AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in West Coker? Keep It Switched Off
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does the engine. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and no harm starts until your motor pulls it through. If the engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally emptied and thoroughly cleaned where the vehicle sits in West Coker. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, West Coker: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do:
- Pocket the keys, which stops anyone switching the electrics on.
- If you're at all near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and about how much, save your receipt or the empty bottle.
- The van finds you quickest with a postcode starting BA22 9, or simply the name of a street nearby, so phone from the spot.
Not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to roll the vehicle: your engine remains off.
- Your ignition remains off: on lots of diesels, switching it on is enough to start your pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Leave it where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short distance up High Street.
- Do not try to drain it yourself by the kerbside.
The staff on duty at any West Coker filling station — the BP included — will usually help pushing it clear if you ask. On your own driveway, don't move it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not your engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. From a dedicated reservoir it goes straight to the exhaust, cleaning what your motor emits. Nothing inside a fuel pump is made for this liquid — and no part of it was meant to go that way.
It does not blend. Once it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves nothing like diesel. It drops, since it is denser than diesel, and settles down where the intake draws its fuel from. When your system runs, the AdBlue is first to go through. Before then it sits underneath the diesel, and that is how a vehicle topped up in Burton yesterday and never switched on remains the straightforward one, as long as nobody touches your key.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. What is left once the water goes is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle in narrow channels and clog filters. On top of that, it attacks certain metals in a fuel system, and keeps going till it's flushed out. Overnight, a car sitting in West Coker with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; if it is just inside the tank, nothing changes. The water in it does harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is commonly more major than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Asda's forecourt makes your fuel thin — that's the main problem. Blended through the diesel and sitting still, it's no threat for now; using the engine does the damage.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable liquid. Because it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Deposits and corrosion remain through the following tankful, and AdBlue splits again from the diesel, and so watering it won't work. That is why the flush counts so much, and turning your key "to see" does more harm here than almost any other slip — in Brympton dEvercy or the centre of West Coker alike.
As with petrol, there's good news. Emptying a tank is the simplest part on any fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue remains in it — wherever across Somerset the vehicle sits.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in West Coker?
Plenty of cars place the AdBlue cap beside the diesel cap, occasionally behind a single flap, and after dark the two may look identical. No one intends it. Mostly it's never the forecourt: a driver picks up a bottle driving home and pours it in outside the house.
Usually, it occurs in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside West Coker CofE VC Primary School. Close to Church Street, a driver tips a bottle in at home in the evening. Another version: dim light, a pub car park by The Royal Oak, and a driver opening that flap for the first time.
The least familiar cars get it most — rentals, brand-new cars, company ones, and the other vehicle of a family with both fuel types. Keep it switched off: that is the first response to the same mistake, anywhere around West Coker or the rest of Somerset you are.
Started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around West Coker?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. Through the filter, along the lines, and — with any running time — into the high-pressure pump and each injector: that is where it travels.
You may notice your engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Hardington Moor National Nature Reserve or halfway across West Coker. Stop when safe. Turn off. Leave the car off rather than restarting it to check. More of it is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M5, under 25 miles from West Coker, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere sensible instead of pressing on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across West Coker to the car park by St Martin of Tours is a very different job from a run towards Wells, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with every mile. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
There is more to clean out once the engine has been run, and our engineers do all of it where your car has ended up. When it is noticed soon, permanent damage is very unusual.
West Coker: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
A road by West Coker Manor, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station: wherever the car has come to rest in West Coker, we travel to it. Which fluid got in, about the quantity, plus if your motor has been run: our technicians check before all else, because those decide the job.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out together when your tank is drained, on the spot. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing matters: the fuel system is cleaned all the way through because residue won't wash away by itself. A test of the vehicle comes at the end, once clean diesel goes in and your filter gets flushed or, if needed, swapped. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once we arrive, if the motor has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
The final step is to bleed your system on new diesel. At that point our engineers start the engine and you set off, whether from a parking space at Yeovil Junction or a drive around West Coker. We confirm it runs smoothly on new diesel before leaving. No workshop is required at any point, with the entire job done then and there. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers want.
About West Coker, briefly
West Coker is a small village in Somerset, situated near several lakes and surrounded by rural countryside. West Coker sits at an elevation of 74 metres, with a mix of detached homes and other housing types, and is located near the villages of Holywell and Hardington Moor. West Coker remains a quiet and predominantly residential community, with Wells being the nearest city, approximately 20 miles away.
AdBlue drains around West Coker and across Somerset
Throughout the BA postcode area, the vans taking AdBlue call-outs around West Coker reach most of Somerset too, Holywell, Hardington Moor and Lyatts among them. Close to a border, or somewhere tricky to pin down? Checking beats assuming, so phone.
Anywhere your car stands — your drive at home, a side street, a car park, a forecourt — we empty it on the spot, with no need to take it to us; which suits West Coker, a village, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in West Coker
Every job is different, so no fixed price would be honest. What changes the price is, firstly, whether the engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and then where your car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind West Coker House.
That is why every call from West Coker starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and if it has run. When they are known, a range becomes a single firm number.
Our quote is quoted during the call, before anyone sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. While the van is travelling, check your policy: plenty cover misfuelling.
West Coker: still alongside the vehicle?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to your car. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, in West Coker or wherever in Somerset, after you call 0333 366 0103 to say it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether the engine ran.