AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Sturbridge? Don't Start It
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when your fuel system pulls it in. In Sturbridge, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your motor runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Sturbridge: the first few minutes
To do:
- Remove your keys, and that prevents someone switching the electrics on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt shows us the product and the amount, so don't bin it out.
- Call right where you are. Quote a ST21 6 postcode or the closest street sign, and nobody has to search for you.
Not to do:
- Shifting your vehicle even a few yards is no reason to start the motor.
- Turning the key to ignition alone starts your pump running on plenty of diesels. Skip it.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel will not weaken it.
- Never drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short way down Swynnerton Road.
- Do not try to drain it yourself at the kerbside.
At a forecourt around Sturbridge, whether it is the Croxton Service Station or another one, ask the attendants to help you push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. On the drive, the vehicle remains just where it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not the motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it is sprayed into the exhaust, where it treats the fumes. Not one side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and an injection pump can't deal with urea.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once poured in, won't. Its behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Redhill last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
After it is sucked in, the harm comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that crystallises in filter elements and narrow channels; meanwhile, because it eats at certain metals, every part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it stays in there. Overnight, a vehicle sitting in Sturbridge with AdBlue in its lines grows worse; if it's just inside your tank, it doesn't. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and each injector need diesel flowing through them, and so the water content damages them in its own right.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is often worse
A fault of thin fuel is what you get after fuelling a diesel with petrol from the BP. No harm comes as long as it sits unused, mixed into the diesel — only once your motor runs on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a problem of the wrong substance altogether. It doesn't burn, and so it cannot simply be run through. Whether your vehicle is in Brockton or the heart of Sturbridge, turning it over "to see" costs more in this case than nearly any other error, and the flush counts more. Why: it will not stay blended, so diluting it is impossible; and deposits and corrosion outlast the next fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest part on a fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue stays in it — wherever in Staffordshire your car sits.
Sturbridge: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Plenty of motors put the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel cap, occasionally under one flap, and in dim light the two can appear identical. No one intends it. A bottle bought when driving home and tipped in outside the house, instead of at the filling station, is the usual story.
Mostly, it happens in one of a few familiar ways. Rushing, outside Bishop Lonsdale Church of England Primary Academy, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, a parent refills the vehicle. A driver pours the bottle in outside their house, just off High Lanes, as the day ends. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap refills the car after dark, stopped in the car park outside The Old Smithy.
It occurs most in the cars motorists know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Same mistake, same first response — keep it switched off — anywhere you happen to be in Sturbridge or the remainder of Staffordshire.
Started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Sturbridge?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. Via the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — with any running — on to the injection pump and every injector: that is where it travels.
Perhaps coming back from Eagles Park, or part way across Sturbridge, your engine might go rough, smoke, drop power, light up the dash or cut out. Pull over when safe. Turn off. Keep the car off rather than restarting it to check. More of it is pulled through with each start.
On the M6, under 5 miles from Sturbridge, the next junction is where to leave, and anywhere sensible is where to stop — not driving on.
Distance counts: each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into your system, and so heading for Stoke-on-Trent, under 15 miles away, gives a far larger job than hopping across Sturbridge to the car park by Eccleshall Castle. Let us know about how far it had come.
Once your engine has been run, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the car has ended up. Caught quickly, it very rarely leaves permanent damage.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel in Sturbridge: what it takes
Wherever it has stopped in Sturbridge — a filling station, a lay-by, a drive, a street beside Sacred Heart Catholic Church — the van comes to the car. Before anything else our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether the motor has run, since those replies decide this work.
Next, emptying the tank on the spot removes the polluted diesel and the AdBlue together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush matters: the fuel system is flushed right through since what remains won't wash away unaided. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Not run? In that case count on roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the street at night.
Last, the system is primed with fresh diesel. At that point our engineers fire it up and you head off, whether from a parking bay by Norton Bridge or a drive in Sturbridge. It is checked on new diesel to be sure it runs properly before our technicians leave. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. At the end, you are given the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Sturbridge, briefly
Sturbridge is a small locality in Staffordshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 102 metres, and is located approximately 10.8 miles from Stoke-on-Trent. Sturbridge has a population of around 547 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Sturbridge is part of a wider network of rural communities, including nearby Cats Hill Cross, Eccleshall, and Slindon.
AdBlue drains across Sturbridge and Staffordshire
Cats Hill Cross, Eccleshall and Slindon are among the places around Sturbridge that the same vans reach, along with much of Staffordshire beyond, over the ST postcode area. Assuming won't help close to a border or anywhere tricky to describe; ring and check.
Wherever your car stands — your drive at home, a side street, a car park, a forecourt — we drain it there, with no need to bring it to us; which suits Sturbridge, a small village, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Sturbridge: the cost of fixing it
Every job is different, so no single quote is honest. Whether the motor has been running, and for how long, comes first in what moves the price. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the position of the vehicle, because an open drive is simpler for our van to reach safely than a tight spot behind Eccleshall Methodist Church.
That is why each call from Sturbridge starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and whether it's run. Their answers shrink a range right down to a single figure.
Priced on the call before the engineer heads out, it is settled on the day — card or phone, no deposit. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
Next to the car around Sturbridge, right now?
Right now, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to leave it. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Tell us it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, in Sturbridge or wherever in Staffordshire.