Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Portland
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. The trouble begins once it's pulled through the pump — it won't burn, and it won't blend with diesel. In Portland, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Portland
To do:
- Pull your keys out, so no one switches your ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- Which product, and about what volume? Hang on to the bottle or the receipt, and our engineers will know.
- Call right where you are. Quote a BA16 9 postcode or the closest street name, and no one has to hunt for you.
Don't:
- Do not start the engine, even for a moment to shift the car.
- Plenty of diesels run their pump the moment your ignition comes on, so keep the vehicle off.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue won't mix, so it's wasted.
- Even a short distance down Portland Road is too far to drive the vehicle.
- Emptying your tank on your own beside the road is not one to try.
Get the people behind the counter to help you roll the car off the pumps if you're on a forecourt around Portland, whether it's the Sainsbury's or somewhere else. Parked on your own drive? Then it remains exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your engine. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. Nothing in a fuel pump is made for this liquid — and no part of that was meant to go through one.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, once poured in, won't. The behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It sinks, since it is denser than diesel, and pools down where the intake draws its fuel from. A vehicle filled on a drive in Street yesterday evening and not started since is the simple one. Nothing has sucked the AdBlue up so far — but when your motor turns, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of the tank.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. What remains once the water goes is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle in narrow channels and clog filters. On top of that, it eats at some metals in a fuel system, and carries on until it is cleared out. If the AdBlue has reached the pipework, waiting till morning in Portland leaves things worse. In your tank only, time does nothing. Diesel protects the injection pump and each injector as it passes; water offers no lubrication, and that is a second kind of damage.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Shell's forecourt leaves the fuel watery — that's the whole problem. Damage just comes from driving on it. Mixed into the diesel and sitting in the tank, it does nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Since it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Whether the vehicle is in Middle Leigh or the centre of Portland, firing it up "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other slip, and the flush counts for more. The reasons: it will not stay blended, and so diluting it fails; and deposits and corrosion outlast the next tankful.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Never started? Then the AdBlue waits only inside the tank, the simplest bit of the whole system to empty, wherever your vehicle has stopped around Somerset.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Portland
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of cars rests right next to your diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Most of the time it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
A few familiar ways account for most cases. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside Walton Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School. A driver tips the container in at home, just off Houndwood Drove, as the day ends. Or a driver new to that flap refills the vehicle after dark, parked in the car park outside The Lantokay.
The least familiar vehicles get it the most — hire cars, brand-new ones, company cars, and the spare vehicle of a family with both fuel types. Anywhere around Somerset, Portland as well, the slip does not change, and nor does the first response: keep it switched off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Portland?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside the tank. With any running, it goes on to the injection pump and each injector, having passed through the filter and pipework.
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each might show up, perhaps part way across Portland or returning from Walton Park. No restarting to check: pull over when safe, then turn it off. More of that is pulled through with each start.
Exit the M5, under 10 miles from Portland, by the next junction and stop somewhere safe, rather than driving on.
Mileage counts: every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into the system, and so driving for Wells, under 10 miles away, makes a far larger job than hopping across Portland to the car park by The Bayliss Centre. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once the motor has been run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has stopped. Long-term damage is very unusual when it's caught early.
Portland: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
Our technicians come to the car, wherever it has stopped around Portland: a side street near Marks & Spencer, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The job depends on three replies, and our technicians get before all else — which fluid was put in, the quantity, and if your engine has turned over.
Next, draining the tank on the spot removes the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. Residue from AdBlue won't wash away by itself, and so the fuel system gets a full flush, which matters much more with urea than for petrol. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. About half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs where your engine has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Fresh diesel goes in to bleed your system, and that's the last step. You head off as soon as our engineers have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a driveway in Portland or in a bay at Castle Cary. Before leaving, our engineers make sure it is running correctly with clean diesel in. Since the job is done in its entirety where your car is, a workshop never comes into it. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Portland, briefly
Portland is a suburban area in Somerset, situated inland at an elevation of 14 metres, and is located near the city of Wells. Portland sits near several nearby places, including Asney, Stone Hill, and Lower Leigh, and is characterized by its predominance of terraced housing. Portland is home to a population of approximately 2646 residents, and is connected to the wider region by its proximity to Wells and other local communities.
AdBlue drains across Portland and Somerset
Asney, Stone Hill and Lower Leigh are among the towns near Portland that the same vans reach, together with most of Somerset further out, over the BA postcode area. Close to a border, or somewhere tricky to pin down? Checking beats assuming, so phone.
No towing is needed. In Portland, a residential suburb, a mobile service works: the vehicle is emptied on the spot, be it on a drive, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Portland
Because the callouts vary, a flat figure wouldn't be honest. The price changes first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that got in. After that it rests on where the car is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight gap behind Street Royal British Legion.
That's why each call from Portland starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and if it has run. Their answers narrow a range right down to one number.
The quote is quoted on the call, before anyone leaves; payment comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. As the van is travelling, check your policy: many include misfuelling.
Alongside the car around Portland, still?
Not touching your car is, then, the most useful move you can do. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, and if the engine ran are all we need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder throughout Somerset, Portland included.