AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Monkerton? Don't Start It
Motor off, ignition off: that's where you begin if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. The harm starts once it's sucked through your pump — it will not burn, and it will not blend with diesel. In Monkerton, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before your engine runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where the car is. Before anything, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Monkerton: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- So nobody can switch your ignition on, pull the keys away.
- If you're anywhere near moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- Which fluid, and about how much volume? Hang on to the bottle or your receipt, and our technicians will know.
- Give us a postcode starting EX1 3, or whatever street lies nearest, and the van reaches you directly — so ring from wherever you are.
Do not:
- Do not start the engine, even for a moment to move the car.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Pouring in more diesel doesn't work: AdBlue separates out rather than blending.
- Leave the car where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short stretch along Grasslands Drive.
- Do not try to drain the car yourself by the kerbside.
The attendants on duty at any Monkerton filling station — the Murco included — will usually lend a hand pushing it aside if you ask. At home, the car remains exactly where it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your engine. From a separate tank it is fed directly to your exhaust, cleaning what the engine lets out. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
It does not combine. Once it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves not at all like fuel. It drops, since it's denser than diesel, and settles down where the pickup takes its supply from. Simplest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Sowton last night and hasn't been started since. The liquid waits at the foot of the tank, undrawn — but it would be first through if your motor starts, ahead of any diesel at all.
Two kinds of harm come from there. It attacks certain metals found in fuel systems, attacking any part it touches till it's removed completely. And when the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that block filters and lodge in narrow passages. By daybreak, a vehicle parked in Monkerton with AdBlue in its lines grows worse; where it is just inside your tank, it doesn't. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and each injector need diesel flowing through them, and so the water content damages them by itself.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger problem?
Petrol put into a diesel on Sainsbury's's forecourt makes the fuel watery — that's the main problem. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it is in that tank it does no damage; the damage comes from running your engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It cannot simply be run through, since it doesn't burn. It does not stay mixed, and so it cannot be diluted. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the car is in Clyst Honiton or the middle of Monkerton.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest part on a fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue remains in it — anywhere around Devon the vehicle sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Monkerton: how it ends up there
Plenty of vehicles place the AdBlue filler beside the diesel cap, occasionally behind one flap, and after dark the two may appear identical. Nobody means it. A bottle bought while driving home and poured in at home, rather than at the filling station, is the usual route.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. The top-up is rushed outside Monkerton Community Primary School, after the dash lit up with a warning as the children were dropped in. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Pinn Lane. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap tops up your car in dim light, parked in the car park by Heart Of Oak.
Rented motors, brand-new motors, fleet vehicles, or the second car in a family with both fuels: the least familiar vehicles see it most. Wherever you are around Monkerton or the remainder of Devon, it is the same error and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Monkerton?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. With any running, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and every injector, having passed through the fuel filter and pipework.
Expect rough running, smoke, falling power, lights on the dash, or a cut-out — returning from Library Fields, perhaps, or midway across Monkerton. When safe, pull over then switch it off — without restarting to test. Each start pulls more of that through.
Exit the M5, under a mile from Monkerton, at the next junction and stop safely, not carrying on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Monkerton to the car park by Pinhoe United Reformed Church is a very different job from a run towards Exeter, under 3 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with each mile. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever your car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush once your engine has been running. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage when it is noticed early.
Monkerton: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
The vehicle remains put, whether that is a street near Jubilee Club, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt in Monkerton, and the van comes to it. The work depends on three answers, and our engineers ask for first — which fluid got in, the amount, and whether the motor has run.
On the spot, your tank is then emptied, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea leave as one. What remains from AdBlue will not wash out unaided, so the whole system gets a careful flush, which matters much more with urea than with petrol. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when the motor hasn't run. The equipment is explosion-proof, so a live forecourt is no problem, and it's quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
Finally, the fuel system is bled with new diesel. After that our engineers start it and you set off, whether from a parking bay outside Pinhoe or a drive in Monkerton. The check before our technicians leave is that it runs smoothly on clean diesel. As the job is done in its entirety where the vehicle is, a workshop never comes into it. Afterwards, there is the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Monkerton and where it is
Monkerton is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Exeter in Devon, sitting at an elevation of 28 metres near the River Exe. Monkerton is characterized by its semi-detached housing and is situated close to nearby places such as Pinhoe, West Clyst, and Whipton. Monkerton has a population of approximately 3471 residents and is within walking distance of Exeter city centre. Monkerton is also relatively close to the M5 motorway, providing easy access to other parts of the country.
AdBlue drains across Devon, Monkerton included
The vans that answer AdBlue call-outs in Monkerton also cover the locations around it, Pinhoe, West Clyst and Whipton among them, and most of Devon beyond, across the EX postcode area. Assuming won't help by a county line or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
Monkerton is a residential suburb, and a call-out drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it sits, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Monkerton
Every job is different, and so no fixed quote would be fair. Three things shift the cost: whether your 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 driveway is easier than a tight space behind Pinhoe Library.
Ahead of any quote, not afterwards, every call from Monkerton opens with three questions: the liquid, the quantity, and if it ran. Those answers turn a range into a straight price.
The price is given during 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 is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
Still beside your car in Monkerton?
Not touching your car is, right now, the most useful move you can do. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Say it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Monkerton or anywhere in Devon.