Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Soundwell
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does the engine. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. As it is water-based, it won't ignite and won't blend with diesel; damage only starts when the pump starts pulling it. If your engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and thoroughly rinsed where the car stands in Soundwell. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Soundwell, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do right away
Do these:
- Pull your keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Close to moving traffic? Then put the hazards on.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and about what quantity, keep the receipt or the empty bottle.
- The van locates you quickest with a postcode starting BS15 4, or simply the name of a street nearby, so call from the car.
Never:
- Not even briefly, and not to roll the vehicle: the engine remains off.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue will not blend, so it's pointless.
- Don't drive it anywhere, not even a short stretch down Rodway View.
- By the road, don't try draining it yourself.
Moving the vehicle away from the pumps is a job for attendants to help with, whichever Soundwell forecourt you are on, the Esso included. At your own driveway, don't move it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not the motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Poured in with your diesel, it stays separate rather than blending — quite different from fuel. The intake sucks fuel from the lowest part of the tank, and that is exactly where AdBlue ends up: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. A car filled on a drive in Hopewell Hill yesterday evening and not started since is the simple case. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though once your engine runs, that's what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
It causes two kinds of harm from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that crystallises in filters and narrow channels; meanwhile, because it eats at certain metals, each part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it stays inside. Pipes holding AdBlue spell harm by morning for a car sitting around Soundwell. Only inside the tank, it stays the same. Water protects nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel running past them, and so the water part damages them in its own right.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is frequently more significant than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Morrisons's forecourt makes your fuel watery — that is the main problem. No damage is done as long as it sits unused, blended into the diesel — only once your engine runs on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is plainly the wrong one. It cannot just be run through, since it doesn't burn. Whether the car is in New Cheltenham or the centre of Soundwell, turning it over "to see" does more harm in this case than nearly any other mistake, and the flush matters for more. The reasons: it will not stay blended, so diluting it fails; and crystals and corrosion survive the next tankful.
As with petrol, there is good news. Anywhere in Gloucestershire the car has come to rest, an unrun engine leaves the AdBlue still inside the tank: the easiest bit of any fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Soundwell?
Many vehicles place the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel one, now and then under a single flap, and after dark the two can look identical. Nobody means it. It usually occurs outside the house, from a bottle bought en route home, not at the filling station.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. Rushing, outside The Tynings Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, a parent tops up the vehicle. After work, a container goes in on a driveway close to Jubilee Road. Another pattern: dim light, a pub car park by The Jolly Cobbler, and a driver opening that flap for the first time.
It crops up most in a hire car, a brand-new car, a fleet car, or the other motor of a home with one of each fuel types — the vehicles drivers know the least. Wherever across Gloucestershire, Soundwell included, the mistake doesn't change, and nor does the first step: keep it switched off.
Started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Soundwell?
Then that tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. With any running, it travels to the high-pressure pump and each injector, after passing via the filter and pipework.
Perhaps coming back from Page Park, or part way across Soundwell, your engine might go rough, smoke, lose pace, light up the dash or stall. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart it to check. Every start pulls more of it through.
Exit the M4, under 3 miles from Soundwell, by the next junction and stop safely, not driving on.
Mileage matters: each mile carries the AdBlue further into your system, so heading towards Bristol, under 5 miles away, makes a far bigger job than crossing Soundwell to the car park by Staple Hill War Memorial. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
There is more to rinse out once the engine has been started, and we do all of it where your car has stopped. Lasting damage is very uncommon when it is noticed quickly.
Soundwell: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
The vehicle stays put, whether that is a street near Happy Children United in Play, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt in Soundwell, and the van travels to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if the motor has been run, since those answers determine the work.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one when that tank is drained, on the spot. A careful flush matters much more with AdBlue than after petrol, since what remains will not clear out on its own. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour job once we arrive, provided your motor hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Lastly, the fuel system is bled with new diesel. Then our technicians start the engine and you head off, whether from a parking space by Bristol Parkway or a driveway around Soundwell. Our engineers confirm it runs properly on clean diesel before leaving. No workshop is needed at any stage, 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 once the job is done.
About Soundwell
Soundwell is a locality in Gloucestershire, situated on the riverside near Bristol, with a mix of terraced housing and other residential properties. Soundwell sits at an elevation of around 74 metres, close to the River Avon and the nearby settlements of Lower Soundwell and Upper Soundwell. Soundwell is located near the city of Bristol, which is approximately 4.7 miles away, and is part of the larger urban area surrounding the city. Soundwell has a population of around 4599 people, living in a variety of housing types, predominantly terraced homes.
Soundwell and Gloucestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
Lower Soundwell, Upper Soundwell and Staple Hill are among the towns near Soundwell that the same teams reach, together with much of Gloucestershire further out, over the BS postcode area. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Anywhere the vehicle stands — your driveway at home, a residential street, a car park, a filling station — our technicians empty it on the spot, and there's no need to bring it to us; which suits Soundwell, a small village, well.
Soundwell: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no honest single price, because the jobs are not the same. The price 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 gap behind Fleur Lombard.
Which fluid went in, how much, and if the engine ran: each Soundwell enquiry opens with exactly those, ahead of a figure, not after. Their replies shrink the range down to a single figure.
You get that price by phone, before anybody heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Beside the vehicle around Soundwell, still?
In that case, do nothing — that is the best move available. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and if it ran is all our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest across Gloucestershire, Soundwell too.