AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Weddington? Keep It Switched Off
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, leave your engine off then leave the ignition off. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor mixes, and no harm happens till your engine pulls it through. If your motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and carefully purged where your car sits in Weddington. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank in Weddington
Do these:
- Take your keys out, and so no one switches your ignition on.
- Close to moving traffic? Then put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt tells us the fluid and the quantity, so do not bin it away.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting CV10 0, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to roll the car: the engine remains off.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel will not weaken it.
- Even a short distance along Carisbrook Road is too far to drive the car.
- Emptying the tank yourself by the road is not one to try.
Get the people behind the counter to help you roll the vehicle off the island if you're on a forecourt around Weddington, whether it is the BP or somewhere else. Parked on your own driveway? Then it remains exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. From a dedicated reservoir it is fed directly to your exhaust, treating what your motor lets out. Neither side suits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and an injection pump can't deal with urea.
It doesn't blend. Once it's tipped into the tank, AdBlue behaves not at all like diesel. The intake sucks fuel from the lowest part of that tank, and that is precisely where AdBlue ends up: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. When your pump runs, the AdBlue is first to go through. Until then it sits underneath the diesel, which is why a car filled in Attleborough last night and not switched on stays the straightforward one, as long as nobody turns your key.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps working on the components it hits for as long as it stays there. By daybreak, a vehicle sitting in Weddington with AdBlue through its pipework grows worse; where it's just in your tank, nothing changes. Then there is the water: it brings no protection to the parts that rely on it the most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel commonly the bigger problem?
Top up a diesel with petrol by mistake at the Shell, and the issue is diluted fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it is in your tank it does no harm; the damage comes from running your motor on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is simply the wrong one. It cannot just be run through, since it does not burn. Whether the vehicle sits in Chilvers Coton or the centre of Weddington, turning it over "to see" does more harm in this case than nearly any other slip, and the flush matters for more. Why: it will not stay blended, so watering it down fails; and deposits and corrosion survive the next tankful.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Wherever in Warwickshire the car has stopped, an unrun engine leaves the AdBlue yet in the tank: the easiest bit of any fuel system to empty.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Weddington: how it ends up there
Many motors put the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, now and then behind one flap, and in dim light the two may look the same. Nobody means it. Most of the time it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
It tends to occur in a couple of familiar ways. Rushing, outside Weddington Primary School, after a warning lamp came on during the school run, someone tops up the car. Near Brookdale Road, a driver tips a container in at home after work. Another version: darkness, a pub car park outside The Chase, and a driver using that flap the first time.
It occurs most in the cars people know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Anywhere across Warwickshire, Weddington as well, the mistake does not change, and neither does the first response: leave it off.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Weddington?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. Given any running time, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and every injector, after passing through your filter and pipework.
Watch for rough running, smoke, falling power, warnings on your dash, or a stall — coming back from Coronation Walk, say, or part way across Weddington. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the vehicle to check. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Leave the M69, under 5 miles from Weddington, at the next junction and park somewhere safe, not driving on.
A quick hop across Weddington to the car park by Ambleside Sports Club is one matter; driving for Coventry, under 10 miles away, is something else, because each mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. So distance counts. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out once the motor has been running. When it is caught soon, permanent damage is very uncommon.
Weddington: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
Our engineers come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped in Weddington: a side street near The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. What went in, roughly the quantity, plus if your engine has been run: our technicians check before all else, because those decide the work.
Then that tank is cleared where your car waits, so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Your system is flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Clean diesel goes in once the fuel filter is cleaned — or swapped, when it needs to be — and after that your vehicle is tested. Not run? Then expect roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a busy filling station is no issue, and it's quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
Finally, your system is bled with fresh diesel. You head off as soon as we have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a driveway in Weddington or in a space at Nuneaton. It is checked on fresh diesel to confirm it runs correctly before we leave. As the job is done in full where the car is, a garage never comes into it. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers ask for.
About Weddington, briefly
Weddington is a suburban area in Warwickshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of around 85 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Weddington lies approximately 8.9 miles north of Coventry and 90.7 miles northwest of London, near to St Nicolas Park and Horeston Grange. Weddington has a population of around 4376 residents, living in a mix of old and new properties. Weddington is also close to the town of Nuneaton, which provides additional amenities and services.
Weddington and Warwickshire: AdBlue drains across the area
St Nicolas Park, Horeston Grange and Nuneaton are among the towns around Weddington that the same vans reach, along with most of Warwickshire further out, throughout the CV postcode area. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of assuming.
A mobile service suits Weddington, a residential suburb: there's no need to bring the car to us, because our technicians empty it there, in a driveway, a side street, a car park or a forecourt.
Weddington: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Because the callouts differ, a single figure would not be honest. The cost moves 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 depends on where the car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight space behind Etone Sports Centre.
Which fluid went in, how much, and if the engine ran: each Weddington call opens with exactly those, ahead of any quote, never after. Given them, a range narrows to a single firm number.
You hear that quote by phone, before anybody heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. While the van is on the way, check your insurance: many cover misfuelling.
Weddington: still alongside the car?
Then, touch nothing — that's the best step there is. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Tell us it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether it ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel handles it, across Weddington or wherever within Warwickshire.