Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in South Stanley
Engine off, ignition off: that is where you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when the system pulls it in. Caught before the motor has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in South Stanley. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
South Stanley, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do at once
Things to do:
- Keys out — that way no one can power anything on.
- Close to moving traffic? So put the hazard lights on.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and roughly how much.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting DH9 6, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Do not:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift your car: the engine remains off.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue will not blend, so it is pointless.
- Leave the car where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way along Tyne Road East.
- By the road, do not try draining it yourself.
Moving your vehicle off the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever South Stanley forecourt you're on, the Texaco included. If you're on your own drive, leave the vehicle just where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Not your engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. A fuel pump isn't designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
It does not blend. Once it's tipped into the tank, AdBlue acts nothing like fuel. It sinks, because it is denser than diesel, and settles down where the pickup takes its fuel from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Quaking Houses last night, and has not been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. It attacks some metals found in fuel systems, working on any part it touches until it is removed from the system. And once the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that block filters and settle in narrow passages. A vehicle left sitting in South Stanley with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. And there is the water: it brings no protection to the parts that need it the most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Petrol put into a diesel on Esso's forecourt makes the fuel watery — that is the whole problem. Mixed through the diesel and left still, it's no threat at that stage; using the motor does the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Since it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Whether your vehicle is in The Middles or the heart of South Stanley, turning it over "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other slip, and the flush matters more. The reasons: it will not stay blended, and so diluting it is impossible; and deposits and corrosion outlast the next fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Anywhere around Durham your car has stopped, an unstarted motor means the AdBlue yet inside the reservoir: the easiest bit of a fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in South Stanley?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of vehicles sits right next to the diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A bottle picked up when heading home and poured in at home, rather than at the forecourt, is the typical route.
A few familiar ways cover most cases. Hurrying, outside South Stanley Junior School, after a warning lamp came on during the school run, someone refills the vehicle. In the evening, a bottle goes in on a driveway close to Charles Street. Otherwise, in dim light by Masons Arms, your car is topped up by a driver using that flap the first time.
The least familiar cars see it most — hire cars, new ones, fleet cars, and the other car of a family with one of each fuels. Wherever in Durham, South Stanley included, the mistake does not change, and nor does the first response: keep it off.
Started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank in South Stanley?
Then that tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. With any running, it travels to the injection pump and each injector, having passed through the fuel filter and pipework.
Rough running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each may show up, maybe part way across South Stanley or coming back from Southfields Green Belt. Stop when it is safe. Turn off. Leave the vehicle off instead of testing it again. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Exit the A1(M), under 10 miles from South Stanley, at the first junction and stop somewhere safe, not carrying on.
Distance matters: every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in, so driving for Durham, under 10 miles away, gives a far bigger job than hopping across South Stanley to the car park by Stanley Community Football Centre. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to flush once the motor has been run, and our technicians do all of it where your car has stopped. Permanent damage is very uncommon if it's spotted early.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around South Stanley?
The vehicle remains put, whether that's a road near South Moor Library, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station in South Stanley, and the van comes to it. Three answers decide the job, and so before anything else our technicians ask which fluid went in, roughly what quantity, plus if your engine has turned over.
Next, draining that tank right there removes the polluted diesel and the AdBlue together. The fuel system is rinsed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel goes in after the filter is cleaned — or replaced, when it needs to be — and after that your car is tested. If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our technicians arrive. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Clean diesel goes in to bleed the system, and that's the last step. At that point our engineers fire it up and you set off, whether from a parking bay outside Chester-Le-Street or a drive around South Stanley. Before we leave, our technicians check it is running smoothly with clean diesel in. The whole job is done where your car is, so it never needs to be taken to a workshop. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers ask for.
About South Stanley and where it is
South Stanley is a suburban area situated on the riverside in County Durham, with a mix of terraced housing and a population of around 5592 residents. South Stanley sits at an elevation of 196 metres, approximately 7.5 miles from the city of Durham, and is near other local places such as South Moor and Oxhill. South Stanley forms part of the wider Stanley area, which has developed over time as a residential and industrial centre. South Stanley is located in the North East region of England, about 240.8 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Durham, South Stanley included
The teams that answer AdBlue jobs in South Stanley also cover the places about it, South Moor, Oxhill and Stanley among them, and most of Durham beyond, across the DH postcode area. Assuming won't help close to a border or anywhere tricky to describe; phone and ask.
Anywhere your vehicle stands — a drive at home, a residential street, a parking area, a filling station — our engineers drain it on the spot, and there's no need to bring it to us; which suits South Stanley, a residential suburb, well.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in South Stanley?
Since the callouts vary, a single price wouldn't be fair. What shifts the price is, first, whether the motor has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and after that where the vehicle is and whether our van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight gap behind Stanley Young Peoples Club.
Which fluid went in, how much, and if the engine ran: every South Stanley enquiry opens with exactly that, before any figure, not afterwards. Their replies shrink a range down to one number.
Before anyone sets off, you are told our quote on the phone. And you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Look at your insurance whilst we are on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
Still alongside your car around South Stanley?
In that case, touch nothing — that's the best move there is. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and if it ran is all we need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder across Durham, South Stanley included.