AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Southill? Don't Start It
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the system draws it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Southill, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before the motor has been run. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
What to do straight away, Southill: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do these:
- Keys out — that way no one can power anything on.
- If you are at all close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Hold on to the till receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what was put in and about how much.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting DT4 9, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Do not do these:
- Moving the car just a few yards is no reason to fire up the motor.
- Your ignition stays off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to run the pump.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue will not blend, so it is pointless.
- Do not drive it anywhere, not even a short way down Mead Road.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself by the kerbside.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you roll your vehicle off the pumps if you are on a forecourt in Southill, whether it's the Morrisons or somewhere else. If you're on your own drive, leave the vehicle exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not the motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to fresh it. Not one side fits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and an injection pump cannot take urea.
Poured in with your diesel, it stays separate rather than blending — quite different from fuel. It sinks, since it is heavier than diesel, and settles down where the pickup draws its fuel from. A motor filled on a driveway in Charlestown yesterday evening and left unstarted is the simple case. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though once your motor runs, that's what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
Once it's drawn in, the harm takes two forms. What is left when the water goes is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle in narrow channels and block filters. Worse, it eats at certain metals in the fuel system, and carries on until it is flushed out. A motor left standing in Southill with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and each injector depend on diesel running past them, so the water part harms them by itself.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the Esso and you have a problem of thin fuel. No harm is done while it sits put, mixed into your diesel — only once the engine runs on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable liquid. It can't simply be run through, because it does not burn. It doesn't stay mixed, so it can't be thinned. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the car is in Westham or the middle of Southill.
As with petrol, there's good news. If your motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in the tank, and that tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Dorset the car is sitting.
Southill: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Plenty of cars put the AdBlue cap beside the diesel cap, occasionally behind one flap, and after dark the two can appear the same. No one means it. Most of the time it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
It tends to take place in a couple of familiar ways. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Southill Primary School the top-up is rushed. After work, a bottle goes in on a driveway close to Poplar Close. Another pattern: darkness, the car park outside John Gregory, and a driver using that flap the first time.
It takes place most in the motors drivers know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever you're around Southill or the rest of Dorset, it's the same error and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Southill, and the engine started?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in that tank. With any running time, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and each injector, having passed via the filter and pipework.
Perhaps coming back from Weymouth Golf Club, or part way across Southill, your motor may run lumpy, smoke, lose pace, light up your dash or cut out. No starting it again to check: pull over when it is safe, then switch it off. Every start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the M5, under 50 miles from Southill, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue further into the system. That's why a hop across Southill to park beside Emmanuel Church, Southill and a drive of under 50 miles for Wells are very distinct jobs. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
We do all of the rinsing where the car has ended up, and once your engine has been run there is more of it. Long-term damage is very rare if it's noticed quickly.
Southill: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
A street beside Bob Lucas Stadium, a drive, a layby or a forecourt: anywhere your car has stopped in Southill, we come to it. Three replies shape the job, so before anything else our technicians ask which fluid got in, about what quantity, and whether the motor has run.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave as one after your tank is emptied, right there. Residue from AdBlue won't wash out by itself, so the whole system gets a full flush, which matters far more here than with petrol. A test of your vehicle follows at the end, once clean diesel is added and your filter is cleaned or, if necessary, swapped. About half an hour on site is typical for most jobs when the motor hasn't run. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live forecourt is no issue, and it's hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
The last step is to bleed the system on fresh diesel. Whether it's a parking bay by Weymouth or a driveway in Southill, that is where we start the car and you head off. The test before our engineers leave is that it runs properly on new diesel. Our technicians do it all wherever your car has stopped, and it never has to be taken to a garage. Afterwards, there is paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Southill
Southill is a coastal suburban area in Dorset, situated near the towns of Radipole and Putton, with Coldharbour to the east. Southill has a population of around 1991 residents and is characterized by predominantly detached housing. Southill sits at a low elevation of 7 metres above sea level, close to the sea. Southill is located approximately 41 miles from the nearest city, Wells, and 118.9 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Southill and Dorset
Throughout the DT postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue call-outs around Southill reach much of Dorset too, Radipole, Putton and Coldharbour among them. Assuming won't help by a border or anywhere tricky to pin down; phone and check.
A van that comes to you fits Southill, a residential suburb: there's no need to bring the car to us, because we drain it there, on a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a forecourt.
Southill: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Every job differs, so no fixed price would be honest. What changes the cost is, firstly, whether your engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue went in; and finally where the vehicle is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight spot behind St Ann.
Before a figure, never afterwards, every enquiry from Southill begins with the same three checks: the fuel, the quantity, plus if it ran. Given them, a range narrows to a single firm figure.
Before a van sets off, you are told the quote by phone. And you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
Beside your car around Southill, right now?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, across Southill or wherever within Dorset, once you ring 0333 366 0103 to say it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and if it ran.