AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Radford? Keep It Switched Off
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does the engine. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when your fuel system pulls it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Radford, is usually what AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it is caught before the engine has been run. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
What to do straight away, Radford: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do these:
- Pull your keys out, so no one switches your ignition on.
- If you are anywhere near moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt shows us the product and the quantity, so don't throw it away.
- The van locates you fastest with a postcode starting BB3 2, or simply the name of a street nearby, so call from the car.
Never do these:
- Don't start the motor, even for a moment to move the vehicle.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue won't mix, and so it is wasted.
- Keep the vehicle where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short stretch up Melville Street.
- Don't try to drain the vehicle yourself by the roadside.
The staff on duty at any Radford filling station — the Shell among them — will usually lend a hand rolling it clear if you ask. At home, your car remains exactly as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your engine. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Nothing inside an injection pump is made for this liquid — and no part of it was meant to travel through one.
Poured in with the diesel, it keeps apart instead of blending — entirely unlike fuel. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. Easiest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Sough last night and hasn't turned since. The liquid waits at the base of your tank, untouched — but it will be first through if the engine runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
It does two kinds of damage from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that hardens in filter elements and tiny passages; meanwhile, because it attacks some metals, every part it touches suffers for as long as it stays in there. Overnight, a vehicle sitting in Radford with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; if it is only inside that tank, nothing changes. The water in it causes harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger problem?
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake at the Texaco, and the problem is thinned fuel. Blended through the diesel and left unused, it's no threat at that stage; using the motor is the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be watered down, because it separates back out — and the following tankful won't clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and trying your engine "to see", in the centre of Radford or out in Livesey Fold, costs more than almost any other slip.
As with petrol, there is good news. If the engine has not run, the AdBlue is still in your tank, and your tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in Lancashire the vehicle is standing.
Radford: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many motors rests right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Usually it's never the filling station: a driver buys a container driving home and pours it in outside the house.
A couple of familiar ways cover most cases. Hurrying, outside St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Darwen, after a warning light came on during the school run, someone refills your car. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Shorrock Street. Otherwise, in dim light by The Spinners, your car gets refilled by someone using that flap the first time.
The least familiar vehicles get it most — hire cars, brand-new ones, fleet cars, and the spare motor of a family with both fuel types. Wherever in Lancashire, Radford as well, the mistake does not change, and neither does the first response: keep it off.
Radford: started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Given any running, it travels to the injection pump and every injector, after passing via your filter and pipework.
Expect rough running, smoke, falling power, warnings on your dash, or a stall — coming back from Bold Venture Park, say, or midway across Radford. No starting it again to test: stop once it is safe, then turn everything off. Every start pulls more of it through.
On the M65, under 3 miles from Radford, the first junction is where to leave, and somewhere sensible is where to stop — not driving on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Radford to the car park by War Memorial is a very different job from a run towards Preston, under 15 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with each mile. Tell us about how far it had come.
Wherever the vehicle came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out after your engine has been running. Very rarely does it leave permanent damage if it's noticed soon.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Radford?
Our technicians come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Radford: a side street close to South African War Memorial, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Which fluid went in, roughly the quantity, and whether the engine has turned over: our technicians check before all else, because those decide the work.
Next, draining your tank on the spot takes out the polluted diesel and the AdBlue together. A full flush matters much more with AdBlue than after petrol, because residue will not clear away by itself. Next, the fuel filter: flushed, or replaced if it has to be. After that clean diesel, then a test of your vehicle. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once we get there, if your motor has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
The final step is to prime your system on new diesel. You head off as soon as our engineers have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a drive in Radford or in a bay by Darwen. Our technicians confirm it runs correctly on fresh diesel before we leave. The whole job is done where your car is, so it never needs to be taken to a workshop. Afterwards, there is the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer.
About Radford, for a moment
Radford is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated on the riverside with a mix of terraced housing and other residential properties. Radford sits at an elevation of 192 metres, approximately 10.6 miles from Preston and close to nearby places such as Darwen and Belgrave. Radford forms part of the wider urban area around Preston, with its residents commuting to the city for work and other amenities. Radford is located in the North West region of England, about 180 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Radford and Lancashire
AdBlue jobs around Radford are passed to teams that serve the places near it — Darwen, Belgrave plus Shorey Bank — and much of Lancashire further out, throughout BB postcodes. Phone and ask rather than guess if you're close to a county line, or somewhere awkward to pin down.
No towing is needed. In Radford, a residential suburb, a mobile service fits: your car is emptied on the spot, be it on a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Radford: the cost of fixing it
There is no honest single price, since the jobs aren't the same. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that went in. After that it turns on where the car is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind Darwen Spitfire Memorial Sculpture.
Before any figure, never after, each call from Radford opens with three questions: the liquid, the amount, and if it ran. The answers turn a range into a straight price.
Quoted by phone before the van sets out, the job is paid for that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Check your policy while we're on the way: plenty carry misfuelling cover.
Still alongside the car in Radford?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Radford or wherever in Lancashire.