Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mountsorrel
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then leave your engine off — and the ignition as well. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. It does not burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the system draws it in. Caught before the engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Mountsorrel. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Mountsorrel, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do at once
Things to do:
- Keys out — that way no one can power anything on.
- If you're anywhere close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what got in and about how much.
- Tell us a postcode starting LE12 7, or whichever street is closest, and our van reaches you straight — so call from wherever you are.
Never do these:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift the car: your motor remains off.
- Turning the key to ignition by itself sets the pump going on many diesels. Avoid it.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel will not thin it.
- Keep the vehicle where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short distance along Leicester Road.
- Emptying the tank on your own beside the road isn't one to try.
The attendants working at any Mountsorrel filling station — the Shell among them — will normally lend a hand pushing it aside if you ask. If you are on your own drive, leave the car precisely where it sits.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your engine. Stored in a separate tank, it's squirted into the exhaust stream to treat the gases. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Tipped in with your diesel, it keeps separate rather than mixing — quite unlike fuel. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. Simplest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Cossington last night and has not turned since. The liquid waits at the base of your tank, undrawn — but it will be the first thing through once your motor runs, before any diesel at all.
Once it's pulled in, the damage comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that hardens in filter elements and narrow passages; meanwhile, because it attacks certain metals, each part it touches suffers for as long as it stays in there. Lines carrying AdBlue mean damage overnight for a vehicle sitting around Mountsorrel. Only inside the tank, it stays stable. And there's the water: it brings no protection to the parts that rely on it the most — the injection pump and each injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more major than petrol
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Pillings Lock Marina's forecourt makes your fuel thin — that's the main issue. No harm comes while it sits unused, blended into your diesel — only once your engine runs on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It cannot just be run through, since it doesn't burn. Nor can it be watered down, because it splits again — and the following tankful won't clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts more with AdBlue, and trying your engine "to see", in the centre of Mountsorrel or out in Quorndon, costs more than almost any other mistake.
As with petrol, there is good news. If your engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside the tank, and that tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Leicestershire your car is sitting.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Mountsorrel: how it ends up there
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel cap, occasionally under one flap — can appear the same. No one means it; many layouts allow it. Mostly it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
Mostly, it happens in one of a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside Christ Church & Saint Peter's Cofe Primary School. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Marigold Lane. One more pattern: dim light, a pub car park outside Bull and Mouth, and a driver opening that flap the first time.
It happens most in the vehicles people know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Same slip, an identical first step — keep it switched off — anywhere you are in Mountsorrel or the rest of Leicestershire.
Mountsorrel: started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. With any running time, it goes on to the injection pump and each injector, having passed via your filter and lines.
Watch for lumpy running, smoke, lost power, warnings on the dash, or a stall — coming back from Sileby Town Cricket Club, perhaps, or midway across Mountsorrel. Once safe, pull over then switch everything off — without turning it on again to test. Each start pulls more of that through.
Exit the M1, under 10 miles from Mountsorrel, at the first junction and park safely, not carrying on.
Distance matters: each mile carries the AdBlue further in, and so driving for Leicester, under 10 miles away, makes a far bigger job than hopping across Mountsorrel to the car park by Mountsorrel Library. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Our technicians do all of the rinsing where your car has come to a stop, and once the motor has run there is more of it. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage if it is spotted early.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Mountsorrel: what it takes
The car remains put, whether that's a street beside Memorial Centre, a drive, a layby or a forecourt around Mountsorrel, and the van travels to it. Which fluid was put in, roughly how much, and if your engine has been run: our technicians check before all else, because those decide the work.
Next, draining your tank on the spot takes out the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue together. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush matters: the whole system is flushed right through because what remains will not flush away by itself. A test of the vehicle comes at the end, once fresh diesel goes in and your filter is cleaned or, if needed, swapped. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when your engine hasn't run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
The final step is to prime the system on fresh diesel. Whether it is a parking bay by Sileby or a drive in Mountsorrel, that is where we start the car and you drive off. It is tested on clean diesel to be sure it runs properly before our technicians go. Because the job is done in its entirety where your car is, a garage never comes into it. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers ask for.
About Mountsorrel
Mountsorrel is a village in Leicestershire, situated on the River Soar, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Mountsorrel sits at an elevation of 54 metres, close to the nearby villages of Rothley and Sileby. Mountsorrel is located near Rothley Plain, approximately 6.5 miles from Leicester, and is part of the wider East Midlands region. Mountsorrel has a population of around 2479 residents.
Mountsorrel and Leicestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
Over the LE postcode area, the teams answering AdBlue jobs in Mountsorrel reach much of Leicestershire too, Rothley, Sileby and Rothley Plain among them. Ring and check rather than guess if you're by a county line, or anywhere awkward to explain.
Wherever your vehicle sits — a driveway at home, a side street, a car park, a forecourt — our engineers empty it there, with no need to take it to us; which suits Mountsorrel, a village, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Mountsorrel
There is no fair single quote, since the jobs are not the same. What shifts the price is, first, whether the engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue went in; and then where the vehicle is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight space behind Soar Valley Leisure Centre.
Ahead of any figure, never after, each call from Mountsorrel begins with three questions: the fuel, the quantity, and if it ran. When those are known, a range turns into one firm figure.
You hear that price on the phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your policy while we are on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
In Mountsorrel and still alongside the car?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to the car. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Mountsorrel or anywhere within Leicestershire, after you call 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.