AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Uplands? Keep It Switched Off
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, keep your engine off then leave your ignition off. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and nothing starts till your engine pulls it through. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Uplands, is generally what AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it is caught before the motor has been run. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Uplands
Things to do:
- So nobody can turn your ignition on, take the keys out.
- Put the hazards on if you are at all close to moving traffic.
- Hold on to the receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what was put in and about how much.
- Ring just where you are. Say a BS13 8 postcode or the nearest street name, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Not to do:
- Moving your vehicle even a few yards is no reason to fire up your motor.
- Your ignition stays off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to run your fuel pump.
- Do not top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Leave the vehicle where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short stretch down Donald Road.
- Beside the road, do not try emptying it on your own.
Get the people behind the counter to help you roll the car away from the island if you are at a forecourt in Uplands, whether it is the Sainsbury Fuel or somewhere else. If you are on your own drive, leave the vehicle exactly where it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your motor. Stored in a separate tank, it's injected into the exhaust to clean the gases. No part inside a fuel pump is designed for this liquid — and no part of that was meant to travel that way.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. Denser than diesel, it sinks and pools below it — the same place the pickup draws from. Once your pump runs, the AdBlue is first to be pulled through. Until then it sits beneath your diesel, which is how a vehicle topped up in Ashton Vale yesterday and not started remains the straightforward one, as long as no one turns your key.
It causes two kinds of harm from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filters and narrow passages; and, since it eats at some metals, each part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it stays in there. Pipes holding AdBlue mean harm by morning for a vehicle parked in Uplands. Only inside that tank, it stays the same. And there is the water: it brings no protection to the parts that rely on it most — the injection pump and each injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Top up a diesel with petrol by mistake at the Esso, and this issue is thinned fuel. No damage comes while it stays put, blended into your diesel — only once the engine runs on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it cannot be diluted. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Headley Park or the middle of Uplands.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Anywhere across Bristol the car has stopped, an unrun motor means the AdBlue yet inside the tank: the easiest part of a fuel system to clear.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Uplands
It is not deliberate. Plenty of vehicles keep the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel one, occasionally behind a single flap, and mixing them up is simple after dark. A container picked up while heading home and poured in outside the house, instead of at the forecourt, is the usual story.
A few familiar ways account for the majority of them. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside St Peter's Church of England Primary School (VC). In the evening, a container goes in on a drive near King's Head Lane. Another pattern: darkness, the car park by The Tythings, and someone opening that flap for the first time.
Hired vehicles, brand-new motors, company cars, or the spare car in a home with one of each: the least familiar vehicles see it the most. Wherever you are around Uplands or the rest of Bristol, it's the same mistake and the same first answer: leave it off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Uplands?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Given any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and every injector, after passing via your filter and lines.
Perhaps coming back from Kings Head Lane Park, or midway across Uplands, your engine might go lumpy, smoke, lose pace, flash the dash or cut out. Pull over when it is safe. Turn off. Keep it off rather than testing it again. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
On the M32, under 5 miles from Uplands, the next junction is where to leave, and somewhere sensible is where to stop — not carrying on.
A quick hop across Uplands to the car park by Bishopsworth Library is one matter; heading towards Bristol, under 3 miles away, is another, because each mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. So mileage counts. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
There is more to rinse out once your engine has been run, and we do all of it where your car has come to a stop. When it is spotted early, long-term damage is very unusual.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel in Uplands: what it takes
Wherever it has come to rest in Uplands — a filling station, a lay-by, a drive, a road beside Lime Kiln — our van travels to your vehicle. Which fluid went in, roughly the quantity, and whether the motor has turned over: we check first, because those decide the job.
Next, emptying the tank on the spot takes out the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue together. What remains from AdBlue will not flush away unaided, and so the whole system gets a full flush, which matters far more here than for petrol. Next, the filter: cleaned, or replaced when it must be. After that clean diesel, and then a check of the vehicle. Engine not run? Then expect about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Bleeding the system with clean diesel comes last. Whether it's a parking space by Parson Street or a drive around Uplands, that is where our engineers fire it up and you head off. Before leaving, we confirm it is running properly with new diesel in. We do it all wherever the vehicle has ended up, and it never has to go to a workshop. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Uplands and where it is
Uplands is a suburban area located on the riverside in Bristol, with an elevation of around 64 metres above sea level. Uplands sits approximately 2.5 miles from Bristol city centre and is surrounded by nearby places such as Highridge, Bishopsworth, and Bedminster Down. Uplands is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock and is home to around 4330 residents. Uplands forms part of the larger Bristol urban area, which is about 107.7 miles west of London.
AdBlue drains across Uplands and Bristol
AdBlue call-outs around Uplands are passed to vans that serve the towns around it — Highridge, Bishopsworth plus Bedminster Down — and most of Bristol beyond, across BS postcodes. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Wherever your car stands — a drive at home, a side street, a parking area, a forecourt — we drain it on the spot, with no need to bring it to us; that suits Uplands, a residential suburb, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Uplands
Since each jobs vary, a flat figure wouldn't be fair. The price changes first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that got in. After that it turns on where the vehicle is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight spot behind St Oswald.
What was put in, what quantity, and if it ran: every Uplands enquiry begins by asking precisely those, before any quote, never afterwards. When those are known, a range turns into a single firm figure.
Our price is quoted on the call, before anyone sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
In Uplands and still beside the car?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, then, the best thing you can do. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, in Uplands or anywhere in Bristol, after you call 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether the engine ran.