Ramsley: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, your ignition remains off and so does your engine. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when the system draws it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Ramsley, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before the motor has been run. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Ramsley: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- Keys out — that way nobody can switch anything on.
- If you are anywhere close to moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what got in and about how much.
- Call just where you are. Say a EX20 2 postcode or the nearest street name, and nobody has to search for you.
Not to do:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift your vehicle: your engine remains off.
- Your ignition stays off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to start your pump.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel won't weaken it.
- Leave it where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short distance down Hillfield.
- Emptying your tank on your own by the road isn't one to try.
Ask the attendants to help you move your car off the pumps if you are at a forecourt around Ramsley, whether it's the BP or elsewhere. Stopped on your own drive? Then it remains just where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the engine. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it's sprayed into the exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. A fuel pump is not made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Poured in with your diesel, it stays separate instead of blending — quite different from fuel. The pickup takes fuel from the lowest part of that tank, and that's just where AdBlue settles: being denser than diesel, it sinks. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in South Tawton last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
From there it causes two kinds of harm. What is left when the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they lodge in tiny channels and clog filters. On top of that, it attacks some metals in a fuel system, and keeps going until it's flushed out. By daybreak, a vehicle parked around Ramsley with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; if it is only in that tank, nothing changes. And there's the water: it brings no protection to the components that rely on it the most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger issue?
Fill a diesel with petrol in error over at the Esso, and the issue is diluted fuel. Blended through the diesel and sitting unused, it's harmless for now; running the engine does the harm.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is plainly the wrong one. Because it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Nor can it be watered down, since it separates back out — and the following fill will not rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts for more with AdBlue, and turning your key "to see", in the heart of Ramsley or out in East Week, costs more than almost any other error.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. If your motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside that tank, and the tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Devon the vehicle is sitting.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Ramsley
Many cars place the AdBlue filler beside the diesel cap, occasionally under a single flap, and in dim light the two may look identical. Nobody intends it. It mostly takes place outside the house, from a bottle bought en route home, rather than at the forecourt.
It tends to occur in a few familiar ways. Hurrying, outside South Tawton Primary School, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, someone tops up the vehicle. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Shelly Road. Else, in dim light outside The Oxenham Arms, the vehicle is refilled by someone using that flap the first time.
It takes place most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever you are around Ramsley or the remainder of Devon, it's the same error and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Ramsley?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. The filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and some running time takes it on to the injection pump and each injector.
You may see the engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Dishcombe Wood or halfway across Ramsley. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the vehicle to check. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Ramsley lies under 25 miles from the M5; if you were on it, exit at the first junction and pull up somewhere safe instead of driving on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue further into the system. That is why crossing Ramsley to park near Chimney and a drive of under 25 miles for Exeter are very separate jobs. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Our technicians do all of the cleaning where your car has come to a stop, and once your engine has been started there is more of it. If it's spotted early, lasting damage is very uncommon.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Ramsley?
Our engineers come to the car, wherever it has stopped around Ramsley: a side street near Ramsay Mine (dis), a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The job rests on three answers, and our engineers ask for before all else — what was put in, the amount, and if the engine has turned over.
On the spot, that tank is then drained, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea leave at once. Your system is rinsed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Next, the filter: flushed, or replaced if it has to be. Then fresh diesel, and then a test of the vehicle. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our technicians arrive, provided the engine hasn't run. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they run quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
New diesel goes in to bleed the fuel system, and that's the final step. Whether it is a parking space outside Okehampton or a drive in Ramsley, that is where our engineers fire it up and you head off. The check before our engineers head off is that it runs correctly on new diesel. Since the job is done in its entirety where the car is, a workshop never comes into it. At the end, you are given the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Ramsley
Ramsley is a small suburban area in Devon, situated inland at an elevation of 205 metres, and is located near the villages of Shelly, South Zeal, and Sticklepath. Ramsley has a population of around 580 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Ramsley is positioned approximately 16.6 miles from Exeter, the nearest city, and is part of the wider South West region of England. Ramsley sits in a rural setting, with Exeter being the main urban centre in the area.
AdBlue drains across Devon, Ramsley included
Throughout the EX postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue jobs in Ramsley serve much of Devon too, Shelly, South Zeal and Sticklepath included. Assuming doesn't help close to a border or somewhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
A mobile service suits Ramsley, a residential suburb: there's no need to take the vehicle to us, because we drain it there, on a drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Ramsley: the cost of fixing it
No flat figure would be fair, because every job differs. The price changes first with how long, if at all, the motor 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 our van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Saint Mary's.
That is why every call from Ramsley starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it's run. Those replies turn a range into a straight price.
Our price is quoted on the call, before anyone leaves; settling up happens on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
Ramsley: still alongside the vehicle?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with your car is to not touch it. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, in Ramsley or wherever in Devon, once you phone 0333 366 0103 to say it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.