St Dympnas: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does the engine. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. The trouble begins once it's sucked through your pump — it will not burn, and it won't blend with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around St Dympnas, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it is caught before your engine has run. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, St Dympnas: AdBlue in the diesel tank
To do:
- Keys out — that way nobody can switch anything on.
- Close to moving traffic? Then put the hazard lights on.
- Which product, and roughly how much volume? Save the bottle or the receipt, and we will see.
- Give us a postcode starting EX12 2, or whatever street lies closest, and our van finds you straight — so call wherever you are.
Don't do these:
- Not even briefly, and not to roll the car: the motor remains off.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Pouring in more diesel does not work: AdBlue settles out instead of thinning.
- Don't drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short stretch up Boundary Park.
- Beside the road, do not attempt draining it yourself.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you roll your car away from the island if you're on a forecourt in St Dympnas, whether it is the Tower Services or somewhere else. If you're on your own drive, leave it precisely where it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not the motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to fresh it. A fuel pump isn't made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It does not mix in. It sinks, since it's denser than diesel, and settles down where the intake draws its supply from. A motor topped up on a driveway in Axmouth yesterday evening and left unstarted is the straightforward one. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up yet — but when your engine turns, that's what goes first, directly from the bottom of your tank.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. What is left once the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they lodge in narrow channels and clog filters. On top of that, it attacks certain metals in the fuel system, and keeps going until it's cleared out. If the AdBlue is in the pipework, waiting overnight in St Dympnas makes it worse. In your tank alone, waiting costs nothing. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and each injector as it passes; water gives none of that, which is a second kind of damage.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the Tesco and you have a fault of thin fuel. Mixed through your diesel and sitting unused, it is no threat at that stage; running your engine is the damage.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is simply the wrong one. Not burning, it can't just be run through. Whether the vehicle is in Colyton or the centre of St Dympnas, firing it up "to see" does more harm in this case than nearly any other mistake, and the flush counts for more. The reasons: it will not stay blended, so watering it down is impossible; and deposits and corrosion survive the following tankful.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest job on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue stays in there — anywhere in Devon your vehicle sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around St Dympnas: how it ends up there
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many vehicles waits right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A container bought when heading home and tipped in at home, rather than at the filling station, is the usual route.
It tends to occur in a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside Seaton Primary School. Someone pours the container in outside their house, just off Primrose Way, as the day ends. Or a driver new to that flap tops up the vehicle in dim light, parked in the car park by The Kings Arms.
It crops up most in a rental, a brand-new vehicle, a fleet car, or the other car in a home with both fuels — the cars drivers use the least. Keep it off: that is the first step to the same slip, anywhere around St Dympnas or the rest of Devon you happen to be.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around St Dympnas, and the motor started?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. It's been drawn through your filter and your lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors.
Rough running, smoke, lost power, dashboard warnings or stalling: each might appear, maybe midway across St Dympnas or coming back from Elizabeth Road Playing Field. No starting it again to test: stop when safe, then turn it off. Each start pulls more of it through.
Exit the M5, under 25 miles from St Dympnas, by the first junction and park safely, not driving on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue deeper into your system. That is why a hop across St Dympnas to park near Viewing Platform and a drive of under 25 miles for Exeter are very distinct jobs. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to clean out once your engine has been run, and our engineers do all of it where the car has come to a stop. If it is noticed quickly, long-term damage is very unusual.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in St Dympnas?
Our engineers come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped around St Dympnas: a side street near Seaton Methodist Church, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The job rests on three answers, which our engineers ask for before all else — what got in, the amount, and whether the motor has turned over.
Then the tank is drained where your car waits, so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A careful flush matters much more after AdBlue than after petrol, because what remains won't clear away by itself. A test of the vehicle follows last, after clean diesel goes in and the filter is flushed or, if needed, replaced. Not run? In that case expect about half an hour on site for most jobs. The equipment is explosion-proof, so a live filling station is no issue, and it's quiet enough for a residential street after dark.
The final step is to bleed the system on fresh diesel. Whether it is a parking space at Axminster or a drive around St Dympnas, that is where our technicians fire it up and you head off. The test before we go is that it runs correctly on fresh diesel. Our technicians do it all wherever the car has stopped, and it never needs to be taken to a garage. Afterwards, you are given paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About St Dympnas and where it is
St Dympnas is a coastal locality in Devon, situated near the towns of Seaton and Colyford, with a mix of detached housing and scenic views. St Dympnas sits at a low elevation of 19 metres, close to the sea and within a short drive of the city of Exeter. St Dympnas has a population of around 2038 people, living in a predominantly detached housing stock. St Dympnas is part of the wider South West region, with London approximately 139 miles to the east.
AdBlue drains across Devon, St Dympnas included
The teams that answer AdBlue jobs in St Dympnas also cover the locations round it, Colyford, Seaton and Holyford among them, and most of Devon beyond, across the EX postcode area. Ring and ask rather than guess if you are by a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down.
A van that comes to you suits St Dympnas, a coastal area: there's no need to bring your car to us, because our engineers empty it there, in a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around St Dympnas
Not one single figure would be fair, because every job differs. Whether the engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what moves the cost. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the position of your car, since an open drive is easier for a van to reach safely than a tight space behind Crossroad Christian Fellowship.
For that in mind, every call from St Dympnas opens with the identical trio — which fluid went in, what quantity, whether the engine ran — before any quote. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
The quote is given on the call, before a van leaves; settling up happens on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Look at your policy while we are on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Still alongside the car in St Dympnas?
Then, touch nothing — that's the best step there is. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel handles it, in St Dympnas or wherever in Devon.