Rushton: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Urea mixed in water is all AdBlue is. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and nothing starts until your engine sucks it through. Caught before your motor has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Rushton. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps right now, Rushton: AdBlue in your diesel tank
To do:
- Take your keys out, so no one switches your ignition on.
- Near moving traffic? So put your hazards on.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and about how much, save the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Our van finds you fastest with a postcode starting NN14 1, or simply the name of a street close by, so call from the car.
Things not to do:
- Shifting the vehicle even a short way is no reason to start your engine.
- Your ignition remains off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to run your fuel pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Never drive it anywhere, not even a short distance up Station Road.
- Emptying the tank yourself beside the road isn't one to try.
Get the attendants to help you roll the car away from the island if you're on a forecourt in Rushton, whether it's the Esso or elsewhere. On the drive, the car remains just as it was left.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the motor. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it is fed into your exhaust, and there it treats the gas. A fuel pump isn't designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
Poured in with your diesel, it stays separate instead of mixing — entirely unlike fuel. The pickup takes fuel from the lowest part of that tank, and that is exactly where AdBlue ends up: being denser than diesel, it sinks. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Newton last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
From there it does two kinds of harm. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps labouring on the components it reaches for as long as it remains there. Lines holding AdBlue mean harm overnight for a car sitting in Rushton. Just inside your tank, it stays the same. And there's the water: it brings no lubrication to the components that need it most — the injection pump and every injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is often more significant than petrol
Top up a diesel with petrol in error over at the Shell, and the problem is diluted fuel. Harm only comes from driving on it. Blended into your diesel and sitting inside your tank, it causes none.
AdBlue in a diesel is a problem of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. Whether your car is in Thorpe Malsor or the heart of Rushton, firing it up "to see" does more harm in this case than almost any other error, and the flush counts for more. Why: it will not stay blended, and so watering it down fails; and crystals and corrosion outlast the next tankful.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest part on any fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever in Northamptonshire the car sits.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Rushton?
Plenty of motors place the AdBlue filler beside the diesel one, occasionally behind a single flap, and in dim light the two can appear the same. Nobody means it. It usually takes place outside the house, from a bottle grabbed on the journey home, rather than at the forecourt.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside Rushton Primary School. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Woodyard Close. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap refills your vehicle in dim light, parked in the car park outside The Thornhill Arms.
It happens most in the motors people know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever in Northamptonshire, Rushton as well, the mistake does not change, and neither does the first response: leave it switched off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Rushton, and the motor started?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. The filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and any running time takes it on to the injection pump and every injector.
Expect rough running, smoke, falling power, lights on your dash, or a stall — coming back from Rushton Pocket Park, perhaps, or midway across Rushton. No restarting to test: stop when it is safe, then switch it off. Each start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the M6, under 25 miles from Rushton, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
A quick hop across Rushton to the car park by All Saints is one thing; driving towards Leicester, under 25 miles away, is another, since each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So distance matters. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
There is more to clean out once the motor has run, and we do all of it where the vehicle has come to a stop. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage if it is noticed early.
Rushton: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
The car remains where it is, whether that is a street near Rushton Cricket Pavilion, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station around Rushton, and our van travels to it. What was put in, roughly how much, plus if your engine has been run: our engineers ask first, because those shape the work.
Right there, that tank is then emptied, and all of the contaminated diesel and the urea come out at once. Residue from AdBlue won't wash out by itself, so the whole system gets a full flush, which counts much more here than with petrol. Testing your vehicle follows last, once fresh diesel is added and your filter is flushed or, if necessary, replaced. Most of these jobs are a half-hour job once our technicians get there, provided your motor hasn't run. Quiet enough to use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
The final step is to prime the fuel system on clean diesel. Whether it is a parking space at Kettering or a driveway around Rushton, that is where our engineers start it and you set off. It is checked on fresh diesel to make sure it runs properly before our engineers go. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to go to a workshop. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — both yours once the job is done.
About Rushton itself
Rushton is a small village in Northamptonshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 99 metres. Rushton lies near several other villages, including Pipewell, Rothwell, and Desborough, and is approximately 20 miles from Leicester. Rushton has a population of around 528 people, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type. Rushton is also within commuting distance of London, being around 70 miles away.
Rushton and Northamptonshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout the NN postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue call-outs in Rushton serve most of Northamptonshire too, Pipewell, Rothwell and Desborough among them. Near a boundary, or anywhere tricky to pin down? Asking is better than assuming, so ring.
No towing is needed. In Rushton, a village, a van that comes to you works: your vehicle is emptied where it stands, be it on a drive, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Rushton
There is no honest single quote, because the jobs aren't the same. The price changes first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that got in. After that it rests on where the car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Rushton Village Hall.
That's why every call from Rushton starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and whether it has run. With them, the range narrows to a single fixed figure.
You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As our engineer is travelling, dig out your policy: plenty include misfuelling.
Alongside the car in Rushton, still?
Right now, the best thing to do with your vehicle is to not touch it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Say it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and if it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Rushton or wherever in Northamptonshire.