The Dings: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does the engine. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when the system pulls it in. If your engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally drained and carefully rinsed where the car sits around The Dings. No step comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in The Dings: the first few minutes
To do:
- Take the keys out, so no one switches your ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and about how much, save the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring just where you are. Say a BS2 0 postcode or the closest street name, and no one has to hunt for you.
Not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift your car: your engine stays off.
- The ignition remains off: on lots of diesels, switching it on is enough to start your pump.
- Adding more diesel does not help: AdBlue separates out rather than blending.
- Do not drive the car anywhere, not even a short stretch along Kingsland Road.
- Beside the road, do not attempt emptying it yourself.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you roll the vehicle away from the pumps if you're at a forecourt in The Dings, whether it's the Shell or somewhere else. Stopped on your own drive? Then it stays just as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the engine. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it is sprayed into your exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
It does not blend. Once it is poured 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 that tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. Simplest of all: one that got AdBlue in Russell Town last night and has not turned since. The AdBlue sits at the base of the tank, untouched — but it will be the first thing through if your engine runs, before any diesel at all.
It does two kinds of harm from there. What remains when the water evaporates is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in tiny passages and block filters. Worse, it eats at certain metals in a fuel system, and keeps going till it is flushed out. A car left standing around The Dings with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and every injector as it flows; water offers none of that, and that is a separate form of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is often worse than petrol
Top up a diesel with petrol in error over at the Esso, and this problem is diluted fuel. Harm only comes from running on it. Blended into your diesel and left in that tank, it causes nothing.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid as such is simply the wrong one. It cannot simply be run through, because it doesn't burn. Whether your vehicle is in St Philips Marsh or the centre of The Dings, turning it over "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other slip, and the flush counts for more. The reasons: it will not remain mixed, and so diluting it is impossible; and deposits and corrosion survive the following fill.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the easiest part on a fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue stays in it — anywhere in Bristol your car has stopped.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in The Dings: how it ends up there
Plenty of cars place the AdBlue filler beside the diesel cap, occasionally behind a single flap, and in dim light the two can look the same. Nobody intends it. Most of the time it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside Hannah More Primary School. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Oxford Street. Otherwise, in dim light by Barley Mow, the vehicle gets refilled by a driver using that flap the first time.
Hired motors, new cars, company motors, or the spare car in a family with one of each: the least familiar cars get it most. Leave it off: that's the first response to the same mistake, wherever around The Dings or the rest of Bristol you happen to be.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in The Dings, and the motor started?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. Via the filter, along the pipework, and — given any running time — on to the high-pressure pump and every injector: that's where it travels.
Lumpy running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: any might show up, maybe midway across The Dings or coming back from The Dings Park. When you safely can, pull over then turn it off — with no turning it on again to see. More of that is pulled through with each start.
The Dings sits under a mile from the M32; if you were on it, leave at the first junction and pull up somewhere safe rather than driving on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue further in. That's why a hop across The Dings to park near Miss Mabel Tribe; Angel Of Saint Philips and a drive of under 3 miles for Bristol are very distinct jobs. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to clean out once the engine has run, and our engineers do all of it where the vehicle has stopped. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage when it is noticed soon.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in The Dings?
Anywhere it has stopped in The Dings — a filling station, a lay-by, a driveway, a road beside The Redeemed Christian Church of God — our van travels to your vehicle. Before anything else our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and if the engine has run, since those replies decide the work.
On the spot, your tank is then drained, and both the polluted diesel and the urea come out at once. What remains from AdBlue will not flush out unaided, and so the whole system gets a careful flush, which matters much more with urea than for petrol. Testing the vehicle follows at the end, after clean diesel goes in and the fuel filter gets cleaned or, where needed, replaced. Roughly half an hour on site is typical for most jobs when your motor has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
The last step is to prime the fuel system on clean diesel. You drive off as soon as we have started the engine, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a driveway in The Dings or in a space by Bristol Temple Meads. It's tested on fresh diesel to confirm it runs smoothly before our engineers head off. As the job is done in its entirety where your car is, a workshop never comes into it. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About The Dings itself
The Dings is a suburban area located on the riverside in Bristol, with a mix of residential and industrial spaces. The Dings sits at an elevation of 18 metres, close to the city centre and nearby areas such as Box Makers Yard and Newtown. The Dings is predominantly composed of flat housing, reflecting its urban character. The Dings is situated near Barton Hill, another Bristol suburb, and is approximately 1.1 miles from the city centre.
The Dings and Bristol: AdBlue drains across the area
AdBlue jobs in The Dings go to vans that cover the towns near it — Box Makers Yard, Newtown plus Barton Hill — and most of Bristol further out, across BS postcodes. Close to a boundary, or somewhere tricky to pin down? Asking is better than guessing, so phone.
No towing is needed. In The Dings, a residential suburb, a mobile service fits: your vehicle is drained where it stands, whether in a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around The Dings: the cost of fixing it
No single price could be honest, because each job is different. The price changes first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that got in. After that it depends on where the vehicle is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind George Daniel Jones.
That is why every call from The Dings starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and if it's run. Once those are answered, a range becomes a single fixed figure.
Our price is given during the call, before a van sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
The Dings: still alongside the car?
Then, the best thing to do with the car is to not touch it. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, in The Dings or anywhere within Bristol, after you call 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran.