Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Toothill
Engine off, ignition off: that is where you start if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and no harm happens till your engine sucks it through. Caught before the engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Toothill. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, Toothill: AdBlue in the diesel tank
To do:
- Pocket the keys, which prevents someone turning the power on.
- Close to moving traffic? Then put the hazard lights on.
- Which product, and about what amount? Save the bottle or the receipt, and our technicians will know.
- Call just where you are. Say a SN5 7 postcode or the closest street sign, and nobody has to search for you.
Not to do:
- Shifting the car even a few yards is no reason to fire up your engine.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue won't blend, and so it is wasted.
- Never drive the car anywhere, not even a short way along Tewkesbury Way.
- No draining it yourself, at all, on the verge.
The attendants on duty at any Toothill filling station — the Asda included — will usually help rolling it clear if you ask. On that drive, the car stays exactly where it was left.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not your engine but your exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. Kept in a separate tank, it is injected into the exhaust to treat the gases. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
Poured in with your diesel, it stays apart instead of blending — entirely different from fuel. It drops, because it is heavier than diesel, and settles down where the intake draws its 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 Bridgemead last night, and has not been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
Two kinds of damage come from there. What remains when the water evaporates is urea, which forms crystals: they lodge in tiny channels and block filters. On top of that, it attacks certain metals in a fuel system, and keeps going until it is cleared out. Where the AdBlue is in the lines, leaving it till morning around Toothill makes it worse. Inside the tank alone, waiting costs nothing. Water protects nothing. The high-pressure pump and each injector depend on diesel running past them, and so the water part damages them by itself.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is frequently worse than petrol
Top up a diesel with petrol in error at the Sainsbury's, and this problem is thinned fuel. Blended through the diesel and sitting still, it is no threat at that stage; running your engine does the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. 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 matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether your car is in Mannington or the middle of Toothill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Anywhere across Wiltshire your vehicle has stopped, an unrun motor leaves the AdBlue still in the reservoir: the simplest part of any fuel system to empty.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Toothill?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of cars rests right next to your diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the pump.
Usually, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Oliver Tomkins Church of England Junior School the top-up is hurried. A driver pours the container in outside their house, right off Risingham Mead, as the day ends. Else, in dim light outside The Harvey, your vehicle gets topped up by someone using that flap the first time.
It crops up the most in a rental, a new vehicle, a fleet vehicle, or the other motor of a family with one of each fuels — the cars people use least. Wherever around Wiltshire, Toothill as well, the mistake doesn't change, and nor does the first response: leave it switched off.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Toothill?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. Through the fuel filter, through the pipework, and — given any running time — into the high-pressure pump and every injector: that is where it has gone.
You may see the motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Folly Park or halfway across Toothill. Pull over when safe. Turn off. Keep the vehicle off instead of testing it again. More of it is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M4, under 3 miles from Toothill, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible instead of pressing on.
Distance matters: every mile carries the AdBlue further in, and so heading for Bath, under 50 miles away, makes a far bigger job than crossing Toothill to the car park by Looking to the future. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Our technicians do all of the cleaning where the car has stopped, and once the engine has been run there is more of it. Lasting damage is very unusual when it's noticed quickly.
Toothill: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
Our engineers come to the car, wherever it has stopped in Toothill: a side street close to West Swindon Shopping Centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. What got in, roughly how much, plus whether your motor has turned over: we ask first, since those shape the job.
On the spot, your tank is then emptied, and both the polluted diesel and the urea leave as one. The system is rinsed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Next, your filter: cleaned, or replaced when it has to be. After that clean diesel, then a test of the vehicle. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our technicians arrive, if your engine hasn't run. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Fresh diesel goes in to bleed the system, and that's the final step. After that our technicians fire it up and you drive off, whether from a parking bay outside Swindon or a drive in Toothill. We confirm it runs properly on fresh diesel before leaving. Our engineers do it all wherever the car has ended up, and it never needs to go to a workshop. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Toothill itself
Toothill is a suburban area in Wiltshire, situated inland at an elevation of 97 metres, and forms part of the larger urban area near Swindon. Toothill is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock, reflecting its development as a residential neighbourhood. Toothill is located near other suburban areas such as Eastleaze, Westlea, and Freshbrook, and is within commuting distance of the city of Bath. Toothill has a population of approximately 7130 residents.
AdBlue drains across Toothill and Wiltshire
Eastleaze, Westlea and Freshbrook are among the places around Toothill that the same teams reach, along with much of Wiltshire further out, throughout the SN postcode area. Ring and check instead of guessing if you are by a county line, or anywhere awkward to explain.
Wherever the car stands — a drive at home, a side street, a car park, a filling station — our technicians drain it there, with no need to take it to us; that suits Toothill, a residential suburb, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Toothill: the cost of fixing it
Not one flat price would be fair, because every job is different. The cost moves 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 your car is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind West Swindon Library.
For that reason, every call from Toothill opens by asking the same trio — which fluid got in, what quantity, whether it ran — ahead of any quote. When those are known, a range turns into a single firm number.
Our quote is quoted on the call, before a van leaves; settling up happens on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
Toothill: still alongside the vehicle?
In that case, touch nothing — that's the most helpful move available. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, and if the engine ran are everything we ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest throughout Wiltshire, Toothill too.