AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mudeford? Don't Start It
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then keep your motor off — and the ignition as well. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and no harm happens until your engine sucks it round. In Mudeford, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your motor runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where your car is. No step comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
What to do straight away, Mudeford: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do these:
- Keys out — that way no one can switch anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- Which fluid, and roughly what amount? Hang on to the bottle or the receipt, and our engineers can know.
- Call right where you are. Quote a BH23 4 postcode or the nearest street name, and nobody has to search for you.
Things not to do:
- Shifting your car just a few yards is no reason to start your motor.
- Plenty of diesels run their pump the moment your ignition comes on, and so leave the car off.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel won't weaken it.
- Do not drive the car anywhere, not even a short stretch along Farm Lane.
- Emptying that tank on your own by the road is not one to try.
Get the attendants to help you roll the car off the pumps if you are on a forecourt around Mudeford, whether it's the BP or somewhere else. If you are on your own drive, leave the car just where it sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not your motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it is sprayed into your exhaust, where it cleans the gas. Neither side suits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and an injection pump cannot take urea.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. It drops, because it's denser than diesel, and pools low where the pickup takes its fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Purewell last night, and has not been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
Two kinds of harm come from there. It attacks certain metals found in fuel components, attacking any part it touches till it's removed completely. And when the water goes, the urea forms crystals that clog filters and lodge in narrow passages. Lines carrying AdBlue spell harm by morning for a vehicle sitting around Mudeford. Only in that tank, it stays stable. The water in it does harm of its own: the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is often more serious than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Shell's forecourt makes the fuel thin — that's the main fault. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it's in your tank it causes no harm; the harm comes from running the motor on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. It does not burn, so it cannot simply be run through. 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's why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Wick or the middle of Mudeford.
As with petrol, there's good news. Emptying a tank is the easiest part on a fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue remains in it — wherever across Dorset your car has stopped.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Mudeford?
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many cars waits right next to your diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Most of the time it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the pump.
Usually, it occurs in one of a few familiar ways. The top-up is hurried outside Mudeford Junior School, because your dash flashed with a warning as the children were dropped off. In the evening, a bottle is tipped in on a driveway near Mudeford. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap tops up the vehicle after dark, stopped in the car park by The Nelson Tavern.
The least familiar cars see it the most — rentals, brand-new cars, fleet ones, and the other motor in a family with both fuels. Same slip, same first response — leave it switched off — anywhere you happen to be in Mudeford or the rest of Dorset.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Mudeford?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in the tank. Through your filter, along the pipework, and — with any running — on to the injection pump and each injector: that's where it travels.
Maybe returning from Peregrine Woods, or midway across Mudeford, the motor may run rough, smoke, drop power, flash the dash or stall. Once safe, stop and turn everything off — with no turning it on again to see. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
On the M27, under 15 miles from Mudeford, the first junction is where to leave, and somewhere sensible is where to park — not driving on.
A quick hop across Mudeford to the car park by The Parish Church of All Saints is one thing; driving for Southampton, under 25 miles away, is another, because each mile carries the AdBlue further in. So mileage matters. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Once your engine has run, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where the car has stopped. Long-term damage is very unusual if it is caught early.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Mudeford?
The car stays put, whether that's a road beside Stanpit Village Hall, a drive, a layby or a forecourt in Mudeford, and our van travels to it. The work rests on three replies, which we ask for first — what went in, the quantity, and whether the engine has turned over.
Next, emptying that tank on the spot takes out the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue in one go. Residue from AdBlue won't flush out unaided, so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which matters far more with urea than for petrol. Clean diesel goes in after your filter is flushed — or swapped, when it needs to be — and after that your car is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour job once our technicians get there, provided your motor has not run. The equipment is explosion-proof, so a busy filling station is no fault, and it's quiet enough for a residential street after dark.
Bleeding the system with fresh diesel comes last. You drive off as soon as we have started the car, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a drive around Mudeford or in a space by Christchurch. Our technicians make sure it runs properly on clean diesel before we go. No garage is needed at any point, with the whole job done then and there. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours once this job is done.
About Mudeford itself
Mudeford is a coastal suburban area in Dorset, situated near the towns of Christchurch and Bournemouth. Mudeford lies at a low elevation of around 1 metre, close to the shores of Christchurch Harbour and the nearby beaches of Friars Cliff. Mudeford is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock and its proximity to nearby places such as Stanpit and Somerford.
Mudeford and Dorset: AdBlue drains across the area
Stanpit, Friars Cliff and Somerford are among the towns near Mudeford that the same teams reach, along with much of Dorset further out, throughout the BH postcode area. Ring and ask rather than guess if you are by a county line, or somewhere awkward to pin down.
Anywhere your vehicle stands — your driveway at home, a side street, a car park, a filling station — our technicians empty it on the spot, and there's no need to bring it to us; that suits Mudeford, a residential suburb, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Mudeford
Not one single price could be fair, since each job differs. What changes the cost is, firstly, whether the motor has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and after that where the vehicle is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight space behind Girl Guide Hut.
Ahead of a figure, never after, every call from Mudeford opens with the same three checks: the liquid, the quantity, and if it ran. With those replies, a range shrinks to a single fixed number.
Quoted by phone before the van sets out, it is settled that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
Mudeford: still next to the car?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to your car. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus whether the engine ran is everything our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder across Dorset, Mudeford included.