Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Merley
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, keep your motor off and keep your ignition off. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. It does not burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when the fuel system draws it in. Caught before your engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Merley. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Merley, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do straight away
Do these:
- So nobody can switch the ignition on, pull the keys out.
- Close to moving traffic? So put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the receipt tells us the product and the quantity, and so don't bin it out.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting BH21 1, or the name of the closest street, gets the van to you without a search.
Never:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift the vehicle: the motor remains off.
- Switching the key to ignition alone sets the pump going on many diesels. Skip it.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel will not thin it.
- Even a short stretch up Merley Lane is too far to drive the vehicle.
- No draining it yourself, either, on the roadside.
Rolling your car off the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever Merley forecourt you are on, the BP included. If you're on your own drive, leave the car precisely where it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it's fed into the exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Nothing inside a fuel pump is made for this liquid — and no part of it was meant to travel through one.
It does not combine. After it is tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and collects below it — the same place the intake sucks from. Simplest of all: one that had AdBlue in Leigh last night and has not turned since. The liquid sits at the foot of your tank, undrawn — but it would be the first thing through once the engine starts, ahead of any diesel at all.
Once it's pulled in, the damage takes two forms. It eats at some metals found in fuel systems, attacking whatever it touches until it is cleared completely. And once the water goes, the urea forms crystals that clog filters and lodge in tiny channels. Where the AdBlue is in the lines, waiting overnight in Merley makes it worse. In the tank only, time costs nothing. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and every injector as it passes; water offers none of that, and that is a second form of damage.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is frequently worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error over at the Shell, and this problem is diluted fuel. No damage comes while it stays put, blended into your diesel — only when your motor works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. It doesn't burn, and so it can't simply be run through. Deposits and corrosion remain after the next fill, and AdBlue separates again out of your diesel, so thinning it won't work. Hence the flush matters so much, and trying your engine "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other slip — in East Brook or the heart of Merley alike.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Anywhere in Dorset your vehicle has come to rest, an unstarted engine leaves the AdBlue yet in the tank: the simplest part of any fuel system to clear.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Merley: how it ends up there
It's not on purpose. Plenty of vehicles have the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, occasionally behind a single flap, and mixing them up is easy after dark. Mostly it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the pump.
A few familiar ways account for most cases. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Merley First School. Close to Sopwith Crescent, someone pours a bottle in on that drive after work. Another version: darkness, the car park outside The Willett Arms, and someone using that flap for the first time.
Rented vehicles, new cars, fleet vehicles, or the spare vehicle in a home with both fuels: the least familiar cars get it the most. Wherever you are around Merley or the remainder of Dorset, it is the same mistake and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Merley?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in that tank. The fuel filter and pipework have had it sucked through, and some running time takes it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Expect rough running, exhaust smoke, lost power, lights on the dash, or a cut-out — returning from Merley Park Golf Course, perhaps, or midway across Merley. Pull over when safe. Turn off. Leave the car off instead of testing it again. Each start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M27, under 25 miles from Merley, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
Hopping across Merley to the car park by Canford Church is one matter; heading towards Salisbury, under 25 miles away, is another, because each mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So mileage counts. Let us know about how far it had come.
There is more to flush once the motor has been started, and we do all of it where your car has stopped. If it is spotted soon, long-term damage is very unusual.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Merley?
We come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped in Merley: a side street close to Broadstone Cricket club, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The work rests on three answers, and we ask for first — what went in, the quantity, and if the engine has run.
Then your tank is emptied where the car sits, and so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue won't wash out unaided, so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which matters far more here than for petrol. After that, your filter: flushed, or changed when it has to be. After that fresh diesel, then a check of the car. Not run? In that case expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Our equipment is explosion-proof, and so a busy forecourt is no problem, and it's hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
The last step is to prime the system on fresh diesel. Whether it's a parking bay by Parkstone (Dorset) or a drive in Merley, that is where our technicians fire it up and you drive off. The check before our engineers head off is that it runs smoothly on fresh diesel. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to be taken to a workshop. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Merley
Merley is a village in Dorset, situated inland at an elevation of 39 metres, and is located near the villages of Oakley and Canford Magna. Merley has a population of around 1771 people, and its housing stock is predominantly made up of detached homes. Merley is close to the nearby settlement of St Johns and is within commuting distance of the city of Salisbury, which is 21 miles away. Merley is also around 94 miles from London, making it a rural village with access to larger urban areas.
AdBlue drains across Dorset, Merley included
The vans that answer AdBlue jobs around Merley also cover the spots about it, Oakley, Canford Magna and St Johns among them, and most of Dorset beyond, across the BH postcode area. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Anywhere your car stands — a driveway at home, a residential street, a parking area, a filling station — we drain it there, with no need to bring it to us; which suits Merley, a rural village, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Merley
Each job differs, so no fixed price would be honest. Three things shift the price: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where your car is. That last one rests on whether a van can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight gap behind St John's Church.
That is why every call from Merley starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and if it's run. With them, a range narrows to a single fixed figure.
Our price is quoted during the call, before a van sets off; payment comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
Still alongside your car around Merley?
Not touching your car is, right now, the most useful move open to you. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Tell us it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Merley or anywhere within Dorset.