Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Merriott
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does your motor. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when the system pulls it in. In Merriott, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before the engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. Nothing comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
Merriott, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do straight away
Do these:
- Take your keys out, and so no one switches your ignition on.
- If you are at all close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and about what quantity, keep the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting TA16 5, or the name of the closest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- No starting your motor — not for a second, not to reposition your vehicle.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel will not weaken it.
- Do not drive the car anywhere, not even a short distance down Greys Road.
- By the road, do not attempt emptying it on your own.
On a forecourt around Merriott, whether it's the Texaco or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll the car clear of the pump. On your own drive, don't touch it at all.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the motor. Stored in a dedicated tank, it is squirted into the exhaust to clean the gases. Nothing inside a fuel pump is designed for this liquid — and no part of it was meant to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. It sinks, since it's denser than diesel, and settles low where the intake takes its fuel from. When your pump runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to be pulled through. Until then it sits underneath the diesel, and that is why a car filled in Furringdons Cross yesterday and never started stays the simple one, provided no one turns the key.
Once it is sucked in, the harm takes two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that crystallises in filter elements and tiny channels; and, since it attacks certain metals, each part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it stays inside. A car left sitting in Merriott with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and each injector as it flows; water offers none of that, which is a second form of harm.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake at the Valero, and the issue is diluted fuel. No damage comes as long as it sits put, mixed into the diesel — only when the engine works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it cannot just be run through. Crystals and corrosion stay after the next tankful, and AdBlue separates again from the diesel, and so thinning it won't work. That is why the flush matters so much, and turning the key "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other slip — in Broadshard or the heart of Merriott alike.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest job on any fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever in Somerset your car sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Merriott: how it ends up there
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many cars waits right next to the diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It usually happens outside the house, from a bottle bought en route home, not at the filling station.
A couple of familiar ways account for most cases. Rushing, outside Merriott Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, someone tops up your car. A driver tips the bottle in outside their house, right off Evergreen Path, as the day ends. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap refills the vehicle in dim light, parked in the car park outside The Kings Head.
Hired cars, brand-new vehicles, fleet cars, or the spare vehicle in a home with one of each: the least familiar cars get it the most. Wherever you are around Merriott or the rest of Somerset, it is the same slip and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Merriott?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. Through the filter, along the pipework, and — with any running time — into the high-pressure pump and each injector: that's where it travels.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each might appear, maybe part way across Merriott or coming back from Old Gardens Plantation. Once you safely can, pull over then switch everything off — without turning it on again to test. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Exit the M5, under 15 miles from Merriott, at the first junction and stop somewhere safe, rather than carrying on.
Hopping across Merriott to the car park by All Saints is one matter; heading towards Wells, under 25 miles away, is another, since every mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So mileage counts. Let us know about how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the rinsing where your car has ended up, and once the engine has been started there is more of it. If it's spotted quickly, lasting damage is very rare.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Merriott: what it takes
The car stays where it is, whether that is a road near Merriott Village Hall, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt around Merriott, and the van comes to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and whether your engine has run, since those replies settle this work.
On the spot, your tank is then emptied, and both the polluted diesel and the urea leave at once. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing counts: the fuel system is flushed all the way through since residue will not flush out unaided. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our technicians arrive. Explosion-proof pumps make a live forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
The last step is to prime the fuel system on fresh diesel. Starting the engine comes next, and then you drive off from where your car is parked, by Crewkerne or on a drive around Merriott. It's tested on fresh diesel to be sure it runs smoothly before we leave. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never needs to go to a garage. At the end, you are given paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer.
About Merriott itself
Merriott is a village in inland Somerset, situated at an elevation of 56 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Merriott lies approximately 21.6 miles from the city of Wells and 122.6 miles from London, making it a rural community in the South West region. Merriott is surrounded by nearby places such as Merriottsford, Townsend, and Pye Corner, and has a population of around 1743 residents. Merriott remains a quiet village with a strong sense of community.
AdBlue drains across Merriott and Somerset
Merriottsford, Townsend and Pye Corner are among the places near Merriott that the same teams reach, along with much of Somerset further out, over the TA postcode area. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Anywhere your vehicle stands — your drive at home, a residential street, a parking area, a forecourt — our engineers empty it on the spot, and there's no need to take it to us; that suits Merriott, a rural village, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Merriott
There is no honest single quote, because the jobs are not the same. Three things change the cost: whether the engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where your car is. That last one comes down to whether a technician can get to it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight spot behind St George.
With that reason, each call from Merriott begins by asking the same trio — what got in, how much, whether the engine ran — before a quote. Those replies turn a range into a straight price.
Quoted by phone before the van sets out, the job is settled that day — card or phone, no deposit. As our engineer is travelling, check your insurance: plenty cover misfuelling.
Merriott: still alongside your car?
Then, do nothing — that is the best step available. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, in Merriott or anywhere within Somerset.