AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Stone? Keep It Switched Off
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then keep the engine off — and your ignition too. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. The trouble starts once it is pulled through your pump — it will not ignite, and it will not blend with diesel. If the engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and thoroughly flushed where your car sits around Stone. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Stone
To do:
- So no one can turn your ignition on, pull your keys away.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and about how much, save the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Give us a postcode starting GL13 9, or whatever street is nearest, and the van finds you directly — so call wherever you stand.
Things not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift the vehicle: your motor stays off.
- Switching the key to ignition alone sets the pump going on plenty of diesels. Avoid it.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel will not thin it.
- Even a short distance up Lower Stone Lane is too far to drive it.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself by the kerbside.
On a forecourt in Stone, whether it is the Stone Garage or another one, ask the attendants to help you push the car away from the pump. If you are on your own drive, leave the vehicle exactly where it stands.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your engine. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it's sprayed into the exhaust, where it cleans the gas. Nothing inside a fuel pump is designed for this liquid — and no part of that was meant to travel through one.
Poured in with the diesel, it keeps apart instead of blending — 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 pulls fuel from. Easiest of all: a vehicle that got AdBlue in Hystfield last night and has not been started since. The AdBlue sits at the foot of that tank, untouched — but it will be the first thing through once your engine runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
After it is pulled in, the damage comes in two forms. What remains once the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in narrow channels and block filters. Worse, it attacks some metals in a fuel system, and keeps going till it is cleared out. If the AdBlue is in the pipework, leaving it till morning in Stone leaves things worse. Inside your tank alone, waiting costs nothing. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and each injector as it passes; water offers none of that, which is a second form of harm.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is often worse
Top up a diesel with petrol in error at the another forecourt nearby, and this problem is diluted fuel. Blended into your diesel and sitting unused, it's no threat for now; using the motor does the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It doesn't burn, and so it can't just be run through. Crystals and corrosion remain through the following tankful, and AdBlue separates back from your diesel, and so watering it can't work. That is why the flush counts more, and trying the engine "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other slip — in Sundayshill or the centre of Stone equally.
As with petrol, there is good news. If the engine has not run, the AdBlue is still in the tank, and the tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Gloucestershire your car is sitting.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Stone
After dark, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, occasionally behind one flap — may appear the same. No one means it; many layouts allow it. A container picked up when heading home and poured in at home, instead of at the forecourt, is the typical story.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Stone with Woodford Church of England Primary School the refill is rushed. Close to Court Meadow, a driver pours a bottle in on that drive in the evening. Or the car is topped up in the car park outside the pub in the village, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
Hired cars, new cars, company motors, or the second car in a home with one of each: the least familiar vehicles get it most. Keep it off: that's the first response to the same mistake, anywhere in Stone or the rest of Gloucestershire you happen to be.
Stone: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. With any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and every injector, after passing through your filter and lines.
Rough running, smoke, lost power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each may show up, perhaps part way across Stone or coming back from Daniel's Wood. Once safe, stop then switch it off — with no restarting to see. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Exit the M5, under a mile from Stone, at the first junction and stop somewhere safe, rather than driving on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. That is why crossing Stone to park beside Stone Village Hall and a drive of under 25 miles for Bristol are such different jobs. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
There is more to rinse out once the motor has been run, and our engineers do all of it where the vehicle has stopped. Permanent damage is very uncommon when it's spotted soon.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel in Stone: what it takes
The vehicle stays put, whether that is a street beside All Saints, a drive, a layby or a filling station in Stone, and the van travels to it. What went in, about how much, and whether the engine has been run: our technicians check first, since those decide the job.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out as one after your tank is drained, on the spot. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing matters: the fuel system is flushed right through since what remains will not wash away by itself. Clean diesel goes in after the filter is flushed — or replaced, when it needs to be — and after that your vehicle is tested. Not run? Then expect about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Our equipment is explosion-proof, and so a live forecourt is no fault, and it is quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
The last step is to bleed your system on new diesel. You head off as soon as our technicians have started the engine, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a driveway in Stone or in a space at Lydney. It is tested on new diesel to make sure it runs properly before our engineers go. No garage is needed at any stage, with the whole job done on the spot. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours once the job is done.
About Stone itself
Stone is a small village in Gloucestershire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 26 metres. Stone lies near the villages of Woodford and Moorslade, and is close to the smaller settlement of Lower Stone. Stone is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting and relatively small population of around 536 residents.
Stone and Gloucestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
The vans that answer AdBlue jobs in Stone also cover the locations around it, Woodford, Moorslade and Lower Stone among them, and most of Gloucestershire beyond, across the GL postcode area. Near a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down? Checking beats assuming, and so phone.
Wherever the car sits — your driveway at home, a side street, a car park, a filling station — our technicians drain it on the spot, with no need to take it to us; which suits Stone, a village, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Stone: the cost of fixing it
Since each callouts vary, a flat price wouldn't be honest. What moves the cost is, first, whether the motor has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and finally where your car is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind Falfield Village Hall.
With that in mind, every enquiry from Stone begins by asking the same trio — what went in, what quantity, whether it ran — before a quote. Those answers narrow a range down to one number.
You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
Stone: still beside your car?
Then, touch nothing — that is the best move there is. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Tell us it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel handles it, across Stone or anywhere within Gloucestershire.