Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Port Isaac
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, keep the motor off then keep the ignition off. Urea mixed in water is what AdBlue is. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor mixes, and no harm happens till your engine pulls it round. If the engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and thoroughly rinsed where your car stands in Port Isaac. Nothing comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
Port Isaac, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
Do these:
- Remove your keys, and that prevents anyone switching the power on.
- If you're anywhere close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Which fluid, and about what amount? Save the bottle or your receipt, and our technicians can know.
- Call just where you are. Quote a PL29 3 postcode or the closest street name, and no one has to search for you.
Things not to do:
- Not even for a second, and not to roll the car: the engine stays off.
- The ignition remains off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to run your pump.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel will not weaken it.
- Even a short distance up Trewetha Lane is too far to drive the car.
- Beside the road, don't attempt emptying it yourself.
On a forecourt in Port Isaac, whether it's the Esso or another one, ask the staff to help you push the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. On that drive, your car remains exactly as it was left.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. From a separate reservoir it goes straight to your exhaust, treating what the motor lets out. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
It does not blend. After it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. Heavier than diesel, it drops and collects below it — the very spot the intake draws from. A motor filled on a driveway in St Endellion overnight and left unstarted is the straightforward case. Nothing has sucked the AdBlue up yet — but once your engine turns, that's what goes first, directly from the bottom of your tank.
Two kinds of harm come from there. What remains once the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they lodge in narrow passages and block filters. Worse, it eats at certain metals in the fuel system, and carries on till it's cleared out. Lines carrying AdBlue spell harm overnight for a car sitting around Port Isaac. Just in that tank, it stays stable. And there is the water: it offers no lubrication to the components that need it the most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is often worse
Petrol put into a diesel on Texaco's forecourt makes your fuel thin — that's the main issue. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it's inside that tank it does no damage; the damage comes from running your motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. It cannot just be run through, because it doesn't burn. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it cannot be weakened. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Port Quin or the middle of Port Isaac.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue remains in there — anywhere around Cornwall the car has stopped.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Port Isaac?
Many vehicles put the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel cap, now and then under one flap, and in dim light the two can look identical. Nobody intends it. Usually it's not the forecourt: someone buys a bottle driving home and pours it in at home.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside Port Isaac Academy. In the evening, a bottle is tipped in on a driveway near Back Hill. Or your car is topped up in the car park at The Golden Lion, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
Hired vehicles, brand-new motors, fleet motors, or the spare car in a family with both fuels: the least known vehicles get it most. Anywhere across Cornwall, Port Isaac included, the mistake doesn't change, and neither does the first response: leave it off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Port Isaac?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. The filter and pipework have had it pulled along, and any running time carries it on to the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Expect lumpy running, exhaust smoke, lost power, lights on the dash, or a cut-out — coming back from St. Minver Cricket Club, say, or midway across Port Isaac. No starting it again to check: stop when it is safe, then switch it off. Each start pulls more of that through.
Leave the M5, over 50 miles from Port Isaac, at the first junction and stop safely, not carrying on.
A quick hop across Port Isaac to the car park by St Peter is one thing; heading for Truro, under 25 miles away, is something else, since each mile carries the AdBlue further in. So distance matters. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
There's more to clean out once the engine has been run, and our technicians do all of it where your car has stopped. Lasting damage is very unusual when it is noticed quickly.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Port Isaac: what it takes
Anywhere it has come to rest in Port Isaac — a forecourt, a lay-by, a driveway, a road by War Memorial — our van comes to the car. Before anything else we ask what got in, roughly how much, and if your motor has been run, because those replies determine this work.
Then your tank is drained where your car sits, so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A careful flush counts far more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what remains will not wash out on its own. Next, your filter: flushed, or replaced when it must be. Then clean diesel, and then a check of your vehicle. If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Clean diesel goes in to bleed the fuel system, and that is the last step. At that point our technicians start the engine and you set off, whether from a parking space by the nearest station or a drive around Port Isaac. We make sure it runs correctly on new diesel before leaving. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. At the end, you are given the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Port Isaac itself
Port Isaac is a small coastal village in Cornwall, situated on the Atlantic coast at an elevation of around 31 metres. Port Isaac has a population of approximately 501 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Port Isaac is located near other small settlements such as Port Gaverne, Trewetha, and Trelights, and is about 24.8 miles from the city of Truro. Port Isaac sits in a picturesque part of the South West region, but is actually a typical example of a Cornish village with a strong sense of community.
AdBlue drains across Cornwall, Port Isaac included
Port Gaverne, Trewetha and Trelights are among the places around Port Isaac that the same vans serve, along with most of Cornwall further out, over the PL postcode area. Assuming won't help close to a border or anywhere tricky to pin down; ring and check.
Anywhere your car sits — a driveway at home, a side street, a parking area, a forecourt — we drain it there, and there's no need to bring it to us; that suits Port Isaac, a coastal village, well.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Port Isaac?
No flat figure could be honest, because each job is different. Three things shift the cost: whether your engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where your car is. That last one turns on whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight spot behind The Gallery.
Ahead of any quote, not after, every enquiry from Port Isaac opens with three checks: the liquid, the amount, plus whether it ran. When those are answered, a range becomes one firm figure.
Quoted on the call before the engineer heads out, the job is settled on the day — card or phone, no deposit. Look at your policy whilst we are on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Port Isaac: still beside the vehicle?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with the vehicle is to not touch it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus whether it ran is all our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder throughout Cornwall, Port Isaac too.