Old Catton: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and no harm happens till your engine sucks it round. If the engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally drained and carefully rinsed where your car sits around Old Catton. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Old Catton
To do:
- So nobody can switch your ignition on, pull your keys out.
- Put the hazard lights on if you are anywhere close to moving traffic.
- Which product, and about what volume? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and we will see.
- The van finds you quickest with a postcode starting NR6 7, or just the name of a street close by, and so phone from the car.
Things not to do:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to shift the car.
- Your ignition remains off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to run your fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel will not thin it.
- Leave it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short way down Parkside Drive.
- By the road, do not try emptying it on your own.
The attendants on duty at any Old Catton forecourt — the Esso included — will usually lend a hand rolling it aside if you ask. On your own drive, don't touch it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not your motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to fresh it. Not one side fits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and an injection pump can't deal with urea.
It does not combine. Once it is tipped into the tank, AdBlue acts nothing like fuel. The pickup sucks fuel from the lowest part of the tank, and that is exactly where AdBlue settles: being heavier than diesel, it sinks. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Upper Hellesdon last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
It does two kinds of damage from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that hardens in filter elements and tiny channels; and, since it attacks certain metals, every part it touches suffers for as long as it stays in there. A vehicle left standing around Old Catton with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. And there is the water: it brings no lubrication to the parts that need it the most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Top up a diesel with petrol in error over at the Harvest Energy, and this problem is thinned fuel. No damage comes as long as it sits put, mixed into your diesel — only once the motor works on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is plainly the wrong one. It doesn't burn, so it cannot simply be run through. Nor can it be thinned, because it separates back out — and the next fill won't clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters for more with AdBlue, and trying your engine "to see", in the centre of Old Catton or out in Mill Hill, costs more than almost any other slip.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If your motor has not run, the AdBlue is still inside that tank, and that tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Norfolk the vehicle is sitting.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Old Catton?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many cars sits right next to your diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It mostly happens outside the house, from a container grabbed en route home, rather than at the filling station.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. The refill is rushed outside Garrick Green Infant School, after your dash flashed with a warning as the children were dropped in. A driver tips the bottle in outside their house, just off Church Street, as the day ends. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at The Maids Head, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
It comes up the most in a rental, a brand-new motor, a company vehicle, or the other car of a home with one of each fuels — the cars people use least. Wherever you're around Old Catton or the rest of Norfolk, it is the same error and the same first answer: leave it off.
Old Catton: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. The filter and lines have had it pulled through, and any running time takes it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, dropping power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: any may show up, maybe part way across Old Catton or returning from Catton Recreation Ground. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the car to check. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
Exit the M11, over 50 miles from Old Catton, by the first junction and park somewhere safe, not driving on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Old Catton to the car park by Old Catton Village Sign is a very different job from a run towards Norwich, under 3 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with every mile. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the rinsing where your car has come to a stop, and once the engine has run there is more of it. If it is noticed quickly, permanent damage is very unusual.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel around Old Catton: what it takes
We come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Old Catton: a side street close to Saint Margaret's Church, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The job depends on three replies, which our engineers ask for first — what went in, the amount, and if the motor has run.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out as one when the tank is drained, right there. Residue from AdBlue won't flush away by itself, and so the fuel system gets a full flush, which counts much more with urea than for petrol. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Roughly half an hour on site is usual for most jobs where your engine hasn't run. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live forecourt is no problem, and it is hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
The final step is to prime the fuel system on clean diesel. You set off as soon as our engineers have started the car, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a drive around Old Catton or in a space at Norwich. The test before our technicians go is that it runs properly on new diesel. Since the job is done in full where the vehicle is, a workshop never comes into it. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Old Catton
Old Catton is a suburban area located near Norwich in Norfolk, sitting at an elevation of around 30 metres above sea level. Old Catton is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock and is situated close to nearby places such as George Hill and New Sprowston. Old Catton remains a residential community on the outskirts of Norwich, with the city centre approximately 2.3 miles away. Old Catton is also within commuting distance of London, which is around 100 miles to the south.
AdBlue drains across Norfolk, Old Catton included
AdBlue jobs in Old Catton go to vans that serve the places around it — George Hill, New Sprowston plus Mile Cross — and much of Norfolk beyond, throughout NR postcodes. Close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to explain? Checking beats assuming, and so ring.
Anywhere the vehicle sits — a driveway at home, a residential street, a parking area, a filling station — our engineers drain it there, with no need to take it to us; which suits Old Catton, a residential suburb, well.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Old Catton?
No flat price could be fair, because each job differs. Three things move the cost: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the car is. That last one turns on whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight gap behind Greenfields Community Centre.
Ahead of a quote, never afterwards, each enquiry from Old Catton opens with three questions: the liquid, the amount, and if the engine ran. Once those are known, a range becomes a single firm figure.
Priced by phone before the engineer heads out, the job is paid for that day — card or phone, no deposit. While the van is on the way, dig out your insurance: many include misfuelling.
Old Catton: still alongside your car?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to the car. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Old Catton or anywhere in Norfolk.