Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Raise
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. As it is water-based, it will not ignite and never combines with diesel; damage only comes once the pump begins drawing it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Raise, is generally what AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before your motor has run. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Raise: the first few minutes
Do:
- Keys out — then nobody can power anything on.
- Put your hazards on if you are at all close to moving traffic.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and about what quantity, save the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting CA9 3, or the name of the closest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Don't do these:
- No starting the motor — not for a second, not to shift the vehicle.
- Many diesels power their fuel pump the moment the ignition goes on, and so leave it off.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, including a short distance up Townfoot.
- By the road, don't attempt emptying it yourself.
Ask the attendants to help you move your vehicle off the pumps if you are at a forecourt in Raise, whether it's the Quality Fuels or somewhere else. If you are on your own drive, leave it precisely where it sits.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the engine. Stored in a separate tank, it is squirted into the exhaust stream to treat the fumes. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. A vehicle topped up on a driveway in Leadgate yesterday evening and not started since counts as the straightforward case. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up so far — though once the engine runs, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of your tank.
Two kinds of damage come from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that crystallises in filters and narrow channels; meanwhile, since it attacks certain metals, every part it touches suffers for as long as it remains in there. A vehicle left standing around Raise with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. Water protects nothing. The injection pump and each injector need diesel flowing through them, so the water part damages them by itself.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is commonly more major than petrol
A problem of thin fuel is what you get from filling a diesel with petrol from the Texaco. No harm is done as long as it sits put, mixed into the diesel — only once the motor works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a problem of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. Deposits and corrosion stay through the following fill, and AdBlue splits back out of your diesel, and so watering it can't help. That is why the flush matters so much, and trying the engine "to see" does more harm here than almost any other mistake — in Ayle or the centre of Raise alike.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Wherever in Cumbria the vehicle has come to rest, an unstarted motor leaves the AdBlue yet inside the tank: the easiest bit of any fuel system to empty.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Raise?
It's not on purpose. Many cars keep the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel one, occasionally behind a single flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. Mostly it is not the filling station: a driver buys a bottle heading home and tips it in at home.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. The top-up is hurried outside Alston Primary School, after the dash lit up with a warning while the children were dropped in. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Front Street. Another version: darkness, the car park by Cumberland Inn, and a driver using that flap the first time.
The least familiar vehicles get it most — hire cars, new cars, company cars, and the spare vehicle in a family with one of each fuel types. Wherever you are around Raise or the remainder of Cumbria, it is the same slip and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Raise?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. Given any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and each injector, after passing via the filter and pipework.
Watch for rough running, exhaust smoke, lost power, warnings on your dash, or a stall — coming back from Grisedale Community Garden, perhaps, or midway across Raise. Once safe, stop then turn everything off — with no turning it on again to test. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
Raise sits under 25 miles from the M6; if you were on it, leave by the next junction and pull up somewhere safe rather than driving on.
Mileage counts: each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into the system, and so heading towards Carlisle, under 25 miles away, gives a much larger job than hopping across Raise to the car park by Jacob Walton Memorial. Let us know about how far it had come.
There's more to rinse out once the motor has run, and we do all of it where the car has stopped. Lasting damage is very unusual when it's caught quickly.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Raise?
The car remains where it is, whether that is a street beside The Chat Room, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station around Raise, and our van travels to it. The job depends on three answers, and our engineers get first — which fluid was put in, the quantity, and if the engine has turned over.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave together when your tank is drained, right there. What remains from AdBlue won't flush away by itself, so the whole system gets a full flush, which matters far more here than for petrol. Testing your car comes last, once clean diesel goes in and the filter gets cleaned or, where necessary, replaced. Not run? Then count on roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
The last step is to prime the system on new diesel. Whether it is a parking bay outside Haltwhistle or a drive around Raise, that is where we start the engine and you drive off. The check before our engineers go is that it runs smoothly on clean diesel. Because the job is done in its entirety where the vehicle is, a garage never comes into it. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Raise and where it is
Raise is a locality situated on the riverside in Cumbria, with a elevation of 274 metres, and is located near the city of Carlisle, approximately 20 miles away. Raise has a population of around 1075 people and predominantly features terraced housing. Raise is close to other nearby places such as Alston, Bayles, and Blagill, and is about 247 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains across Raise and Cumbria
The teams that answer AdBlue calls in Raise also cover the spots about it, Alston, Bayles and Blagill among them, and most of Cumbria beyond, across the CA postcode area. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Anywhere the vehicle sits — your drive at home, a side street, a parking area, a filling station — our engineers drain it there, with no need to bring it to us; that suits Raise, a small village, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Raise
Because each jobs vary, a flat figure wouldn't be fair. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that went in. After that it rests on where the vehicle is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Catholic Church of Saint Wulstan.
Ahead of a quote, not after, every enquiry from Raise opens with three checks: the fuel, the quantity, and if it ran. With them, a range narrows to one firm number.
Priced on the call before the van sets out, the job is settled that day — card or phone, no deposit. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
Alongside the vehicle around Raise, right now?
In that case, do nothing — that's the best move available. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if it ran is everything we ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder across Cumbria, Raise included.