Portobello: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does your motor. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and no harm happens until your motor pulls it round. In Portobello, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your engine runs usually comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank in Portobello
Do these:
- Keys out — then no one can power anything on.
- Close to moving traffic? So put your hazards on.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what got in and roughly how much.
- Call right where you are. Say a DH3 2 postcode or the nearest street name, and no one has to hunt for you.
Things not to do:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to move the car.
- Plenty of diesels power their fuel pump the instant your ignition goes on, so leave the vehicle off.
- Do not top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short way along A1(M).
- Don't try to drain it yourself at the roadside.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you move your car off the pumps if you are on a forecourt in Portobello, whether it is the BP or elsewhere. Parked on your own driveway? Then it remains just where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Stored in a separate tank, it's squirted into the exhaust to treat the gases. A fuel pump is not made to take it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
It does not combine. After it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts nothing like fuel. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. A car filled on a driveway in Lambton overnight and left unstarted counts as the simple one. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though once your motor runs, that's what goes first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. It attacks some metals used in fuel systems, working on whatever it reaches until it is removed completely. And once the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that clog filters and lodge in narrow channels. Lines holding AdBlue mean harm by morning for a vehicle parked in Portobello. Only inside your tank, it stays the same. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and each injector as it flows; water gives none of that, and that is a second form of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
A problem of thinned fuel is what you get from fuelling a diesel with petrol from the JET. Damage only comes from driving on it. Mixed into the diesel and left in that tank, it causes nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Because it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Deposits and corrosion remain through the following fill, and AdBlue separates back from your diesel, so thinning it can't help. Hence the flush matters so much, and trying the engine "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other mistake — in Oxclose or the heart of Portobello equally.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue stays in it — anywhere across Tyne and Wear the vehicle has stopped.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Portobello
It is not on purpose. Plenty of vehicles have the AdBlue cap beside the diesel inlet, occasionally behind one flap, and mixing them up is easy in poor light. Mostly it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
Usually, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Ravensworth Terrace Primary School the top-up is hurried. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Portobello Road. Or your car is topped up in the car park at Board Inn, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
It comes up the most in a rental, a brand-new motor, a company car, or the other car in a family with one of each fuel types — the vehicles people use least. Wherever across Tyne and Wear, Portobello included, the mistake does not change, and neither does the first step: keep it off.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Portobello?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. Given any running, it travels to the injection pump and every injector, after passing via the fuel filter and pipework.
You may see your motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Ayton Park or halfway across Portobello. Once you safely can, stop then turn everything off — without restarting to see. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Leave the A1(M), under a mile from Portobello, at the next junction and park safely, rather than carrying on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Portobello to the car park by Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses is a very different job from a run towards Newcastle upon Tyne, under 10 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with every mile. Let us know about how far it had come.
There is more to clean out once the motor has been run, and our technicians do all of it where the vehicle has come to a stop. Caught quickly, it very rarely leaves long-term damage.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Portobello: what it takes
The vehicle stays where it is, whether that is a street beside St John the Evangelist, Birtley, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt around Portobello, and the van comes to it. Three replies shape the work, so first our technicians ask what got in, roughly what quantity, and whether the motor has turned over.
Then that tank is emptied where the car waits, so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A full flush counts much more with AdBlue than after petrol, because residue won't wash away by itself. Fresh diesel goes in after the fuel filter is flushed — or swapped, when it needs to be — and after that the vehicle is tested. Engine not run? Then count on roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Clean diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that's the last step. Starting it comes next, and then you head off from where your car is parked, by Chester-Le-Street or on a drive in Portobello. Our technicians confirm it runs correctly on new diesel before leaving. Because the job is done in full where the vehicle is, a garage never comes into it. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Portobello and where it is
Portobello is a suburban area located inland in Tyne and Wear, sitting at an elevation of 94 metres. Portobello is situated approximately 6 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne, and is part of the larger North East region of England. Portobello has a population of around 2843 people, and is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Portobello is also close to nearby places such as Ayton and Birtley.
Portobello and Tyne and Wear: AdBlue drains across the area
The vans that answer AdBlue jobs in Portobello also cover the spots around it, Ayton, North Side and Birtley among them, and most of Tyne and Wear beyond, across the DH postcode area. Guessing doesn't help by a border or anywhere hard to describe; phone and check.
No moving is needed. In Portobello, a residential suburb, a mobile service works: the car is drained where it stands, whether on a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Portobello: the cost of fixing it
Because each callouts vary, a single price wouldn't be honest. The price moves first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it depends on where your car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight gap behind Birtley Aquatic Centre.
That's why every call from Portobello starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and whether it has run. With those replies, a range narrows to one firm number.
You hear that price by phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
Still alongside the car around Portobello?
Not touching your car is, right now, the most useful thing you can do. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and if it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Portobello or anywhere in Tyne and Wear.