AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in New Marston? Don't Start It
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. Being water-based, it won't burn and won't blend with diesel; trouble only comes once your pump starts drawing it. If your motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally drained and thoroughly rinsed where the car stands around New Marston. First, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
New Marston, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do straight away
Things to do:
- So nobody can turn the ignition on, take your keys away.
- Close to moving traffic? Then put your hazards on.
- Which product, and roughly how much quantity? Save the bottle or the till receipt, and we can see.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting OX3 0, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Not to do:
- No starting the engine — not briefly, not to shift the vehicle.
- Switching your key to ignition alone starts your pump running on many diesels. Skip it.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel won't weaken it.
- Keep it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short way along Marston Road.
- Emptying that tank on your own by the road is not worth trying.
At a forecourt in New Marston, whether it is the BP or another one, ask the staff to help you push the vehicle away from the pump. At home, the car remains just where it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Not the motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Kept in a dedicated tank, it is squirted into the exhaust to treat the fumes. Neither side fits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and a pump cannot deal with urea.
Tipped in with the diesel, it stays apart rather than blending — entirely unlike fuel. Denser than diesel, it sinks and collects below it — the same spot the intake sucks from. The first thing the system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Park Town last night, and has not been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
Two kinds of damage come from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and narrow channels; meanwhile, since it attacks certain metals, each part it touches suffers for as long as it remains in there. Overnight, a vehicle sitting in New Marston with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; where it is only in your tank, nothing changes. The water in it causes harm of its own: your high-pressure pump and your injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is often worse
An issue of thinned fuel is what you get from filling a diesel with petrol from the Shell. Harm just comes from running on it. Mixed into the diesel and sitting in your tank, it does none.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It doesn't burn, and so it can't just be run through. It doesn't stay mixed, so it cannot be diluted. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether your car is in Norham Manor or the middle of New Marston.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Never run? Then the AdBlue sits just inside your tank, the easiest section of the whole system to empty, anywhere the car has come to rest across Oxfordshire.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around New Marston?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many vehicles rests right next to your diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It mostly happens at home, from a container bought on the journey home, rather than at the filling station.
Usually, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. The refill gets rushed outside St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Oxford, because your dash lit up with a warning as the kids were dropped in. Close to Lynn Close, someone tips a container in at home after work. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap refills your car in dim light, stopped in the car park by Marston Royal British Legion.
It comes up most in a rental, a brand-new motor, a fleet car, or the spare vehicle of a family with both fuel types — the cars people know least. Keep it switched off: that's the first response to an identical mistake, anywhere around New Marston or the remainder of Oxfordshire you are.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in New Marston?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. Through the filter, along the lines, and — given any running — into the injection pump and each injector: that's where it has gone.
Expect rough running, exhaust smoke, lost power, warnings on the dash, or a cut-out — returning from Doris Field Memorial Park, perhaps, or part way across New Marston. No starting it again to check: pull over once it is safe, then turn it off. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
On the M40, under 10 miles from New Marston, the next junction is where to exit, and anywhere safe is where to park — not carrying on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across New Marston to the car park by Marston United Reformed Church is a very different job from a run towards Oxford, under 3 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with every mile. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after the motor has been running. When it is spotted early, lasting damage is very unusual.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel around New Marston: what it takes
A street by Saint Michael and All Angels, a driveway, a layby or a filling station: wherever the car has stopped in New Marston, our engineers come to it. The work rests on three replies, which our technicians get before all else — which fluid was put in, the amount, and if your engine has turned over.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave together after your tank is emptied, on the spot. A careful flush matters far more after AdBlue than with petrol, because residue won't wash out by itself. A test of your vehicle follows last, after clean diesel goes in and the fuel filter gets cleaned or, where necessary, swapped. Most of these jobs are a half-hour job once we arrive, provided your motor hasn't run. Quiet enough to use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Priming the system with clean diesel comes last. Firing it up comes next, and then you drive off from where your car is parked, by Oxford or on a drive around New Marston. Our technicians check it runs properly on fresh diesel before we go. We do it all wherever the car has ended up, and it never needs to go to a garage. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers ask for.
About New Marston, briefly
New Marston is a suburban area in Oxfordshire, situated on the River Cherwell and close to the city of Oxford. New Marston has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant, and the area is relatively low-lying at around 62 metres above sea level. New Marston is adjacent to other Oxford suburbs, including Marston and Headington, and is within walking distance of the city centre. New Marston benefits from its proximity to Oxford, with easy access to the city's amenities and attractions.
AdBlue drains across Oxfordshire, New Marston included
Over the OX postcode area, the vans taking AdBlue call-outs in New Marston serve most of Oxfordshire too, Marston, Headington Hill and Headington included. Phone and ask instead of guessing when you're by a county line, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
No moving is needed. In New Marston, a residential suburb, a mobile service works: the car is emptied where it stands, be it in a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in New Marston?
Because each jobs vary, a single price would not be fair. The price shifts first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it depends on where the car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight gap behind Russian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Ahead of a figure, not after, each call from New Marston opens with three checks: the fuel, the amount, and if it ran. Those replies turn a range into a straight price.
Quoted on the call before the van sets out, it is paid for that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
Still alongside the car in New Marston?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to your car. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Say it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and if it ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, in New Marston or anywhere within Oxfordshire.