AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Smockington? Don't Start It
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. The trouble begins once it is pulled through your pump — it will not ignite, and it won't combine with diesel. If your engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and carefully flushed where the vehicle sits around Smockington. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Smockington: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- So nobody can turn the ignition on, take the keys out.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and roughly how much, save the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Give us a postcode starting LE10 3, or whatever street is nearest, and the van finds you directly — so call wherever you are.
Things not to do:
- Shifting the car even a few yards is no reason to fire up the engine.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel will not thin it.
- Never drive it anywhere, not even a short stretch up Smockington Lane.
- No draining it yourself, at all, at the verge.
The staff on duty at any Smockington filling station — the Esso included — will normally lend a hand pushing it clear if you ask. Parked on your own drive? Then it remains exactly as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not the motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sprayed into your exhaust, and there it treats the fumes. No part inside an injection pump is designed for this fluid — and no part of it was meant to go through one.
Poured in with your diesel, it stays apart instead of mixing — entirely different from fuel. Denser than diesel, it drops and pools below it — the very place the pickup sucks from. Once your system runs, the AdBlue is first to go through. Before then it waits underneath the diesel, which is how a vehicle topped up in Wolvey Heath last night and not switched on stays the straightforward one, provided no one touches the key.
From there it does two kinds of harm. It eats at some metals used in fuel components, attacking whatever it reaches until it's cleared completely. And when the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and lodge in tiny channels. Lines holding AdBlue mean damage by morning for a vehicle sitting around Smockington. Only in the tank, it stays the same. The water in it does harm of its own: the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Murco's forecourt leaves the fuel watery — that is the main issue. No damage is done as long as it stays unused, mixed into the diesel — only once the motor works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It can't just be run through, since it doesn't burn. Crystals and corrosion remain after the next tankful, and AdBlue separates back from the diesel, so thinning it can't help. That is why the flush matters so much, and turning your key "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other slip — in High Cross or the heart of Smockington alike.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on any fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue stays in it — anywhere around Leicestershire your vehicle has stopped.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Smockington?
Plenty of vehicles put the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel cap, now and then behind one flap, and after dark the two can look identical. Nobody intends it. It mostly takes place at home, from a bottle bought en route home, not at the filling station.
Mostly, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Burbage Junior School the refill is hurried. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Watling Street. Else, after dark outside the pub in the village, your vehicle is refilled by someone opening that flap for the first time.
It happens most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Leave it switched off: that's the first response to the same slip, wherever around Smockington or the rest of Leicestershire you happen to be.
Started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Smockington?
Then that tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Through the fuel filter, through the lines, and — given any running time — on to the high-pressure pump and every injector: that is where it travels.
Maybe coming back from Copston Spinney, or midway across Smockington, your engine might go rough, smoke, drop power, light up your dash or cut out. When you safely can, pull over then turn it off — with no restarting to test. Each start pulls more of that through.
Exit the M69, under 3 miles from Smockington, at the first junction and park safely, rather than carrying on.
A quick hop across Smockington to the car park by St Mary the Virgin is one thing; driving for Coventry, under 10 miles away, is another, because each mile carries the AdBlue further in. So mileage counts. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after your engine has been run. Noticed quickly, it very rarely leaves long-term damage.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Smockington: what it takes
We come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped around Smockington: a side street close to St John, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. What was put in, about the quantity, and if your engine has been run: our technicians check first, since those shape the job.
Then that tank is emptied where the vehicle waits, and so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. The system is rinsed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Clean diesel goes in after the fuel filter is cleaned — or swapped, if it needs to be — and after that your vehicle is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once we turn up, if the motor has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Last, the fuel system is bled with new diesel. You drive off as soon as our technicians have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a drive in Smockington or in a bay outside Hinckley. Our engineers make sure it runs correctly on new diesel before we leave. We do it all wherever your car has stopped, and it never needs to go to a garage. Afterwards, you are given paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Smockington, for a moment
Smockington is a small hamlet situated on the riverside in Leicestershire, with an elevation of 121 metres. Smockington lies near several other rural settlements, including Wigston Parva and Copston Magna, and is within commuting distance of Coventry. Smockington has a population of around 618 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Smockington is located in the East Midlands region, approximately 85.8 miles from London.
Smockington and Leicestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
Wigston Parva, Copston Magna and Leicester Grange are among the places near Smockington that the same vans reach, together with much of Leicestershire further out, over the LE postcode area. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Anywhere your vehicle stands — your driveway at home, a side street, a car park, a filling station — we drain it there, with no need to take it to us; which suits Smockington, a rural hamlet, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Smockington
There is no fair single price, because the jobs are not the same. What changes the cost is, first, whether the engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and finally where the vehicle is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Venonae Roman Settlement.
Before a quote, not afterwards, every enquiry from Smockington begins with the same three checks: the liquid, the amount, and whether the engine ran. The answers turn a range into a straight price.
You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. As our engineer is travelling, dig out your insurance: plenty include misfuelling.
Smockington: still next to the car?
Right now, the best thing to do with the car is to not touch it. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it ran are all our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest throughout Leicestershire, Smockington too.