AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Rockbeare? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, leave the engine off then leave the ignition off. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. The trouble begins once it's sucked through the lines — it won't ignite, and it will not blend with diesel. If your motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and carefully flushed where the car stands in Rockbeare. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Rockbeare: the first few minutes
To do:
- Pocket the keys, which prevents anyone switching the power on.
- Put your hazards on if you are anywhere close to moving traffic.
- Hold on to your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what got in and roughly how much.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting EX5 2, or the name of the nearest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- No starting your engine — not for a second, not to shift the car.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel won't weaken it.
- Keep the vehicle where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short distance along Cherry Tree Close.
- Draining the tank yourself beside the road isn't one to try.
At a forecourt around Rockbeare, whether it's the Murco or another one, ask the staff to help you roll the car clear of the petrol pump. Stopped on your own driveway? Then it remains exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the motor. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is fed into your exhaust, where it treats the fumes. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, after tipped in, won't. Its behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It drops, because it's denser than diesel, and settles down where the intake takes its fuel from. A vehicle filled on a drive in Hand and Pen yesterday evening and left unstarted is the straightforward case. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though when the engine runs, that's what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of the tank.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. 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, so it keeps running on the parts it gets to for as long as it stays there. Lines carrying AdBlue mean damage by morning for a vehicle sitting in Rockbeare. Only in that tank, it stays stable. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector need diesel running through them, and so the water part damages them in its own right.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is commonly more serious than petrol
Top up a diesel with petrol in error over at the Texaco, and this issue is thinned fuel. No damage is done as long as it sits unused, blended into the diesel — only once the engine runs on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is plainly the wrong one. It can't simply be run through, because it doesn't burn. Deposits and corrosion remain after the next fill, and AdBlue separates back from your diesel, so thinning it won't help. That is why the flush matters so much, and turning the key "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other slip — in Marsh Green or the heart of Rockbeare alike.
As with petrol, there is good news. Emptying a tank is the simplest part on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue stays in it — anywhere in Devon the car sits.
Rockbeare: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It is not on purpose. Plenty of cars keep the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel one, now and then under a single flap, and mixing them up is easy after dark. Most of the time it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the pump.
A few familiar ways cover most cases. The refill gets hurried outside Rockbeare Church of England Primary School and Pre-School, because your dash flashed with a warning as the kids were dropped off. Someone pours the bottle in at home, right off Valley View, as the day ends. Else, after dark outside The Jack In The Green Inn, your vehicle gets topped up by a driver opening 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. Anywhere around Devon, Rockbeare as well, the slip doesn't change, and nor does the first step: keep it off.
Started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Rockbeare?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. Via the filter, along the lines, and — given any running time — on to the high-pressure pump and each injector: that is how far it has gone.
Watch for rough running, smoke, falling power, lights on the dash, or a stall — returning from Rockbeare Playing Fields, say, or midway across Rockbeare. Once safe, pull over then turn it off — with no restarting to test. Each start pulls more of it through.
On the M5, under 3 miles from Rockbeare, the first junction is where to leave, and anywhere sensible is where to park — not driving on.
Mileage matters: every mile carries the AdBlue further into your system, so heading towards Exeter, under 10 miles away, makes a far larger job than hopping across Rockbeare to the car park by Rockbeare War Memorial. Tell us about how far it had come.
There is more to clean out once the motor has run, and our technicians do all of it where the vehicle has ended up. Lasting damage is very unusual when it's caught early.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves around Rockbeare
We come to your car, wherever it has stopped in Rockbeare: a side street close to Saint Mary with Saint Andrew, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The work rests on three answers, and our technicians get before all else — which fluid went in, the quantity, and if your motor has run.
Then your tank is cleared where the car stands, and so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A full flush counts much more after AdBlue than after petrol, since residue won't wash away on its own. After that, the filter: cleaned, or replaced when it must be. Then clean diesel, and then a test of the vehicle. If your motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once our technicians are there. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough to spare the street at night.
Clean diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that's the final step. Starting it comes next, and then you drive off from where your car is parked, outside Cranbrook (Devon) or on a drive around Rockbeare. The check before our technicians go is that it runs smoothly on new diesel. The whole job is done where your car is, so it never has to go to a garage. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Rockbeare, briefly
Rockbeare is a small village in Devon, situated inland near the city of Exeter. Rockbeare lies at an elevation of approximately 30 metres, close to the nearby settlements of Jack-in-the-Green and Cranbrook. Rockbeare has a population of around 719 people, predominantly living in detached housing. Rockbeare is located about 6.4 miles from Exeter, making it a commuter-friendly village.
Rockbeare and Devon: AdBlue drains across the area
Jack-in-the-Green, Cranbrook and Strete Ralegh are among the towns near Rockbeare that the same vans serve, together with much of Devon further out, over the EX postcode area. Phone and check instead of guessing if you're close to a county line, or somewhere tricky to explain.
No moving is needed. In Rockbeare, a rural village, a van that comes to you fits: the car is emptied on the spot, be it in a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Rockbeare?
Each job is different, and so no fixed quote would be fair. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it depends 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 Rockbeare Village Hall.
Before any quote, not after, each enquiry from Rockbeare opens with the same three questions: the liquid, the amount, plus if it ran. Those replies shrink a range right down to one number.
Quoted on the call before the van sets out, the job is paid for that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
Still alongside the vehicle in Rockbeare?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to your car. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Rockbeare or anywhere around Devon.