AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Prince Rock? Keep It Switched Off
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then keep the motor off — and the ignition as well. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. The trouble begins once it is sucked through your pump — it will not burn, and it won't blend with diesel. In Prince Rock, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the engine runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush, just where the vehicle is. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps right now, Prince Rock: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do:
- Take your keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- The empty bottle or the receipt shows us the fluid and the quantity, so don't throw it out.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting PL4 9, or the name of the closest street, gets our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift the vehicle: the engine remains off.
- Turning your key to ignition by itself sets your pump running on many diesels. Avoid it.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Do not drive the car anywhere, not even a short stretch along Elliott Road.
- Emptying that tank yourself beside the road isn't worth trying.
Moving the car off the pumps is a job for staff to help with, wherever Prince Rock forecourt you're on, the Valero included. On your own drive, don't touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not your engine but your exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Kept in a separate tank, it's injected into the exhaust stream to clean the fumes. Nothing inside an injection pump is made for this fluid — and none of that was meant to travel through one.
It does not combine. Once it is poured into the tank, AdBlue acts nothing like diesel. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and collects underneath it — the same place the intake sucks from. When the pump runs, the AdBlue is first to go through. Before then it sits beneath the diesel, and that is why a car filled in Coxside yesterday and never switched on remains the straightforward one, as long as no one turns the key.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps running on the components it reaches for as long as it stays there. Lines carrying AdBlue mean harm by morning for a car sitting in Prince Rock. Just in the tank, it stays stable. Water protects nothing. The high-pressure pump and each injector depend on diesel flowing through them, and so the water content damages them by itself.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is commonly worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Asda and you have an issue of thin fuel. No harm is done as long as it stays put, mixed into the diesel — only when the motor works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a problem of the wrong substance altogether. Because it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Deposits and corrosion remain after the next fill, and AdBlue separates back out of the diesel, and so watering it can't help. Hence the flush counts more, and turning the key "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other slip — in Lipson or the heart of Prince Rock equally.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on any fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue stays in it — anywhere around Devon your vehicle has stopped.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Prince Rock: how it ends up there
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, occasionally behind one flap — may look the same. Nobody means it; many designs allow it. A bottle picked up while driving home and poured in at home, rather than at the forecourt, is the usual story.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Prince Rock Primary School the refill is rushed. Close to Mainstone Avenue, a driver pours a bottle in on that drive in the evening. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park outside The Grenville, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It takes place most in the vehicles people know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. An identical mistake, an identical first response — leave it off — anywhere you happen to be around Prince Rock or the rest of Devon.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Prince Rock?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. It's been pulled through your filter and the lines, and if your engine ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors.
You may notice your motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Astor Playing Fields or halfway across Prince Rock. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
On the M5, under 50 miles from Prince Rock, the first junction is where to exit, and somewhere sensible is where to park — not driving on.
Mileage matters: each mile pushes the AdBlue further into your system, so driving towards Plymouth, under 3 miles away, gives a far bigger job than crossing Prince Rock to the car park by Tothill Community Centre Large Hall. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out once the motor has been running. Long-term damage is very uncommon when it's noticed quickly.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Prince Rock?
The car stays put, whether that's a street near Plymouth Christian Centre, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt in Prince Rock, and our van travels to it. Three replies shape the job, so first we ask what was put in, roughly the amount, plus whether your engine has run.
Then that tank is emptied where the vehicle sits, and so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue will not flush away by itself, and so the fuel system gets a full flush, which counts much more here than with petrol. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when the engine has not run. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
The last step is to prime your system on new diesel. At that point we fire it up and you set off, whether from a parking space at Plymouth or a drive around Prince Rock. Our engineers confirm it runs correctly on fresh diesel before leaving. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never needs to go to a workshop. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Prince Rock
Prince Rock is a coastal suburban area in Devon, situated near the city of Plymouth and adjacent to the suburbs of Cattedown and St Judes. Prince Rock lies at a low elevation of around 9 metres, reflecting its proximity to the sea. Prince Rock is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock, which is typical of many urban areas in the South West of England. Prince Rock is close to the amenities and services of Plymouth, being only 1.1 miles from the city centre.
AdBlue drains across Prince Rock and Devon
AdBlue call-outs in Prince Rock are passed to teams that cover the towns around it — Cattedown, St Judes plus Mount Gould — and most of Devon further out, across PL postcodes. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Prince Rock is a residential suburb, and a call-out drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it is, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
Prince Rock: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Since each callouts differ, a single price wouldn't be fair. Whether the motor has been running, and for how long, comes first in what changes the price. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the position of the vehicle, because an open driveway is easier for our van to get to safely than a tight gap behind East End Community Centre.
Which fluid was put in, how much, plus if it ran: every Prince Rock call begins by asking precisely that, before a figure, never afterwards. Once those are answered, a range turns into a single fixed number.
Before anyone heads out, you hear the price by phone. And you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van gets there.
Prince Rock: still beside your car?
Right now, the best thing to do with your vehicle is to leave it. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Tell us it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Prince Rock or anywhere in Devon.