Mendlesham: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and nothing starts until the engine pulls it round. In Mendlesham, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the motor runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush, just where the car is. No step comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps right now, Mendlesham: AdBlue in your diesel tank
To do:
- Take your keys out, so no one switches the ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and about how much.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting IP14 5, or the name of the closest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Not to do:
- Moving the car just a few yards is no reason to start your motor.
- Switching your key to ignition alone sets the pump going on plenty of diesels. Skip it.
- Pouring in more diesel doesn't help: AdBlue separates out instead of blending.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short distance along Mill Road.
- By the road, do not try draining it yourself.
Get the attendants to help you move your vehicle away from the pumps if you're at a forecourt around Mendlesham, whether it's the BP or somewhere else. Parked on your own drive? Then it remains exactly as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not your motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. From a dedicated reservoir it goes directly to the exhaust, treating what your motor lets out. A fuel pump isn't designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
It doesn't blend. After it's poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like diesel. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. Easiest of all: one that had AdBlue in Wetheringsett last night and hasn't turned since. The AdBlue sits at the foot of that tank, untouched — but it would be the first thing through if your motor starts, before any diesel at all.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. It attacks certain metals found in fuel components, attacking whatever it reaches until it's cleared from the system. And when the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that block filters and lodge in narrow channels. A vehicle left standing around Mendlesham with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. The water in it does harm of its own: your high-pressure pump and the injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's often worse than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Lamberts Service Station's forecourt makes your fuel watery — that's the main issue. It mixes with your diesel, and while it is in the tank it does no damage; the damage comes from running your engine on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is plainly the wrong one. It doesn't burn, and so it can't just be run through. Nor can it be thinned, because it separates back out — and the following fill will not clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters more with AdBlue, and turning the key "to see", in the heart of Mendlesham or out in Tan Office, does more harm than nearly any other mistake.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Never started? Then the AdBlue sits only in your tank, the easiest bit of the whole system to empty, wherever your vehicle has stopped around Suffolk.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Mendlesham
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, now and then under one flap — can appear the same. Nobody intends it; plenty of layouts allow it. It usually happens at home, from a container grabbed en route home, not at the forecourt.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. The top-up is hurried outside Mendlesham Primary School, after your dash lit up with a warning as the children were taken off. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Old Station Road. Another pattern: dim light, a pub car park outside Kings Head, and someone using that flap the first time.
The least known vehicles get it most — hire cars, new ones, fleet ones, and the other motor of a home with one of each fuel types. An identical mistake, an identical first step — leave it switched off — wherever you happen to be around Mendlesham or the rest of Suffolk.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Mendlesham, and the engine started?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Through the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — given any running time — into the high-pressure pump and every injector: that is how far it travels.
You may see the engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Mendlesham Millennium Woodland or halfway across Mendlesham. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. Every start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the M11, under 50 miles from Mendlesham, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere sensible instead of pressing on.
Hopping across Mendlesham to the car park by Mendlesham URC is one thing; heading for Colchester, under 50 miles away, is something else, because each mile carries the AdBlue further in. So distance counts. Let us know about how far it had come.
Wherever your car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after your engine has been started. When it is spotted early, permanent damage is very unusual.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves in Mendlesham
Anywhere it has come to rest in Mendlesham — a filling station, a layby, a drive, a road beside Mendlesham Village Sign — the van travels to the vehicle. The job rests on three replies, and our engineers get before all else — what was put in, the quantity, and if your motor has run.
Next, emptying the tank on the spot removes the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue together. A careful flush counts far more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what remains won't wash away by itself. Next, the filter: flushed, or changed if it must be. Then clean diesel, then a check of the vehicle. Engine not run? Then expect about half an hour on site for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime your system, and that's the last step. After that our engineers fire it up and you drive off, whether from a parking bay at Stowmarket or a drive in Mendlesham. Before we go, we confirm it's running correctly with fresh diesel in. No garage is needed at any stage, with the whole job done on the spot. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Mendlesham itself
Mendlesham is a rural village in Suffolk, situated inland at an elevation of 56 metres, with Mendlesham being close to nearby places such as Brockford Street, Brockford Green, and Knaves Green. Mendlesham has a population of approximately 1018 residents, with Mendlesham predominantly consisting of detached housing. Mendlesham is located 72.7 miles from London and 26 miles from the nearest city, Colchester.
Mendlesham and Suffolk: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout the IP postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue jobs around Mendlesham serve much of Suffolk as well, Brockford Street, Brockford Green and Knaves Green among them. Ring and ask rather than guess if you're by a county line, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
Mendlesham is a rural village, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it stands, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Mendlesham: the cost of fixing it
Because the jobs differ, a single figure would not be honest. What shifts the cost is, firstly, whether the motor has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and finally where the car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight space behind Mendlesham Community Centre.
That is why each call from Mendlesham starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it has run. Their replies shrink a range down to a single figure.
Priced on the call before the van sets out, the job is paid for on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
In Mendlesham and still beside your car?
Right now, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to not touch it. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Mendlesham or wherever within Suffolk, after you call 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.