Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Portfields
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, leave the engine off then leave your ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. As it is water-based, it won't ignite and won't blend with diesel; damage only comes once your pump starts pulling it. Caught before the motor has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Portfields. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Portfields
To do:
- Keys out — then no one can power anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- So you can tell us which liquid it was and roughly what quantity, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Give us a postcode starting HR1 2, or whichever street is nearest, and our van finds you straight — so ring wherever you stand.
Not to do:
- No starting the engine — not briefly, not to reposition your vehicle.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Do not drive it anywhere, not even a short way down Harrison Street.
- By the road, don't attempt draining it yourself.
Rolling the vehicle away from the island is a job for attendants to help with, whichever Portfields forecourt you are on, the Texaco or any other. Parked on your own drive? Then it stays just as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not your engine. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Not one side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in an injection pump, and an injection pump can't take urea.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once poured in, will not. Its behaviour is not at all like fuel's. It drops, since it's denser than diesel, and pools down where the pickup takes its fuel from. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Moorfields overnight and hasn't been started since. The liquid sits at the base of that tank, undrawn — but it will be the first thing through if your motor starts, ahead of any diesel at all.
It causes two kinds of harm from there. It eats at certain metals used in fuel components, working on any part it reaches until it is removed completely. And when the water evaporates, the urea turns into crystals that block filters and settle in narrow passages. Pipes carrying AdBlue spell damage by morning for a vehicle parked in Portfields. Just in your tank, it stays the same. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel running past them, so the water part damages them in its own right.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is often worse
A fault of thinned fuel is what you get from fuelling a diesel with petrol at the Esso. No damage is done as long as it sits put, mixed into the diesel — only once the motor runs on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. Because it does not burn, running it through is not an option. It does not stay mixed, so it can't be diluted. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the car is in Ryelands or the middle of Portfields.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Never started? Then the AdBlue sits just inside your tank, the easiest bit of the whole system to empty, wherever your vehicle has stopped around Herefordshire.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Portfields?
It's not on purpose. Plenty of vehicles keep the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel one, now and then under a single flap, and mixing them up is easy after dark. A container picked up when driving home and tipped in outside the house, rather than at the filling station, is the typical story.
Usually, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside St James' Church of England Primary School the top-up is hurried. Near Mill Street, a driver pours a container in at home after work. Else, in dim light by Barrels, your car gets topped up by someone opening that flap the first time.
It crops up the most in a rental, a brand-new motor, a fleet vehicle, or the spare motor of a family with one of each fuels — the vehicles people use the least. Same mistake, same first step — leave it off — wherever you happen to be around Portfields or the rest of Herefordshire.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Portfields?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. It's been sucked through the fuel filter and the fuel lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure pump and your injectors.
You may notice your motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Castle Green or halfway across Portfields. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
Portfields lies under 15 miles from the M50; if you were on it, leave at the next junction and stop safely instead of driving on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. That is why a hop across Portfields to park near St John's Methodist and a drive of under a mile towards Hereford are such different jobs. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
We do all of the flushing where your car has ended up, and once the engine has been started there is more of it. Very seldom does it leave long-term damage when it is noticed quickly.
Portfields: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
A street beside Nelson's Column, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt: wherever the car has stopped in Portfields, our technicians travel to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and if your motor has run, because those answers determine the work.
Right there, that tank is then drained, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea leave at once. The fuel system is cleaned thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once our technicians are there. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
New diesel goes in to prime your system, and that's the final step. Whether it's a parking bay at Hereford or a drive around Portfields, that is where our technicians fire it up and you head off. Our technicians confirm it runs correctly on clean diesel before we go. No garage is needed at any point, with the entire job done then and there. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Portfields, for a moment
Portfields is a suburban area located on the riverside in Herefordshire, with a mix of terraced housing and a population of around 4813 residents. Portfields sits at an elevation of 58 metres, close to the city of Hereford, and is near other local places such as Bartonsham and Blackmarstone. Portfields is situated in a relatively low-lying area, with the River Wye likely influencing its geography. Portfields is also within commuting distance to larger cities, with London approximately 116.7 miles away.
AdBlue drains in Portfields and across Herefordshire
Our teams that answer AdBlue calls in Portfields also cover the locations round it, Bartonsham, Hereford and Blackmarstone among them, and most of Herefordshire beyond, across the HR postcode area. Close to a boundary, or anywhere tricky to pin down? Asking is better than guessing, so phone.
No towing is needed. In Portfields, a residential suburb, a van that comes to you fits: your vehicle is drained where it stands, be it on a driveway, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Portfields
Every job is different, and so not one single price would be honest. Three things shift the price: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where your car is. That last one comes down to whether a van can get to it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight spot behind St Giles Chapel.
That is why each call from Portfields starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it's run. With those replies, the range narrows to one firm figure.
Before anyone heads out, you are told our price on the phone. And you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
Portfields: still next to the car?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, then, the best move you can do. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, in Portfields or wherever within Herefordshire, once you ring 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether it ran.