Penpol: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, leave the engine off then leave your ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. It does not burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the system draws it in. In Penpol, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, just where the vehicle is. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps right now, Penpol: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Things to do:
- So nobody can switch the ignition on, take the keys out.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and about how much, save the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring just where you are. Say a TR3 6 postcode or the nearest street sign, and nobody has to search for you.
Not to do:
- Shifting the vehicle just a few yards is no reason to fire up your motor.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue will not blend, and so it's pointless.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short distance along Chycoose Parc.
- Do not try to drain the car yourself at the roadside.
At a forecourt in Penpol, whether it is the Shell or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll the car away from the petrol pump. Stopped on your own driveway? Then it remains exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. From a separate tank it goes directly to your exhaust, cleaning what the motor emits. A fuel pump isn't designed to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once poured in, won't. The behaviour is not at all like diesel's. Denser than diesel, it sinks and pools below it — the same spot the intake draws from. A motor topped up on a drive in Goonpiper overnight and left unstarted counts as the straightforward case. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up so far — but once the engine runs, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of the tank.
Two kinds of harm come from there. It eats at some metals found in fuel components, attacking any part it reaches until it's cleared from the system. And once the water goes, the urea forms crystals that block filters and settle in narrow passages. If the AdBlue is in the lines, waiting till morning in Penpol leaves things worse. In that tank only, time does nothing. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and every injector as it passes; water offers none of that, and that is a separate kind of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger problem?
Top up a diesel with petrol by mistake at the Texaco, and the problem is diluted fuel. Damage just comes from running on it. Blended into your diesel and sitting inside that tank, it does nothing.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid as such is plainly the wrong one. Since it doesn't burn, running it through is not an option. Whether your car is in Harcourt or the centre of Penpol, firing it up "to see" costs more in this case than nearly any other mistake, and the flush matters more. Why: it won't stay blended, so watering it down is impossible; and crystals and corrosion survive the following fill.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue waits just in that tank, the simplest bit of the entire system to clear, anywhere your car has come to rest around Cornwall.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Penpol: how it ends up there
Plenty of vehicles put the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel one, now and then under one flap, and in dim light the two may look identical. No one intends it. Mostly it is never the filling station: a driver buys a container heading home and pours it in at home.
It tends to occur in a couple of familiar ways. Rushing, outside Devoran School, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, someone tops up the vehicle. Someone tips the container in at home, just off Old Tram Road, as the day ends. One more pattern: dim light, the car park by The Old Quay Inn, and someone using that flap for the first time.
The least known vehicles get it most — hire cars, new ones, fleet ones, and the other motor in a family with one of each fuel types. Wherever across Cornwall, Penpol included, the mistake doesn't change, and neither does the first step: leave it switched off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Penpol, and the motor started?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Your filter and pipework have had it pulled along, and some running takes it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Rough running, smoke, lost power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: any may show up, perhaps part way across Penpol or coming back from Jubilee Wood. Once safe, stop then switch it off — with no turning it on again to test. Each start pulls more of it through.
Exit the M5, over 50 miles from Penpol, at the next junction and stop somewhere safe, not carrying on.
How far it went counts. A couple of hundred yards across Penpol to the car park by Penpol Chapel is a very different job from a run towards Truro, under 5 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with every mile. Let us know about how far it had come.
Wherever the car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after the motor has been running. Very seldom does it leave long-term damage if it is noticed soon.
Penpol: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
The vehicle stays put, whether that is a road beside Devoran Methodist Church, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt in Penpol, and the van travels to it. What went in, roughly how much, and if your engine has been run: our technicians check first, since those shape the job.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one after that tank is emptied, right there. Residue from AdBlue won't flush out unaided, and so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which counts much more here than with petrol. Fresh diesel goes in after your filter is cleaned — or replaced, when it needs to be — and after that your car is tested. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when your engine hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Priming the fuel system with fresh diesel comes last. After that we start the car and you drive off, whether from a parking space at Perranwell or a driveway around Penpol. Before leaving, our technicians confirm it's running properly with new diesel in. We do it all wherever the vehicle has ended up, and it never has to be taken to a workshop. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Penpol, briefly
Penpol is a small coastal village in Cornwall, situated near the mouth of the Carrick Roads and close to the city of Truro. Penpol sits at a low elevation of around 16 metres, with many of its detached homes enjoying views of the surrounding coastline. Penpol is part of a network of small villages and hamlets, including Chycoose and Feock, that make up the local community. Penpol has a population of around 513 people, living in a mix of old and new homes, mostly detached properties.
Penpol and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
Chycoose, Restronguet Passage and Feock are among the towns around Penpol that the same vans reach, together with much of Cornwall beyond, over the TR postcode area. Near a boundary, or somewhere awkward to explain? Asking beats guessing, and so phone.
A van that comes to you fits Penpol, a coastal village: there's no need to take the vehicle to us, because we empty it there, on a drive, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Penpol
Since each callouts vary, a single figure wouldn't be fair. What moves the price is, first of all, whether your engine has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and then where the car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight gap behind St Feock Church.
Ahead of a figure, never afterwards, each call from Penpol begins with three questions: the fuel, the quantity, plus if the engine ran. When those are known, a range turns into one fixed number.
Before a van heads out, you are told the quote by phone. And payment is on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As the van is travelling, check your insurance: plenty cover misfuelling.
Beside your car around Penpol, still?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to the car. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Say it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and if it ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel handles it, across Penpol or anywhere within Cornwall.