Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Primethorpe
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and nothing starts till the motor pulls it through. If your motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally drained and thoroughly rinsed where your car sits around Primethorpe. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Primethorpe
Do:
- So no one can switch the ignition on, pull your keys out.
- Put the hazards on if you're at all near moving traffic.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what was put in and roughly how much.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting LE9 6, or the name of the closest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Don't do these:
- Do not start your engine, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- Switching the key to ignition alone starts the pump going on plenty of diesels. Avoid it.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue will not blend, so it's pointless.
- Even a short distance along Orchard Road is too far to drive it.
- Don't try to drain the car yourself by the kerbside.
Moving the car off the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever Primethorpe forecourt you are on, the Pace or any other. If you are on your own drive, leave the vehicle exactly where it sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Kept in a separate tank, it is injected into the exhaust to treat the fumes. Neither side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in an injection pump, and a pump cannot deal with urea.
Tipped in with your diesel, it stays apart rather than mixing — quite different from fuel. It sinks, since it is heavier than diesel, and pools down where the pickup takes its supply from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Leire last night, and has not been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
Once it is sucked in, the damage comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that hardens in filters and tiny passages; meanwhile, since it attacks certain metals, every part it reaches suffers for as long as it remains inside. If the AdBlue is in the lines, leaving it till morning in Primethorpe makes things worse. Inside that tank only, waiting costs nothing. Then there's the water: it brings no protection to the components that rely on it the most — the injection pump and every injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel regularly the bigger fault?
A problem of thin fuel is what you get from filling a diesel with petrol at the Shell. Mixed into your diesel and sitting unused, it's no threat at that stage; running the engine is the harm.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid as such is plainly the wrong one. Since it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Whether your car is in Cosby or the centre of Primethorpe, turning it over "to see" costs more with AdBlue than almost any other slip, and the flush counts more. Why: it won't stay blended, so diluting it fails; and crystals and corrosion survive the following tankful.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue waits just inside that tank, the easiest section of the whole system to empty, wherever the vehicle has stopped in Leicestershire.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Primethorpe
It's not on purpose. Many vehicles keep the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel inlet, now and then under a single flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. A bottle bought while heading home and tipped in outside the house, rather than at the filling station, is the typical story.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Orchard Church of England Primary School, Broughton Astley the refill is rushed. After work, a bottle goes in on a drive near Estley Road. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap tops up your vehicle in dim light, parked in the car park outside The Royal.
Rented vehicles, new motors, fleet vehicles, or the spare vehicle in a family with one of each: the least familiar cars get it most. Wherever you're in Primethorpe or the rest of Leicestershire, it is the same mistake and the same first answer: leave it off.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Primethorpe?
Then that tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Through the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — given any running time — on to the injection pump and each injector: that's how far it has gone.
Watch for rough running, exhaust smoke, falling power, lights on the dash, or a cut-out — coming back from Cosby Golf Club, say, or midway across Primethorpe. No starting it again to test: pull over when it is safe, then turn it off. Every start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M1, under 3 miles from Primethorpe, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
Mileage counts: each mile carries the AdBlue further in, and so heading towards Leicester, under 10 miles away, gives a much larger job than hopping across Primethorpe to the car park by St Mary's. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever the car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out after the engine has been run. Lasting damage is very rare when it is spotted early.
Primethorpe: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
The vehicle remains where it is, whether that's a street beside Broughton Astley Village Hall, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station around Primethorpe, and our van comes to it. Before anything else we ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether your motor has run, because those replies settle this work.
Next, emptying the tank on the spot removes the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue together. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush counts: the fuel system is flushed all the way through because what remains won't flush out by itself. Clean diesel goes in once the filter is flushed — or replaced, when it needs to be — and after that the car is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our technicians arrive, if your engine hasn't run. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Priming the fuel system with fresh diesel comes at the end. You set off as soon as our engineers have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a driveway in Primethorpe or in a bay at Narborough. Our technicians check it runs properly on clean diesel before leaving. The entire job is done where your car is, so it never needs to go to a garage. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers ask for.
About Primethorpe
Primethorpe is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Leicestershire, with an elevation of around 85 metres. Primethorpe lies approximately 8 miles east of Leicester and 85 miles north of London, near the villages of Broughton Astley and Sutton in the Elms. Primethorpe has a population of around 4037 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Primethorpe is also close to the village of Croft, sharing a similar rural-urban fringe character.
AdBlue drains across Primethorpe and Leicestershire
AdBlue call-outs around Primethorpe go to vans that cover the towns near it — Broughton Astley, Sutton in the Elms as well as Croft — and most of Leicestershire further out, throughout LE postcodes. Assuming won't help close to a border or anywhere tricky to pin down; ring and check.
Primethorpe is a residential suburb, and a call-out drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it stands, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
Primethorpe: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no honest single price, since the jobs aren't the same. Three things move the price: whether the motor has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the vehicle is. That last one turns on whether a van can get to it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight spot behind Witham Villa Riding Centre.
Ahead of any figure, never after, every enquiry from Primethorpe begins with the same three checks: the liquid, the amount, plus whether it ran. Their answers shrink a range down to one figure.
Before a van sets off, you hear the quote on the phone. And you pay on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
Primethorpe: still beside your car?
In that case, touch nothing — that is the best step there is. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103 and tell us it's AdBlue, about how much, and if it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Primethorpe or anywhere around Leicestershire.