AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Shelfleys? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, keep the motor off then leave your ignition off. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the fuel system pulls it in. In Shelfleys, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your motor runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. No step comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around Shelfleys
Things to do:
- Keys out — then no one can power anything on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you are at all near moving traffic.
- Which fluid, and roughly how much quantity? Save the bottle or the till receipt, and our engineers will know.
- Our van finds you fastest with a postcode starting NN4 9, or simply the name of a street nearby, and so call from the spot.
Not to do:
- No starting the engine — not for a second, not to shift the vehicle.
- Many diesels run their fuel pump the moment your ignition goes on, and so keep it off.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel won't thin it.
- Don't drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short distance down Ladybridge Drive.
- No draining it yourself, at all, on the roadside.
Rolling the car off the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever Shelfleys forecourt you are on, the BP or any other. Parked on your own drive? Then it stays just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. A fuel pump isn't made to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. The pickup sucks fuel from the deepest part of your tank, and that's just where AdBlue ends up: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Briar Hill last night and has not turned since. The liquid sits at the foot of your tank, untouched — though it would be the first thing through if the engine runs, before any diesel at all.
From there it does 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 working on the parts it gets to for as long as it remains there. Pipes carrying AdBlue mean harm by morning for a vehicle parked in Shelfleys. Just in your tank, it stays stable. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and every injector as it flows; water offers no lubrication, and that is a second form of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger fault?
A problem of thin fuel is what you end up with from filling a diesel with petrol from the Tesco. No damage is done while it stays unused, blended into the diesel — only when your motor works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a problem of the wrong substance altogether. Because it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be thinned, because it separates again — and the next tankful will not clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts for more with AdBlue, and turning the key "to see", in the heart of Shelfleys or out in Blacky More, costs more than nearly any other slip.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest part on any fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever across Northamptonshire the car has stopped.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Shelfleys
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of cars waits right next to your diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A bottle picked up when driving home and poured in at home, instead of at the filling station, is the usual story.
Usually, it happens in one of a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside Hunsbury Park Primary School. Close to Teal Close, someone pours a bottle in at home after work. Or someone new to that flap refills the car in dim light, parked in the car park outside Woodys.
It takes place most in the motors 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're around Shelfleys or the remainder of Northamptonshire, it is the same error and the same first answer: leave the car off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Shelfleys, and your engine started?
Then the AdBlue has left your tank. It has been pulled through the fuel filter and the lines, and if your engine ran for any time, it has reached your high-pressure pump and your injectors.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, dropping power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each might show up, perhaps part way across Shelfleys or returning from Wootton Brook Park. When you safely can, pull over then switch it off — with no turning it on again to test. Each start pulls more of that through.
Exit the M1, under a mile from Shelfleys, at the next junction and park safely, not driving on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue further in. That is why a hop across Shelfleys to park beside St Benedicts Church of England and a drive of under 15 miles for Milton Keynes are such different jobs. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to rinse out once your engine has run, and our technicians do all of it where your car has come to a stop. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage when it is caught early.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Shelfleys?
We come to your car, wherever it has stopped in Shelfleys: a side street close to Hill Fort, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Three answers decide the work, so first we ask what was put in, roughly what quantity, and if the motor has run.
Right there, that tank is then drained, and both the polluted diesel and the urea come out at once. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing matters: the whole system is flushed all the way through because what remains will not wash out unaided. A test of your vehicle comes last, once clean diesel goes in and the fuel filter gets flushed or, if needed, replaced. Engine not run? Then expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a live filling station is no problem, and it's hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
Last, the system is primed with clean diesel. Starting the car comes next, and then you drive off from where your car is parked, at Northampton or on a drive around Shelfleys. It's checked on fresh diesel to make sure it runs correctly before our engineers go. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to go to a garage. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both afterwards.
About Shelfleys and where it is
Shelfleys is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Northamptonshire, with an elevation of around 69 metres. Shelfleys lies within the East Midlands region, approximately 59.6 miles from London and 13.9 miles from Milton Keynes. Shelfleys is characterised by its predominantly detached housing and is surrounded by nearby places such as Camp Hill, Swan Valley, and Merefield.
AdBlue drains around Shelfleys and across Northamptonshire
Camp Hill, Swan Valley and Merefield are among the towns near Shelfleys that the same vans serve, along with most of Northamptonshire further out, over the NN postcode area. Phone and check rather than guess if you are close to a border, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
No moving is needed. In Shelfleys, a residential suburb, a van that comes to you works: the car is emptied where it stands, be it in a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Shelfleys?
No single price would be honest, since each job is different. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that got in. After that it depends on where the car is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind Ss. Francis & Therese Church.
With that in mind, each call from Shelfleys opens with the identical trio — what was put in, how much, whether the engine ran — ahead of any quote. Their answers narrow a range right down to one figure.
Our price is quoted on the call, before a van sets off; payment comes on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your insurance whilst we are on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Still alongside the car around Shelfleys?
Not touching the car is, then, the most useful move open to you. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if the engine ran are all our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest throughout Northamptonshire, Shelfleys too.