Overton Park: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is how you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. The trouble begins once it is sucked through the pump — it will not ignite, and it won't combine with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Overton Park, is generally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your engine has run. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Overton Park: the first few minutes
To do:
- Pocket the keys, which prevents someone switching the power on.
- If you're anywhere near moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and about what quantity, keep your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting GL50 2, or the name of the closest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Not to do:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift the vehicle: the motor remains off.
- Switching the key to ignition alone starts the pump running on plenty of diesels. Avoid it.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue will not mix, and so it is wasted.
- Even a short distance along Western Road is too far to drive the vehicle.
- Beside the road, don't try emptying it yourself.
At a forecourt around Overton Park, whether it's the Shell or another one, ask the staff to help you push the vehicle clear of the pump. If you're on your own drive, leave it just where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The engine is not what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. Stored in a separate tank, it is injected into the exhaust stream to clean the fumes. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
It does not combine. Once it's poured into the tank, AdBlue behaves not at all like diesel. It drops, because it's denser than diesel, and settles down where the intake takes its fuel from. Simplest of all: one that had AdBlue in Cheltenham last night and has not turned since. The liquid waits at the foot of that tank, undrawn — but it will be first through if the engine runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
Once it is drawn in, the damage takes two forms. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps running on the parts it gets to for as long as it remains there. By daybreak, a car parked around Overton Park with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; where it is only inside the tank, nothing changes. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector need diesel flowing past them, and so the water content damages them by itself.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
An issue of thin fuel is what you get after fuelling a diesel with petrol at the Texaco. Blended through your diesel and left still, it is harmless for now; using your motor is the harm.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is plainly the wrong one. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Crystals and corrosion stay after the next fill, and AdBlue splits back out of your diesel, so thinning it can't help. Hence the flush matters more, and turning the key "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other slip — in Tivoli or the heart of Overton Park alike.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest job on any fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue stays in there — anywhere in Gloucestershire your vehicle sits.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Overton Park?
It is not on purpose. Plenty of vehicles keep the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel one, occasionally behind a single flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. Mostly it is not the forecourt: someone buys a bottle driving home and tips it in at home.
Usually, it occurs in one of a couple of familiar ways. The top-up gets hurried outside Christ Church CofE Primary School, because your dash flashed with a warning while the kids were dropped in. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Overton Road. Another pattern: dim light, the car park by King's Arms, and someone opening that flap for the first time.
It takes place most in the motors people know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Keep it switched off: that's the first step to the same mistake, wherever around Overton Park or the remainder of Gloucestershire you are.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Overton Park, and your engine started?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. Via the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — with any running time — on to the high-pressure pump and every injector: that is how far it has gone.
Expect rough running, exhaust smoke, lost power, warnings on your dash, or a cut-out — coming back from Saint Hilda's (CLC), perhaps, or part way across Overton Park. No restarting to test: stop when safe, then switch everything off. Each start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M5, under 3 miles from Overton Park, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue further in. That's why crossing Overton Park to park near Christ Church and a drive of under 10 miles towards Gloucester are such separate jobs. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after the engine has been started. Noticed soon, it very seldom leaves long-term damage.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Overton Park: what it takes
Our technicians come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped in Overton Park: a side street close to CLC Sports Centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Three replies shape the work, and so before anything else we ask what went in, about the amount, and whether your motor has run.
Next, draining the tank on the spot removes the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue in one go. A full flush matters much more after AdBlue than with petrol, since residue will not wash out by itself. Next, the filter: flushed, or replaced when it must be. Then fresh diesel, then a check of the car. Most of these jobs are a half-hour job once our engineers turn up, if the engine has not run. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live forecourt is no issue, and it's hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
Last, the system is primed with fresh diesel. You set off as soon as our engineers have started it, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a driveway around Overton Park or in a bay outside Cheltenham Spa. The test before our engineers leave is that it runs smoothly on fresh diesel. Our technicians do it all wherever your car has ended up, and it never has to go to a workshop. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers ask for.
About Overton Park and where it is
Overton Park is a suburban area in Gloucestershire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 66 metres, with views of the surrounding countryside. Overton Park lies approximately 7 miles from Gloucester and 88 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Overton Park is characterised by its predominantly flat housing stock, which is typical of many suburban areas in the region.
AdBlue drains across Overton Park and Gloucestershire
Alstone, Bays Hill and Montpellier are among the towns around Overton Park that the same teams reach, along with most of Gloucestershire further out, throughout the GL postcode area. Guessing won't help close to a border or somewhere tricky to describe; phone and ask.
No towing is needed. In Overton Park, a residential suburb, a mobile service fits: the car is drained where it stands, be it on a drive, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Overton Park: the cost of fixing it
Every job differs, and so not one fixed price is honest. What shifts the price is, first, whether your engine 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 simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Salem.
Ahead of a quote, not afterwards, every call from Overton Park begins with three questions: the fuel, the quantity, and whether it ran. Given them, a range shrinks to one fixed figure.
Before a van heads out, you hear the quote by phone. Then you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
Overton Park: still beside the car?
Then, do nothing — that's the most helpful step available. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Overton Park or wherever in Gloucestershire, once you ring 0333 366 0103 saying it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and if it ran.