Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Speenhamland
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then leave the motor off — and the ignition too. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the system pulls it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Speenhamland, is normally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before the engine has been run. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
What to do straight away, Speenhamland: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Things to do:
- Pull the keys out, and so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you're anywhere close to moving traffic.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what got in and roughly how much.
- Call right where you are. Quote a RG14 1 postcode or the closest street name, and no one has to hunt for you.
Don't do these:
- No starting the motor — not briefly, not to reposition the car.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Adding more diesel does not help: AdBlue settles out instead of blending.
- Never drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short way up Oxford Street.
- Emptying that tank on your own by the road is not one to try.
Get the attendants to help you move the vehicle off the island if you are at a forecourt around Speenhamland, whether it's the Shell or somewhere else. Stopped on your own driveway? Then it stays just where it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Kept in a dedicated tank, it's injected into the exhaust to treat the fumes. Nothing inside a fuel pump is designed for this fluid — and none of that was intended to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It is heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in East Fields last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
From there it causes two kinds of harm. It attacks certain metals used in fuel systems, attacking whatever it reaches until it's cleared completely. And when the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that block filters and settle in narrow channels. Overnight, a vehicle parked around Speenhamland with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; if it is just in the tank, it doesn't. The water in it causes harm of its own: the high-pressure pump and the injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is regularly worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the Sainsbury's and you have a fault of thin fuel. Harm only comes from driving on it. Mixed into the diesel and sitting inside that tank, it causes none.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Since it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Whether the vehicle is in Donnington or the heart of Speenhamland, firing it up "to see" costs more in this case than nearly any other error, and the flush counts more. The reasons: it won't remain mixed, so diluting it fails; and crystals and corrosion survive the next tankful.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Never run? Then the AdBlue sits only inside the tank, the easiest section of the whole system to clear, wherever the car has come to rest around Berkshire.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Speenhamland?
It's not on purpose. Plenty of cars keep the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel inlet, occasionally under one flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. A container bought when driving home and poured in at home, rather than at the forecourt, is the usual route.
A couple of familiar ways cover most cases. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Speenhamland School the top-up is rushed. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Oxford Road. Or a driver new to that flap tops up your car in dim light, parked in the car park outside The Monument.
It happens most in the motors drivers know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Keep it switched off: that's the first step to the same slip, wherever around Speenhamland or the remainder of Berkshire you are.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Speenhamland?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. Your filter and pipework have had it sucked through, and any running time carries it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Perhaps returning from Goldwell Park, or part way across Speenhamland, the motor might go lumpy, smoke, drop power, light up the dash or cut out. Stop when safe. Switch off. Keep the vehicle off rather than restarting it to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the M4, under 5 miles from Speenhamland, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
Mileage counts: each mile pushes the AdBlue further in, so heading towards Winchester, under 25 miles away, makes a much bigger job than hopping across Speenhamland to the car park by Newbury Methodist Church. Tell us about how far it had come.
We do all of the rinsing where the vehicle has ended up, and once the motor has been run there is more of it. When it is spotted early, permanent damage is very unusual.
Speenhamland: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
The vehicle remains put, whether that is a street beside Marks & Spencer, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station in Speenhamland, and our van comes to it. Three answers decide the job, and so first our engineers ask which fluid got in, about what quantity, plus if the engine has turned over.
Right there, that tank is then emptied, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea come out as one. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush counts: the whole system is flushed all the way through since residue won't wash away unaided. A test of the vehicle follows last, after clean diesel goes in and the filter is flushed or, where necessary, swapped. Engine not run? In that case count on roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a busy forecourt is no issue, and it's quiet enough for a residential street after dark.
Finally, the system is primed with fresh diesel. Whether it is a parking bay at Newbury or a drive in Speenhamland, that is where we fire it up and you head off. It's checked on fresh diesel to be sure it runs smoothly before we go. As the job is done in its entirety where your car is, a garage never comes into it. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers ask for.
About Speenhamland
Speenhamland is a suburban area in Berkshire, situated on the banks of the River Kennet at an elevation of around 85 metres. Speenhamland lies near the town of Newbury and is close to other nearby places such as Shaw and West Fields. Speenhamland is characterized by its predominantly flat housing stock and its proximity to the countryside, while also being within commuting distance of major cities like London and Winchester.
AdBlue drains across Berkshire, Speenhamland included
AdBlue call-outs around Speenhamland go to teams that serve the places near it — Newbury, Shaw as well as West Fields — and much of Berkshire further out, throughout RG postcodes. Near a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down? Checking beats assuming, so ring.
A mobile service suits Speenhamland, a residential suburb: there's no need to take the vehicle to us, because we drain it on the spot, in a drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
Speenhamland: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Every job is different, and so not one single quote would be honest. Whether your engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the price. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the position of the vehicle, since an open driveway is easier for a van to reach safely than a tight gap behind The Symphony Of The Trees.
What was put in, how much, plus if it ran: each Speenhamland call opens with exactly that, ahead of a quote, never afterwards. The replies turn a range into a straight quote.
Before anyone sets off, you are told our quote on the phone. And you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. While the van is travelling, dig out your insurance: many cover misfuelling.
In Speenhamland and still alongside the vehicle?
Then, the best thing to do with your vehicle is to not touch it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Speenhamland or anywhere across Berkshire.