Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Oulton
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does your motor. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when your fuel system pulls it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Oulton, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before your engine has been run. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Oulton
Things to do:
- Pocket your keys, which stops someone turning the power on.
- Put your hazards on if you're at all close to moving traffic.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and about how much, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call right where you are. Quote a ST15 8 postcode or the nearest street sign, and no one has to hunt for you.
Do not do these:
- Moving your vehicle just a few yards is no reason to fire up your motor.
- The ignition remains off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to start the pump.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel will not weaken it.
- Never drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short way up Rock Crescent.
- By the road, do not try emptying it on your own.
At a forecourt in Oulton, whether it is the Morrisons or another one, ask the staff to help you push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. At home, your car stays exactly where it was left.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not the motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sprayed into your exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
It does not combine. Once it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. When your system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to be pulled through. Until then it sits underneath your diesel, and that is why a vehicle filled in Stonefield yesterday and never started stays the straightforward case, provided nobody touches your key.
From there it does two kinds of harm. It eats at some metals found in fuel components, attacking any part it touches till it's cleared completely. And once the water goes, the urea forms crystals that block filters and settle in narrow passages. By daybreak, a car parked in Oulton with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; if it's just in that tank, nothing changes. The water in it does damage of its own: your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel regularly the bigger problem?
Top up a diesel with petrol by mistake over at the BP, and this issue is thinned fuel. Blended through the diesel and left still, it's harmless at that stage; running the motor is the harm.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable liquid. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Whether your car sits in Cotwalton or the heart of Oulton, firing it up "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other slip, and the flush counts for more. The reasons: it will not remain mixed, and so diluting it is impossible; and crystals and corrosion outlast the following tankful.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Never started? Then the AdBlue sits just in that tank, the easiest bit of the entire system to empty, anywhere the vehicle has stopped across Staffordshire.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Oulton?
Many cars put the AdBlue filler beside the diesel cap, occasionally under one flap, and after dark the two may look the same. No one means it. Usually it's not the forecourt: someone picks up a container heading home and tips it in at home.
A few familiar ways cover most cases. The refill is rushed outside Oulton CofE First School, because the dash flashed with a warning while the kids were taken in. A driver pours the bottle in outside their house, right off Vanity Lane, as the day ends. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at Brushmakers Arms, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
It comes up the most in a rental, a new car, a company car, or the spare motor in a family with both fuels — the cars drivers know least. An identical mistake, an identical first response — keep it switched off — anywhere you are in Oulton or the remainder of Staffordshire.
Oulton: started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left your tank. Through the filter, through the pipework, and — given any running — on to the injection pump and every injector: that is where it has gone.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each may appear, perhaps midway across Oulton or returning from Outlanes Sports Ground. No starting it again to test: stop once safe, then turn everything off. Each start pulls more of it through.
Oulton sits under 3 miles from the M6; if you were on it, exit at the first junction and stop safely instead of carrying on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into the system. That's why crossing Oulton to park near Oulton Village Hall and a drive of under 10 miles towards Stoke-on-Trent are very separate jobs. About 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 started. Noticed early, it very rarely leaves long-term damage.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves around Oulton
Our engineers come to the car, wherever it has stopped in Oulton: a side street close to St John the Evangelist, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The work rests on three answers, which our technicians ask for before all else — which fluid went in, the quantity, and if your motor has turned over.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one after that tank is emptied, on the spot. Residue from AdBlue won't wash out by itself, so the whole system gets a full flush, which counts far more here than for petrol. Next, your filter: flushed, or replaced if it has to be. After that clean diesel, and then a test of your vehicle. Not run? In that case count on roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
Clean diesel goes in to bleed your system, and that's the final step. Whether it is a parking space at Stone or a driveway in Oulton, that is where we fire it up and you drive off. Our engineers confirm it runs correctly on clean diesel before we leave. The entire job is done where the car is, so 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 Oulton
Oulton is a small village in Staffordshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of around 145 metres. Oulton lies near the city of Stoke-on-Trent, approximately 7.4 miles to the south, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Oulton Grange and Oulton Heath. Oulton has a population of around 599 people and predominantly features detached housing. Oulton is located in the West Midlands region, about 129.3 miles northwest of London.
Oulton and Staffordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
AdBlue call-outs in Oulton go to teams that cover the places near it — Oulton Grange, Oulton Heath as well as Oultoncross — and most of Staffordshire further out, across ST postcodes. Ring and ask instead of guessing when you are by a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down.
Anywhere the car sits — a driveway at home, a side street, a car park, a forecourt — we empty it on the spot, and there's no need to take it to us; which suits Oulton, a village, well.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Oulton?
Since each jobs differ, a flat figure would not be honest. Whether the engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the price. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the position of your car, because an open drive is easier for our van to reach safely than a tight spot behind Alleyne's Sports Centre.
For that in mind, each call from Oulton begins by asking the same trio — which fluid went in, what quantity, whether the engine ran — ahead of a figure. Given them, the range shrinks to a single fixed number.
Priced on the call before the engineer heads out, the job is paid for that day — card or phone, no deposit. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
In Oulton and still alongside your car?
Not touching the car is, right now, the best move open to you. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Oulton or anywhere in Staffordshire.