AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Pipers Ash? Keep It Switched Off
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. The trouble begins once it is sucked through the pump — it will not ignite, and it won't blend with diesel. If your motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and thoroughly rinsed where your car stands in Pipers Ash. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Pipers Ash
Things to do:
- Remove the keys, which stops anyone switching the electrics on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- Which fluid, and about what volume? Save the bottle or the receipt, and our engineers can see.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting CH3 7, or the name of the closest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Not to do:
- No starting the engine — not for a second, not to shift your vehicle.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short distance up Hare Lane.
- Draining that tank on your own by the road isn't one to try.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you move your car off the island if you're at a forecourt around Pipers Ash, whether it is the Shell or elsewhere. On your own drive, don't move it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not the engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Neither side suits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and a pump can't take urea.
Poured in with the diesel, it keeps separate instead of blending — quite unlike fuel. The intake takes fuel from the deepest part of that tank, and that's precisely where AdBlue ends up: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. The first thing the system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Guilden Sutton last night, and has not been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
Once it's sucked in, the damage comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that crystallises in filters and tiny passages; and, since it eats at some metals, each part it reaches suffers for as long as it remains in there. Pipes holding AdBlue mean damage by morning for a vehicle sitting around Pipers Ash. Just inside the tank, it stays stable. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel flowing past them, so the water part harms them in its own right.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
An issue of thinned fuel is what you end up with after filling a diesel with petrol from the Sainsbury's. No damage is done while it sits unused, blended into the diesel — only once your engine runs on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable liquid. It can't just be run through, because it does not burn. Whether the vehicle is in Hoole Bank or the centre of Pipers Ash, turning it over "to see" does more harm in this case than almost any other slip, and the flush matters for more. Why: it will not remain mixed, so watering it down is impossible; and crystals and corrosion outlast the following fill.
The same good news applies as with petrol. If the engine has not run, the AdBlue is still in the tank, and the tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in Cheshire your car is standing.
Pipers Ash: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It's not on purpose. Many vehicles have the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel one, now and then under one flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. A container bought while driving home and tipped in outside the house, rather than at the filling station, is the usual route.
It tends to happen in a few familiar ways. Hurrying, outside Oldfield Primary School, after a warning lamp came on during the school run, a parent refills the car. A driver pours the bottle in at home, right off Belle Vue Lane, as the day ends. Or a driver new to that flap refills your vehicle after dark, parked in the car park by The Piper.
Hired vehicles, brand-new cars, company cars, or the spare car in a home with one of each: the least familiar cars see it most. An identical slip, same first step — keep it switched off — wherever you are around Pipers Ash or the rest of Cheshire.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Pipers Ash, and your engine started?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer in that tank. Your filter and lines have had it pulled along, and any running takes it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard warnings or stalling: each might show up, maybe midway across Pipers Ash or coming back from Thackeray Forest Park. Once you safely can, stop then turn everything off — without restarting to test. Each start pulls more of that through.
Pipers Ash lies under a mile from the M53; if you were on it, exit by the first junction and stop somewhere safe rather than driving on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Pipers Ash to the car park by Vicar's Cross Community Centre is a very different job from a run towards Chester, under 3 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with each mile. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to rinse out once the engine has been run, and we do all of it where the vehicle has stopped. Lasting damage is very unusual when it is spotted soon.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves around Pipers Ash
A street beside Great Boughton Library, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station: anywhere the vehicle has stopped around Pipers Ash, our engineers travel to it. The job rests on three answers, and our technicians ask for first — what went in, the quantity, and whether your motor has turned over.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out together when that tank is drained, on the spot. Your system is purged thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Clean diesel goes in after the filter is flushed — or replaced, when it needs to be — and then the car is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our technicians arrive, if the engine has not run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the street at night.
The last step is to prime the fuel system on clean diesel. Then our technicians start the car and you set off, whether from a parking bay at Chester or a drive in Pipers Ash. It's tested on fresh diesel to be sure it runs correctly before our engineers go. No workshop is required at any point, with the entire job done then and there. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers ask for.
About Pipers Ash and where it is
Pipers Ash is a small village in Cheshire, situated near the city of Chester and surrounded by other local communities such as Littleton and Vicarscross. Pipers Ash lies at an elevation of 41 metres, in a relatively low-lying area of the North West region. Pipers Ash has a population of around 572 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Pipers Ash is located approximately 2 miles from Chester, making it a commuter-friendly location.
AdBlue drains across Pipers Ash and Cheshire
Littleton, Vicarscross and Hoole are among the towns around Pipers Ash that the same teams reach, together with most of Cheshire further out, throughout the CH postcode area. Close to a boundary, or somewhere tricky to pin down? Checking beats guessing, so phone.
No towing is needed. In Pipers Ash, a rural village, a van that comes to you fits: your car is emptied where it stands, be it in a drive, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Pipers Ash?
Each job differs, so not one single quote would be honest. The cost changes first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it depends on where your car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Vicars Cross Library.
Before a figure, not after, each enquiry from Pipers Ash opens with three checks: the liquid, the amount, and if the engine ran. Their answers shrink a range right down to one number.
You hear that price 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 gets there.
Still beside your car around Pipers Ash?
Then, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to leave it. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and whether it ran is all our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest across Cheshire, Pipers Ash too.