last, the system is primed with new diesel. After that we start it and you head off, whether from a parking bay outside Plymouth or a drive in Marsh Mills. Before we leave, we make sure it's running smoothly with new diesel in. Since the job is done in its entirety where your car is, a workshop never comes into it. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Marsh Mills
Marsh Mills is a suburban area located on the coast of Devon, near the city of Plymouth. Marsh Mills sits at a low elevation of around 4 metres, close to the shores of the Plym Estuary. Marsh Mills is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, with nearby neighbourhoods including Longbridge and Crabtree. Marsh Mills is situated approximately 3 miles from Plymouth city centre, making it a convenient residential location.
AdBlue drains across Devon, Marsh Mills included
Longbridge, Crabtree and Woodford are among the places near Marsh Mills that the same teams serve, together with much of Devon beyond, throughout the PL postcode area. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Marsh Mills is a residential suburb, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it sits, so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Marsh Mills?
Every job differs, so not one single price would be fair. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it turns on where your car is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Plym Valley Railway.
What was put in, how much, and whether it ran: each Marsh Mills enquiry opens by asking precisely that, before a quote, not afterwards. Given those replies, a range shrinks to a single fixed number.
Our quote is quoted on the call, before a van sets off; settling up happens on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van gets there.
Still alongside the vehicle around Marsh Mills?
In that case, touch nothing — that's the best move there is. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus whether the engine ran are all we need. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder across Devon, Marsh Mills too.