Nuneaton: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, your ignition stays off and so does the engine. In plain terms, AdBlue is simply urea in water. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when the fuel system draws it in. In Nuneaton, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your motor runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where your car is. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Nuneaton: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- So no one can turn your ignition on, take your keys away.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- The empty bottle or your receipt shows us the product and the quantity, so don't bin it away.
- Our van locates you fastest with a postcode starting CV11 5, or just the name of a street nearby, so phone from the spot.
Things not to do:
- Do not start your motor, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- Plenty of diesels power their fuel pump the instant your ignition goes on, and so leave the vehicle off.
- Pouring in extra diesel doesn't work: AdBlue separates out rather than thinning.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short distance up Mill Walk.
- Beside the road, do not try emptying it on your own.
Ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle away from the pumps if you're on a forecourt around Nuneaton, whether it is the Asda or elsewhere. If you're on your own drive, leave it exactly where it stands.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not the motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it's sprayed into your exhaust, where it cleans the gas. A fuel pump isn't designed to take it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
It doesn't blend. Once it is poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts nothing like diesel. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. Simplest of all: one that got AdBlue in Horeston Grange last night and hasn't been started since. The AdBlue sits at the foot of the tank, untouched — though it will be the first thing through if the motor runs, before any diesel at all.
It does two kinds of harm from there. What is left when the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in tiny channels and block filters. Worse, it attacks some metals in the fuel system, and keeps going till it is flushed out. Overnight, a car parked around Nuneaton with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; where it's only inside the tank, it doesn't. 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 is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger fault?
Petrol put into a diesel on BP's forecourt leaves your fuel watery — that is the whole fault. Damage only comes from running on it. Blended into your diesel and left in your tank, it causes nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Since it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Whether your car is in Heath End or the centre of Nuneaton, turning it over "to see" costs more with AdBlue than almost any other slip, and the flush matters for more. Why: it won't stay blended, so diluting it is impossible; and crystals and corrosion outlast the following fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. If the engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside that tank, and the tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Warwickshire your car is standing.
Nuneaton: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It is not deliberate. Many cars have the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel inlet, now and then behind one flap, and muddling them up is simple in poor light. Usually it's not the forecourt: someone picks up a bottle heading home and pours it in at home.
A few familiar ways account for the majority of them. The refill is rushed outside Our Lady & St. Joseph Catholic Academy, because your dash lit up with a warning while the kids were taken off. Near Coventry Street, someone pours a container in on that drive in the evening. Else, in dim light by George Eliot Hotel, the car gets refilled by a driver using that flap for the first time.
It crops up the most in a rental, a brand-new car, a fleet vehicle, or the spare car in a home with both fuels — the cars drivers know least. Wherever you're around Nuneaton or the rest of Warwickshire, it's the same error and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Nuneaton, and the engine started?
Then that tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Given any running, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and every injector, having passed through the filter and lines.
Expect rough running, exhaust smoke, falling power, warnings on the dash, or a cut-out — coming back from George Eliot Memorial Garden, perhaps, or part way across Nuneaton. Pull over when it is safe. Switch off. Keep the car off rather than restarting it to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
On the M69, under 5 miles from Nuneaton, the first junction is where to exit, and somewhere sensible is where to park — not carrying on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into your system. That is why crossing Nuneaton to park beside Nuneaton Town Hall and a drive of under 10 miles towards Coventry are such different jobs. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
There is more to clean out once the motor has been started, and our engineers do all of it where your car has ended up. If it's spotted soon, long-term damage is very uncommon.
Nuneaton: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
A road by Nuneaton United Reformed Church, a drive, a layby or a forecourt: wherever the car has come to rest around Nuneaton, our engineers come to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether the engine has run, because those answers settle the work.
Then your tank is drained where your car waits, and so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush counts: the whole system is flushed right through because residue will not flush out unaided. After that, the fuel filter: flushed, or changed if it has to be. Then fresh diesel, and then a check of your vehicle. Engine not run? In that case count on about half an hour on site for most jobs. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Fresh diesel goes in to bleed the fuel system, and that's the final step. You head off as soon as we have started the engine, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a driveway around Nuneaton or in a space outside the nearest station. The test before our technicians leave is that it runs correctly on new diesel. The entire job is done where your car is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Nuneaton and where it is
Nuneaton is a town in Warwickshire, situated on the River Anker, with a mix of terraced housing and other residential areas. Nuneaton sits at an elevation of around 86 metres, approximately 8 miles north of Coventry and 90 miles northwest of London. Nuneaton is close to nearby places such as Chilvers Coton, Attleborough, and Weddington, and has a population of around 24967 people. Nuneaton has a riverside setting that contributes to its character as a town in the West Midlands region.
AdBlue drains across Warwickshire, Nuneaton included
Chilvers Coton, Attleborough and Weddington are among the places near Nuneaton that the same teams serve, along with most of Warwickshire further out, over the CV postcode area. Guessing doesn't help close to a border or anywhere tricky to describe; phone and check.
Nuneaton is a riverside town, and a mobile drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it stands, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Nuneaton
Not one single price would be honest, since every job differs. The price changes first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that got in. After that it rests on where the vehicle is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind George Elliott.
Which fluid got in, what quantity, plus whether it ran: every Nuneaton enquiry opens by asking precisely that, before any figure, not afterwards. When those are known, a range turns into one fixed figure.
You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
In Nuneaton and still alongside your car?
Then, touch nothing — that is the most helpful move available. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, in Nuneaton or wherever in Warwickshire, once you call 0333 366 0103 saying it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether it ran.