Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Sandbanks
If AdBlue has got into your diesel tank, leave your engine off then leave the ignition off. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. Being water-based, it will not ignite and won't blend with diesel; trouble just comes once the pump begins pulling it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Sandbanks, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it is caught before your motor has been run. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Sandbanks: the first few minutes
Do these:
- Take your keys out, and so no one switches the ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and roughly how much, keep your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Our van finds you quickest with a postcode starting BH13 7, or simply the name of a street close by, so call from the spot.
Never:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to shift the car.
- Plenty of diesels power their pump the instant your ignition goes on, so leave it off.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel won't weaken it.
- Don't drive it anywhere, not even a short way along Panorama Road.
- Beside the road, do not attempt draining it on your own.
At a forecourt around Sandbanks, whether it's the Fuel Berth or another one, ask the staff to help you push the car away from the petrol pump. At your own driveway, do not touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the engine. Stored in a separate tank, it's injected into the exhaust stream to treat the gases. No part inside a fuel pump is made for this fluid — and none of it was meant to travel through one.
It doesn't combine. After it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves not at all like fuel. Heavier than diesel, it drops and collects below it — the same place the intake sucks from. Simplest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Alum Chine overnight and has not been started since. The liquid waits at the base of the tank, undrawn — but it would be first through once the motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and tiny channels; meanwhile, since it eats at some metals, every part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it remains inside. Where the AdBlue has reached the lines, waiting overnight in Sandbanks makes things worse. Inside that tank alone, waiting costs nothing. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and each injector as it passes; water offers no lubrication, which is a second kind of harm.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the Texaco and you have a fault of thin fuel. No harm comes as long as it stays put, mixed into the diesel — only when your motor works on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is plainly the wrong one. Since it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Deposits and corrosion stay through the following fill, and AdBlue splits back from your diesel, and so watering it can't help. That is why the flush counts so much, and turning your key "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other mistake — in Parkstone or the heart of Sandbanks equally.
As with petrol, there's good news. Wherever in Dorset your car has come to rest, an unrun motor means the AdBlue still inside the tank: the simplest bit of a fuel system to clear.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Sandbanks
It is not deliberate. Plenty of vehicles keep the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel inlet, occasionally under a single flap, and muddling them up is simple in poor light. Mostly it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Lilliput Church of England Infant School the refill is hurried. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off B3369. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap tops up your car in dim light, parked in the car park by the pub in the village.
It happens most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever you are in Sandbanks or the rest of Dorset, it is the same error and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Sandbanks?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Via the fuel filter, through the pipework, and — given any running time — on to the injection pump and each injector: that's where it has gone.
You may see the motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from The Millenium Garden of Remembrance or halfway across Sandbanks. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart it to check. More of that is pulled through with each start.
Sandbanks sits under 25 miles from the M27; if you were on it, leave by the next junction and pull up somewhere safe rather than carrying on.
Distance counts: each mile pushes the AdBlue further in, so heading towards Salisbury, under 50 miles away, gives a far larger job than crossing Sandbanks to the car park by Chapel of St Nicolas. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
There is more to flush once the engine has been started, and our technicians do all of it where the vehicle has stopped. Very seldom does it leave long-term damage if it is caught soon.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Sandbanks?
A street by Guglielmo Marconi, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt: anywhere your car has come to rest around Sandbanks, our engineers come to it. The job depends on three answers, which we ask for first — which fluid was put in, the amount, and whether the motor has turned over.
Then that tank is drained where the car waits, and so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush counts: the whole system is flushed right through because what remains will not flush away by itself. Testing your vehicle comes at the end, once clean diesel is added and your filter is cleaned or, if necessary, swapped. About half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when the motor hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Finally, the system is primed with clean diesel. You head off as soon as our engineers have started the car, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a driveway around Sandbanks or in a space at Parkstone (Dorset). Before we leave, our engineers make sure it is running correctly with clean diesel in. No garage is required at any point, with the whole job done then and there. Your insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Sandbanks
Sandbanks is a small suburban area located on the coast of Dorset, characterized by its low elevation of around 4 metres above sea level. Sandbanks sits near the mouth of Poole Harbour, close to neighbouring areas such as Lilliput, Canford Cliffs, and Branksome Park. Sandbanks is predominantly composed of detached housing, reflecting its desirable location and affluent demographic. Sandbanks is situated approximately 96.9 miles south west of London and 27.2 miles south of Salisbury.
AdBlue drains across Dorset, Sandbanks included
The vans that answer AdBlue jobs around Sandbanks also cover the spots around it, Lilliput, Canford Cliffs and Branksome Park among them, and most of Dorset beyond, across the BH postcode area. Close to a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down? Checking beats assuming, so ring.
Wherever your car stands — your drive at home, a side street, a car park, a forecourt — we empty it on the spot, with no need to bring it to us; that suits Sandbanks, a residential suburb, well.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Sandbanks?
Not one flat price could be fair, because each job is different. The price moves 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 a van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind The Watersports Academy.
Before a figure, never after, every call from Sandbanks begins with three questions: the liquid, the quantity, and if the engine ran. Their replies shrink a range down to a single number.
Our price is quoted on the call, before a van sets off; payment happens on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Check your policy whilst we're on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Sandbanks: still alongside your car?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the car. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Say it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Sandbanks or anywhere in Dorset.