Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in The Butts
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then keep the engine off — and your ignition too. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. It does not burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when the fuel system draws it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in The Butts, is generally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your motor has been run. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
The Butts, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do at once
Do these:
- So no one can switch the ignition on, pull your keys out.
- Near moving traffic? Then put the hazards on.
- So you can tell us which liquid it was and roughly what quantity, save the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call right where you are. Say a GL5 3 postcode or the nearest street name, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Never do these:
- Not even briefly, and not to roll your vehicle: your motor stays off.
- Switching your key to ignition by itself starts your pump going on plenty of diesels. Avoid it.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel will not weaken it.
- Leave it where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way along Butterrow West.
- Draining the tank on your own beside the road isn't worth trying.
Ask the attendants to help you move your car off the pumps if you are on a forecourt in The Butts, whether it is the Esso or elsewhere. If you are on your own drive, leave the car exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not your motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to fresh it. Nothing in an injection pump is designed for this liquid — and no part of it was intended to travel that way.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Kingscourt 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 pulled it in.
From there it causes two kinds of harm. What remains when the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle in narrow channels and clog filters. Worse, it attacks certain metals in the fuel system, and carries on till it is flushed out. A car left sitting in The Butts with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and each injector depend on diesel running through them, so the water part damages them by itself.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's frequently worse than petrol
A fault of thin fuel is what you end up with from fuelling a diesel with petrol from the Tesco. It mixes with the diesel, and while it is in your tank it does no damage; the harm comes from running the motor on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is simply the wrong one. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. Nor can it be watered down, since it splits again — and the next fill will not rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters more here, and turning the key "to see", in the centre of The Butts or out in Lightpill, does more harm than almost any other error.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Anywhere in Gloucestershire your vehicle has stopped, an unrun motor leaves the AdBlue yet inside the reservoir: the simplest part of a fuel system to clear.
The Butts: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of cars sits right next to the diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It usually happens at home, from a bottle bought on the journey home, rather than at the forecourt.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. Rushing, outside Rodborough Community Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, a parent tops up the vehicle. Someone pours the bottle in at home, just off Rodborough Hill, as the day ends. Otherwise, after dark by Prince Albert, the vehicle gets topped up by someone opening that flap the first time.
Hired motors, brand-new cars, company vehicles, or the second vehicle in a home with one of each: the least known vehicles see it the most. Anywhere around Gloucestershire, The Butts as well, the slip does not change, and nor does the first response: keep it off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around The Butts?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. The filter and pipework have had it pulled along, and any running carries it on to the injection pump and every injector.
You may see your motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Rounders Field or halfway across The Butts. Stop when it is safe. Turn off. Keep the car off instead of testing it again. More of it is pulled through with each start.
The Butts lies under 5 miles from the M5; if you were on it, exit by the first junction and pull up safely rather than driving on.
Hopping across The Butts to the car park by Rodborough Community Hall is one matter; driving for Gloucester, under 10 miles away, is something else, since every mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. So distance matters. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Our technicians do all of the flushing where your car has ended up, and once the motor has been run there is more of it. Very rarely does it leave lasting damage when it is noticed quickly.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around The Butts?
A street beside Saint Mary Magdalene, a driveway, a layby or a filling station: wherever your vehicle has come to rest in The Butts, our engineers come to it. Three replies decide the job, and so before anything else we ask what was put in, roughly the amount, and whether your engine has run.
Then your tank is emptied where the car waits, and so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue won't flush away unaided, so the whole system gets a careful flush, which matters much more with urea than for petrol. After that, your filter: cleaned, or changed if it must be. Then clean diesel, and then a test of the vehicle. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when the engine hasn't run. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a busy forecourt is no issue, and it's quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
The final step is to prime your system on clean diesel. Whether it's a parking bay at Stroud or a drive around The Butts, that is where our technicians fire it up and you drive off. Our engineers check it runs correctly on clean diesel before we leave. No garage is required at any stage, with the whole job done then and there. The insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About The Butts, briefly
The Butts is a suburban area located on the riverside in Gloucestershire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and a population of around 3307 residents. The Butts sits near the city of Gloucester, approximately 8.7 miles away, and is close to nearby places such as Rodborough and Stroud. The Butts has an elevation of 116 metres and is situated in the South West region of England, about 91.4 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across The Butts and Gloucestershire
AdBlue jobs around The Butts go to vans that serve the towns around it — Rodborough, Stanfields plus Stroud — and much of Gloucestershire further out, throughout GL postcodes. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Wherever your car sits — a drive at home, a side street, a parking area, a filling station — our engineers empty it on the spot, with no need to take it to us; which suits The Butts, a residential suburb, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in The Butts: the cost of fixing it
There's no fair single price, because the jobs aren't the same. Whether the motor 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 simpler for a technician to reach safely than a tight space behind Rodborough Tabernacle.
What got in, what quantity, plus if it ran: every The Butts call opens with precisely those, ahead of any quote, not afterwards. When those are answered, a range turns into a single fixed figure.
Quoted by phone before the van sets out, it is paid for that day — card or phone, no deposit. Check your insurance whilst we're on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
Still alongside the car in The Butts?
In that case, do nothing — that is the best move available. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Phone 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and if it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around The Butts or anywhere around Gloucestershire.