AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Taverham? Don't Start It
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does your motor. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the fuel system draws it in. Caught before the engine has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Taverham. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
Taverham, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do straight away
To do:
- So no one can turn your ignition on, take the keys out.
- If you are at all close to moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the receipt shows us the fluid and the quantity, and so don't throw it away.
- The van finds you quickest with a postcode starting NR8 6, or just the name of a street close by, and so call from the car.
Never do these:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift your car: the motor remains off.
- Turning your key to ignition alone starts the pump going on many diesels. Skip it.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel won't thin it.
- Keep the car where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short distance up Costessey Road.
- Emptying your tank yourself by the road is not one to try.
Moving the car off the pumps is a job for staff to help with, wherever Taverham forecourt you're on, the Shell included. Parked on your own driveway? Then it remains exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The engine is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Kept in a separate tank, it's squirted into the exhaust to clean the gases. Nothing in a fuel pump is made for this liquid — and no part of that was meant to travel that way.
It doesn't combine. Once it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like diesel. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. A car topped up on a drive in Costessey Park overnight and not started since counts as the simple one. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up so far — but once the motor runs, that is what goes first, straight from the bottom of your tank.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and tiny channels; meanwhile, because it eats at some metals, each part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it stays inside. A car left standing around Taverham with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. The water in it causes harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
Top up a diesel with petrol in error at the Applegreen, and this issue is diluted fuel. Mixed through the diesel and sitting still, it's harmless at that stage; using the motor does the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Because it doesn't burn, running it through is not an option. Whether your car is in Costessey or the centre of Taverham, firing it up "to see" does more harm in this case than nearly any other slip, and the flush matters for more. Why: it won't stay blended, and so watering it down is impossible; and deposits and corrosion survive the following tankful.
As with petrol, there is good news. Anywhere across Norfolk the car has come to rest, an unstarted engine leaves the AdBlue yet in the tank: the simplest bit of any fuel system to empty.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Taverham: how it ends up there
Many motors place the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, occasionally under a single flap, and in dim light the two may appear the same. Nobody means it. Mostly it is not the forecourt: someone buys a bottle driving home and pours it in outside the house.
Mostly, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. Hurrying, outside Taverham VC CE Junior School, after a warning light came on during the school run, a parent tops up the car. Close to The Street, a driver tips a container in on the drive in the evening. Or the car is topped up in the car park outside The Silver Fox, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
Hired motors, brand-new cars, fleet motors, or the spare car in a home with both fuels: the least known vehicles see it the most. Wherever around Norfolk, Taverham as well, the slip doesn't change, and nor does the first step: keep it off.
Taverham: started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. The fuel filter and pipework have had it pulled along, and some running carries it on to the injection pump and each injector.
You may notice the engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Taverham Park or halfway across Taverham. No restarting to test: pull over when it is safe, then switch it off. Each start pulls more of it through.
Exit the M11, over 50 miles from Taverham, by the first junction and stop safely, rather than carrying on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Taverham to the car park by Saint Edmund's is a very different job from a run towards Norwich, under 10 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with every mile. Let us know about how far it had come.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after your engine has been started. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage if it's noticed soon.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel around Taverham: what it takes
Anywhere it has stopped around Taverham — a forecourt, a lay-by, a driveway, a street by Taverham Village Hall — our van comes to the vehicle. Three answers shape the work, so first we ask what got in, about what quantity, and if your engine has run.
Next, emptying that tank right there removes the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue together. The fuel system is cleaned thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel goes in once the fuel filter is cleaned — or swapped, if it needs to be — and then the vehicle is tested. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs where your motor hasn't run. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Bleeding the fuel system with new diesel comes last. Whether it is a parking space outside Norwich or a driveway around Taverham, that is where our engineers start the engine and you set off. The check before our engineers head off is that it runs properly on clean diesel. No workshop is needed at any stage, with the entire job done on the spot. At the end, you are given the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Taverham, for a moment
Taverham is a small village in Norfolk, situated on the outskirts of Norwich and adjacent to the Norfolk Broads. Taverham sits at a low elevation of around 19 metres, with lakes and waterways nearby. Taverham has a mix of old and new housing, but predominantly features detached homes, and is close to nearby places such as Thorpe Marriott and Drayton.
AdBlue drains across Taverham and Norfolk
Throughout the NR postcode area, the teams answering AdBlue jobs around Taverham reach much of Norfolk as well, Thorpe Marriott, Queens Hills and Drayton among them. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of assuming.
A mobile service suits Taverham, a village: you have no need to bring the vehicle to us, since we 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 in Taverham
Since each jobs vary, a flat figure would not be honest. The price shifts first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it depends on where the car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight spot behind Taverham Library.
That is why every call from Taverham starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and whether it's run. Once those are answered, a range becomes a single firm number.
Priced on the call before the engineer heads out, the job is paid for on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Check your insurance while we are on the way: plenty include misfuelling cover.
Taverham: still alongside the vehicle?
Right now, the best thing to do with your vehicle is to not touch it. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, across Taverham or wherever within Norfolk, once you call 0333 366 0103 saying it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.