St Pauls: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then leave your motor off — and your ignition as well. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. Being water-based, it will not ignite and won't blend with diesel; damage only comes once the pump starts drawing it. If the engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and carefully purged where the vehicle sits in St Pauls. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around St Pauls
Things to do:
- Keys out — then no one can power anything on.
- If you are anywhere close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what got in and roughly how much.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting SP2 7, or the name of the closest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to roll the car: the engine stays off.
- Your ignition stays off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to run your fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel won't weaken it.
- Keep it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short way along St. Pauls Roundabout.
- Emptying that tank on your own by the road is not worth trying.
Get the attendants to help you move your vehicle off the pumps if you are at a forecourt in St Pauls, whether it is the Shell or somewhere else. At your own driveway, do not touch it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not the engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it is fed into the exhaust, where it treats the fumes. A fuel pump isn't made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Poured in with the diesel, it stays separate instead of mixing — entirely unlike fuel. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Wyndham Park last night and has not turned since. The liquid sits at the foot of your tank, undrawn — but it would be the first thing through if your engine runs, before any diesel at all.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps working on the parts it gets to for as long as it stays there. Where the AdBlue is in the lines, waiting overnight in St Pauls leaves things worse. Inside the tank only, time does nothing. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and each injector as it flows; water gives none of that, which is a second form of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is frequently worse than petrol
A fault of thin fuel is what you get after fuelling a diesel with petrol from the Texaco. Damage only comes from driving on it. Blended into the diesel and sitting inside that tank, it causes nothing.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid as such is plainly the wrong one. Because it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Deposits and corrosion remain after the next tankful, and AdBlue separates again from your diesel, and so thinning it can't work. Hence the flush counts so much, and trying your engine "to see" costs more here than nearly any other slip — in Harnham or the heart of St Pauls alike.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Wherever in Wiltshire your car has come to rest, an unstarted motor means the AdBlue yet in the tank: the easiest part of any fuel system to clear.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around St Pauls: how it ends up there
It is not on purpose. Plenty of vehicles keep the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel inlet, now and then behind one flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. Mostly it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Salisbury, Manor Fields Primary School. Near Fisherton Street, a driver tips a container in on that drive after work. Else, after dark by The Duke of York, the vehicle is refilled by a driver opening that flap for the first time.
It comes up most in a rental, a new car, a fleet car, or the spare car in a family with both fuels — the cars drivers know the least. Leave it off: that's the first step to an identical mistake, wherever around St Pauls or the remainder of Wiltshire you happen to be.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around St Pauls?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. With any running, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and each injector, having passed through the filter and lines.
Perhaps coming back from Queen Elizabeth Gardens, or part way across St Pauls, the motor may run lumpy, smoke, lose power, light up the dash or cut out. When you safely can, stop and turn everything off — without restarting to test. More of that is pulled through with each start.
Leave the M27, under 15 miles from St Pauls, at the next junction and park safely, rather than carrying on.
Hopping across St Pauls to the car park by St Paul's is one matter; heading for Salisbury, under a mile away, is another, because every mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So mileage matters. Let us know about how far it had come.
There is more to rinse out once the motor has been started, and our engineers do all of it where your car has ended up. Permanent damage is very rare if it's noticed quickly.
St Pauls: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
The car remains put, whether that's a road near Railway Social Club, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt in St Pauls, and the van travels to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if the motor has run, since those replies determine the work.
Then the tank is emptied where your car waits, and so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush matters: the whole system is cleaned right through because what remains won't flush out by itself. Fresh diesel goes in after your filter is flushed — or replaced, when it needs to be — and after that your vehicle is tested. If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a busy filling station is no issue, and it is hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
New diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that's the last step. You drive off as soon as we have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a driveway around St Pauls or in a space by Salisbury. It's tested on clean diesel to make sure it runs smoothly before our engineers head off. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — each handed over once this job is done.
About St Pauls
St Pauls is a suburban area located on the riverside in Wiltshire, with a mix of terraced housing and other residential properties. St Pauls sits near the city of Salisbury, at an elevation of around 50 metres, and is close to nearby places such as Churchfields and The Friary. St Pauls is situated in a relatively low-lying area, with the River Avon flowing nearby, and is home to a population of approximately 5827 people.
AdBlue drains across St Pauls and Wiltshire
Salisbury, Churchfields and The Friary are among the places around St Pauls that the same teams reach, together with much of Wiltshire further out, over the SP postcode area. Near a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down? Asking is better than guessing, and so ring.
St Pauls is a residential suburb, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it is, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
St Pauls: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Not one flat figure would be fair, because each job differs. Whether your engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what moves the cost. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the location of the vehicle, since an open driveway is easier for a van to reach safely than a tight space behind Salisbury Central Masjid.
What went in, how much, and whether the engine ran: every St Pauls enquiry opens with exactly that, before a figure, not after. Once those are answered, a range turns into a single firm figure.
Our price is given on the call, before anyone leaves; settling up happens on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
St Pauls: still alongside the car?
Then, do nothing — that's the most helpful move there is. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if it ran is everything our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder throughout Wiltshire, St Pauls too.