Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in St Gluvias
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. As it is water-based, it won't ignite and won't blend with diesel; trouble only comes when the pump begins drawing it. Caught before the motor has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in St Gluvias. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
What to do straight away, St Gluvias: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do:
- So no one can switch your ignition on, take the keys out.
- Near moving traffic? Then put the hazards on.
- Hold on to the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what was put in and about how much.
- Call right where you are. Say a TR10 8 postcode or the closest street sign, and no one has to search for you.
Not to do:
- Shifting the car just a short way is no reason to start your engine.
- The ignition stays off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to start 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 distance up St Gluvias Street.
- Do not try to drain it yourself by the kerbside.
Ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle away from the pumps if you're on a forecourt in St Gluvias, whether it's the Texaco or somewhere else. On the drive, the car stays just as it was left.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Meant for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the motor. Stored in a separate tank, it is squirted into the exhaust stream to treat the gases. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, once poured in, won't. The behaviour is nothing like diesel's. The pickup takes fuel from the lowest part of your tank, and that is precisely where AdBlue ends up: being heavier than diesel, it sinks. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Mongleath overnight and has not turned since. The AdBlue sits at the base of that tank, undrawn — though it will be first through if the motor starts, before any diesel at all.
It causes two kinds of harm from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps working on the components it gets to for as long as it stays there. A vehicle left sitting in St Gluvias with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank is not. Diesel protects the injection pump and each injector as it passes; water offers none of that, which is a separate kind of harm.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger issue?
Top up a diesel with petrol by mistake at the Asda, and this issue is diluted fuel. No damage comes as long as it sits unused, mixed into your diesel — only once your engine runs on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. Since it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be watered down, because it splits back out — and the following tankful won't rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and trying your engine "to see", in the centre of St Gluvias or out in Tregew, does more harm than almost any other mistake.
The same good news holds as with petrol. If the motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in that tank, and your tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Cornwall the vehicle is standing.
St Gluvias: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
After dark, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, occasionally behind one flap — can appear the same. No one intends it; many layouts invite it. It mostly occurs outside the house, from a container grabbed on the journey home, not at the forecourt.
It tends to occur in a couple of familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Penryn Primary Academy the refill is hurried. After work, a container goes in on a driveway near Permarin Road. Or a driver new to that flap tops up your car after dark, parked in the car park by Seven Stars.
It happens most in the motors motorists know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Anywhere in Cornwall, St Gluvias as well, the mistake doesn't change, and neither does the first response: keep it switched off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around St Gluvias?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. With any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and every injector, having passed through the fuel filter and lines.
Rough running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard lights or cutting out: any may show up, maybe part way across St Gluvias or returning from Trelawney Park. No restarting to check: stop once it is safe, then turn it off. Each start pulls more of it through.
St Gluvias sits over 50 miles from the M5; if you were on it, exit by the first junction and stop safely rather than carrying on.
Distance counts: every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in, so driving for Truro, under 10 miles away, makes a much bigger job than crossing St Gluvias to the car park by Temperance Hall. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
There's more to clean out once your engine has been started, and we do all of it where the vehicle has ended up. Long-term damage is very uncommon when it is caught soon.
St Gluvias: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
The vehicle stays put, whether that's a road beside Penryn Town Hall, a driveway, a layby or a forecourt around St Gluvias, and our van comes to it. What went in, about how much, plus if your motor has been run: our technicians ask before all else, because those shape the job.
On the spot, your tank is then drained, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea come out at once. The system is purged thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. A test of the car comes at the end, once fresh diesel is added and your filter is cleaned or, where necessary, swapped. Not run? In that case expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
The final step is to prime the fuel system on new diesel. At that point our technicians start it and you set off, whether from a parking space outside Penryn or a drive in St Gluvias. Our engineers make sure it runs correctly on fresh diesel before we go. Our technicians do it all wherever your car has ended up, and it never needs to go to a garage. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — each handed over once the job is done.
About St Gluvias and where it is
St Gluvias is a coastal locality in Cornwall, situated near the city of Truro and close to the neighbouring settlements of Penryn, Bissom, and Lower Treluswell. St Gluvias has a population of around 4103 people and is characterised by predominantly terraced housing. St Gluvias is located at a low elevation of 12 metres above sea level, reflecting its coastal setting. St Gluvias is approximately 235.9 miles west of London, making it a relatively remote part of England.
St Gluvias and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout the TR postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue call-outs in St Gluvias serve most of Cornwall too, Penryn, Bissom and Lower Treluswell included. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask rather than assuming.
A van that comes to you fits St Gluvias, a coastal area: you have no need to take the car to us, since our engineers empty it there, on a drive, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around St Gluvias: the cost of fixing it
Every job is different, and so no fixed price would be fair. Three things move the price: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the car is. That last one rests on whether a van can reach it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight space behind Penryn Museum.
Before any quote, never afterwards, every call from St Gluvias begins with the same three questions: the fuel, the quantity, and whether the engine ran. When those are known, a range turns into a single firm number.
The price is quoted on the call, before a van leaves; settling up comes on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van gets there.
Still next to the car in St Gluvias?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 and tell us it's AdBlue, about how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around St Gluvias or anywhere in Cornwall.