AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in The Mount? Don't Start It
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then keep your motor off — and the ignition as well. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. The harm begins once it's pulled through your pump — it won't burn, and it will not combine with diesel. If the engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and carefully rinsed where your car stands around The Mount. No step comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank in The Mount
Do:
- Remove your keys, which prevents someone switching the power on.
- If you're anywhere close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or your receipt shows us the fluid and the amount, so don't throw it out.
- The van finds you fastest with a postcode starting RG1 5, or simply the name of a street close by, and so call from the car.
Do not do these:
- No starting your motor — not briefly, not to reposition your vehicle.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short distance down Southern Hill.
- By the road, don't try draining it yourself.
The attendants on duty at any The Mount filling station — the BP included — will usually lend a hand rolling it clear if you ask. Stopped on your own drive? Then it stays just where it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the motor. Kept in a dedicated tank, it's injected into the exhaust stream to treat the fumes. Nothing in a fuel pump is made for this liquid — and none of that was meant to travel through one.
It doesn't blend. Once it is tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like diesel. It is heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Coley last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
After it's sucked in, the damage takes two forms. It eats at certain metals used in fuel systems, working on whatever it reaches till it's cleared completely. And once the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and lodge in narrow channels. Lines carrying AdBlue mean damage by morning for a car parked around The Mount. Only in your tank, it stays stable. The water in it does harm of its own: the high-pressure pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger issue?
Put petrol in a diesel at the Esso and you have an issue of thin fuel. Blended into the diesel and left unused, it's no threat for now; using the motor is the harm.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. It can't simply be run through, because it does not burn. It does not stay mixed, so it cannot be thinned. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether your car is in Reading or the middle of The Mount.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue sits only in that tank, the easiest section of the entire system to clear, wherever your car has come to rest across Berkshire.
The Mount: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, occasionally behind a single flap — can appear the same. No one means it; many designs allow it. Mostly it's never the forecourt: someone buys a container heading home and pours it in at home.
Mostly, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Redlands Primary School the refill is rushed. A driver pours the container in at home, right off Upper Redlands Road, as the day ends. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park outside The Queen's Head, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It comes up most in a rental, a brand-new car, a fleet vehicle, or the other motor of a family with both fuel types — the vehicles people use least. Same mistake, same first step — keep it switched off — wherever you happen to be around The Mount or the remainder of Berkshire.
The Mount: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. It's been pulled through the fuel filter and your lines, and if the motor ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors.
Rough running, smoke, lost power, dashboard warnings or stalling: each might appear, maybe part way across The Mount or returning from Cintra Park. Stop when safe. Turn off. Leave the car off rather than restarting it to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
If you were on the M4, under 3 miles from The Mount, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into your system. That's why crossing The Mount to park beside Progress Theatre and a drive of under 25 miles for Oxford are very separate jobs. Let us know about how far it had come.
Once the motor has been run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where your car has stopped. Caught early, it very rarely leaves permanent damage.
What clearing AdBlue from a diesel involves in The Mount
A road beside 39 SportsPark, a driveway, a layby or a filling station: anywhere your car has come to rest around The Mount, our technicians come to it. What went in, roughly the quantity, and whether the engine has turned over: our engineers check before all else, because those shape the job.
Then the tank is drained where your car stands, and so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing matters: the fuel system is flushed all the way through since what remains won't wash away by itself. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Not run? In that case count on about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Quiet enough to use outside a house at night, and safe on a working forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Bleeding your system with fresh diesel comes last. Then our technicians start the car and you drive off, whether from a parking bay outside Reading or a driveway in The Mount. It's tested on new diesel to make sure it runs properly before our engineers go. No workshop is required at any point, with the whole job done on the spot. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — both yours once the job is done.
About The Mount
The Mount is a suburban area in Berkshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 70 metres. The Mount lies within the larger urban landscape of Reading, near neighbourhoods such as Whiteknights and Whitley. The Mount is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing, which reflects the area's relatively modern development. The Mount is also located near New Town, and is within commuting distance to Oxford and London.
The Mount and Berkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Whiteknights, New Town and Whitley are among the places around The Mount that the same vans reach, along with much of Berkshire beyond, throughout the RG postcode area. Assuming doesn't help by a border or somewhere tricky to pin down; ring and ask.
The Mount is a residential suburb, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it is, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in The Mount: the cost of fixing it
Not one single price could be fair, because each job differs. What moves the price is, first of all, whether the engine has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and after that where the car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind 253 SportsPark Pavilion.
What was put in, what quantity, and if the engine ran: every The Mount call opens with precisely those, ahead of a quote, not after. Given those replies, the range shrinks to one firm figure.
The price is quoted on the call, before anyone sets off; payment happens on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. As our engineer is on the way, check your insurance: many cover misfuelling.
Still next to the vehicle in The Mount?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, right now, the most useful move open to you. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, across The Mount or wherever in Berkshire, after you call 0333 366 0103 saying it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and if it ran.