AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Towns End? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Urea mixed in water is what AdBlue is. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor mixes, and no harm happens until your motor pulls it through. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Towns End, is generally what AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before the engine has run. No step comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Towns End, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
Do these:
- Remove the keys, and that stops someone turning the electrics on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- Which product, and about what amount? Hang on to the bottle or the receipt, and our engineers will know.
- Our van locates you quickest with a postcode starting BA8 0, or simply the name of a street close by, so phone from the car.
Never:
- Do not start your engine, even for a moment to move your car.
- Many diesels power their pump the moment your ignition comes on, so keep it off.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue won't blend, and so it's wasted.
- Keep it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short distance along The Mead.
- No emptying it yourself, either, on the roadside.
Ask the attendants to help you move the vehicle off the island if you are at a forecourt in Towns End, whether it is the Murco or elsewhere. On your own driveway, do not touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not your motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to fresh it. A fuel pump is not designed to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Tipped in with your diesel, it stays separate instead of mixing — entirely unlike fuel. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup pulls 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 Whitchurch last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
After it's pulled in, the harm comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filters and narrow channels; meanwhile, because it attacks certain metals, every part it touches suffers for as long as it stays inside. By daybreak, a car parked around Towns End with AdBlue through its pipework grows worse; where it is only in that tank, nothing changes. And there's the water: it brings no lubrication to the parts that need it most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger fault?
Petrol put into a diesel on G&A Cook's forecourt leaves the fuel watery — that is the main problem. No damage comes as long as it stays unused, mixed into your diesel — only once the motor runs on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely wrong liquid. Because it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Crystals and corrosion remain after the following tankful, and AdBlue splits back from your diesel, and so watering it can't work. That is why the flush matters more, and trying the engine "to see" does more harm here than almost any other slip — in Stalbridge or the centre of Towns End equally.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the easiest job on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever across Somerset your vehicle sits.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Towns End
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, occasionally under one flap — can appear the same. No one means it; many layouts invite it. It mostly occurs outside the house, from a bottle grabbed en route home, not at the forecourt.
Mostly, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. The top-up gets hurried outside St Nicholas CofE Primary School, Henstridge, because the dash lit up with a warning while the children were dropped in. A driver pours the bottle in at home, just off Southmead Lane, as the day ends. Or a driver new to that flap tops up the car in dim light, stopped in the car park by Bird in Hand.
It crops up most in a rental, a brand-new car, a fleet car, or the other vehicle of a family with both fuels — the vehicles drivers use the least. Anywhere in Somerset, Towns End as well, the mistake doesn't change, and neither does the first step: leave it off.
Started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Towns End?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. Your filter and pipework have had it pulled through, and any running carries it on to the injection pump and each injector.
You may see the motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Oak Vale Wood or halfway across Towns End. When safe, pull over and turn it off — without restarting to see. Every start pulls more of that through.
On the M5, under 50 miles from Towns End, the first junction is where to exit, and somewhere sensible is where to stop — not carrying on.
A quick hop across Towns End to the car park by St Nicholas is one matter; heading towards Wells, under 25 miles away, is another, since each mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So mileage matters. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
There's more to flush once the motor has been run, and our engineers do all of it where your car has ended up. Noticed soon, it very seldom leaves lasting damage.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel around Towns End: what it takes
A street by Henstridge Village Hall, a driveway, a layby or a filling station: anywhere the car has come to rest around Towns End, our technicians come to it. Before anything else we ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether the engine has run, because those answers determine this work.
Next, emptying the tank on the spot takes out the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue together. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush matters: the whole system is cleaned right through because what remains won't wash away by itself. Fresh diesel goes in after your filter is cleaned — or swapped, when it needs to be — and after that your vehicle is tested. Not run? Then count on about half an hour on site for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps make a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they run quiet enough to spare the street at night.
The final step is to bleed the fuel system on clean diesel. Whether it's a parking space outside Templecombe or a drive around Towns End, that is where our technicians start the car and you drive off. Before leaving, we check it's running correctly with new diesel in. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Towns End and where it is
Towns End is a small suburban area in inland Somerset, situated at an elevation of 69 metres. Towns End lies near the villages of Henstridge and Henstridge Ash, and is approximately 19.7 miles from the city of Wells. Towns End has a population of around 835 people and is characterised by predominantly terraced housing.
AdBlue drains across Somerset, Towns End included
Henstridge, Henstridge Ash and Higher Marsh are among the towns near Towns End that the same teams serve, along with most of Somerset further out, over the BA postcode area. Guessing doesn't help close to a border or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and ask.
Towns End is a residential suburb, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it stands, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Towns End: the cost of fixing it
Because the jobs vary, a single price wouldn't be honest. What changes the price is, first, whether your engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue went in; and after that where your car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight space behind St Mary.
Which fluid went in, what quantity, plus if the engine ran: each Towns End enquiry opens with exactly that, before any quote, never after. Their answers shrink a range down to one figure.
You get that price by phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
Still alongside the vehicle in Towns End?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, then, the best thing you can do. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Towns End or anywhere in Somerset.