Theale: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does your engine. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. The trouble begins once it's sucked through your lines — it won't ignite, and it won't combine with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Theale, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before the motor has run. First, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
Theale, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do at once
Do:
- Pocket your keys, which stops anyone turning the power on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you are anywhere near moving traffic.
- Which product, and about how much quantity? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and our engineers can know.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting RG7 5, or the name of the nearest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Not to do:
- Shifting the car even a few yards is no reason to start the engine.
- The ignition remains off: on lots of diesels, switching it on is enough to run your fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel will not weaken it.
- Leave the car where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short distance up High Street.
- No draining it yourself, at all, at the roadside.
Get the people behind the counter to help you move your vehicle off the island if you are at a forecourt around Theale, whether it's the Sainsbury's or elsewhere. If you're on your own drive, leave the car precisely where it sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not your engine but your exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sprayed into your exhaust, where it treats the fumes. Neither side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and an injection pump cannot deal with urea.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Englefield last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
Two kinds of harm come from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that hardens in filters and narrow passages; meanwhile, since it attacks certain metals, each part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it stays in there. Where the AdBlue is in the pipework, leaving it overnight around Theale makes things worse. In the tank alone, waiting does nothing. And there is the water: it offers no protection to the parts that need it the most — the injection pump and every injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is often worse than petrol
An issue of thin fuel is what you end up with from filling a diesel with petrol at the BP. Harm only comes from running on it. Blended into your diesel and left in your tank, it causes nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It does not burn, so it can't just be run through. Whether the vehicle sits in Calcot or the heart of Theale, turning it over "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other slip, and the flush matters more. Why: it won't stay blended, and so watering it down is impossible; and deposits and corrosion outlast the next fill.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Anywhere in Berkshire the vehicle has come to rest, an unrun motor means the AdBlue still inside the reservoir: the easiest bit of a fuel system to clear.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Theale
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, now and then under one flap — may appear the same. Nobody intends it; many designs allow it. Most of the time it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the pump.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. Rushing, outside Theale C.E. Primary School, after a warning light came on during the school run, a parent refills your car. In the evening, a container goes in on a drive near Crown Lane. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park outside The Crown Inn, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
The least familiar vehicles see it most — rentals, brand-new ones, company cars, and the other vehicle of a home with both fuels. Wherever you're around Theale or the rest of Berkshire, it is the same slip and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Theale?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. Your filter and pipework have had it pulled along, and some running takes it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard warnings or stalling: each might appear, maybe part way across Theale or coming back from Theale Recreation Ground. When you safely can, pull over then turn it off — with no turning it on again to test. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
Theale lies under a mile from the M4; if you were on it, exit by the first junction and stop somewhere safe rather than driving on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue further into your system. That's why a hop across Theale to park near John Cumber Hall and a drive of under 25 miles for Oxford are such different jobs. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the flushing where the vehicle has come to a stop, and once the motor has been started there is more of it. If it's spotted early, long-term damage is very rare.
Theale: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
Our engineers come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped around Theale: a side street near St Luke's, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and if the motor has been run, because those replies decide the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave together after that tank is emptied, right there. The system is rinsed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. A test of your vehicle follows at the end, once clean diesel is added and your filter gets cleaned or, where needed, swapped. If your motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we arrive. Quiet enough to use outside a house at night, and fine on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
The last step is to prime the 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 Theale or in a space outside the nearest station. It's checked on new diesel to make sure it runs properly before our engineers leave. Since the job is done in its entirety where your car is, a workshop never comes into it. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Theale and where it is
Theale is a village situated on the River Kennet in Berkshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Theale sits at an elevation of 46 metres, close to the nearby settlements of North Street, Sheffield Bottom, and Parkers Corner. Theale is located near the city of Oxford, approximately 23 miles away, and is also within commuting distance of London, about 41 miles to the east. Theale has a population of around 2880 people, living in a riverside setting that offers scenic views and outdoor recreational opportunities.
AdBlue drains across Berkshire, Theale included
The vans that answer AdBlue jobs in Theale also cover the spots round it, North Street, Sheffield Bottom and Parkers Corner among them, and most of Berkshire beyond, across the RG postcode area. Guessing won't help close to a border or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
Theale is a village, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it stands, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Theale
No flat price could be honest, since each job is different. The price shifts first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that got in. After that it rests 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 The Most Holy Trinity, Theale.
Before a quote, not after, every call from Theale opens with three checks: the fuel, the quantity, and if the engine ran. The replies turn a range into a straight quote.
Before a van heads out, you are told our quote on the phone. Then you pay on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your policy while we're on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Theale: still alongside the vehicle?
Then, touch nothing — that's the best step available. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and if it ran is all we need. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest throughout Berkshire, Theale included.