Westcotes: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and nothing happens until the engine pulls it round. In Westcotes, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your motor runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, just where the car is. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
Westcotes, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do right away
To do:
- Pull your keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Near moving traffic? Then put the hazards on.
- Which fluid, and about what amount? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and we will see.
- Our van locates you quickest with a postcode starting LE3 0, or just the name of a street nearby, and so phone from the spot.
Things not to do:
- Moving the vehicle just a few yards is no reason to fire up the engine.
- Many diesels power their fuel pump the instant the ignition comes on, and so keep the car off.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Leave it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short distance up Barclay Street.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, on the roadside.
Rolling your car away from the island is a job for attendants to help with, wherever Westcotes forecourt you're on, the Shell included. At your own drive, don't move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The engine is not what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it is fed into the exhaust, and there it treats the fumes. A fuel pump isn't made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
It doesn't blend. After it's poured into the tank, AdBlue acts nothing like diesel. Denser than diesel, it sinks and pools below it — the same place the intake sucks from. A vehicle topped up on a driveway in Frog Island yesterday evening and left unstarted counts as the simple one. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up so far — but once your engine runs, that's what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of the tank.
Once it's sucked in, the damage comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that hardens in filter elements and narrow passages; and, because it eats at some metals, each part it reaches suffers for as long as it remains in there. A car left standing in Westcotes with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. Then there's the water: it brings no protection to the components that rely on it most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's regularly worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Texaco and you have a fault of thin fuel. Damage only comes from running on it. Mixed into your diesel and sitting inside the tank, it does none.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it can't just be run through. Whether your car sits in Western Park or the centre of Westcotes, turning it over "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other mistake, and the flush counts for more. Why: it will not stay blended, and so watering it down fails; and deposits and corrosion outlast the following fill.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Never started? Then the AdBlue waits only inside that tank, the easiest bit of the whole system to empty, anywhere your vehicle has stopped across Leicestershire.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Westcotes
It is not on purpose. Plenty of vehicles have the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel inlet, occasionally behind a single flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. Mostly it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Shaftesbury Junior School the refill is rushed. Near Fosse Road South, someone pours a container in at home in the evening. One more pattern: darkness, the car park by The Lost Bar, and a driver using that flap the first time.
Rented vehicles, brand-new motors, company cars, or the second car in a home with both fuels: the least known vehicles get it most. Same slip, an identical first step — keep it off — anywhere you happen to be around Westcotes or the rest of Leicestershire.
Westcotes: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. With any running, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and each injector, after passing via your filter and lines.
You may notice your motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Westcotes Gardens or halfway across Westcotes. When you safely can, pull over and turn everything off — with no turning it on again to test. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
If you were on the M1, under 3 miles from Westcotes, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
Hopping across Westcotes to the car park by Masjid Abu Bakr is one thing; driving for Leicester, under 3 miles away, is another, since each mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So distance counts. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once the motor has been run, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has ended up. Very rarely does it leave lasting damage when it is noticed quickly.
Westcotes: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
A road by Church of the Martyrs Community Hall, a driveway, a layby or a filling station: anywhere your vehicle has stopped in Westcotes, our engineers come to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether your motor has been run, because those replies settle this work.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out together after the tank is emptied, on the spot. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush matters: the fuel system is flushed right through because what remains won't flush away unaided. After that, the filter: flushed, or changed when it must be. After that clean diesel, and then a test of the car. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when your motor has not run. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a live forecourt is no problem, and it's hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
The last step is to prime the fuel system on fresh diesel. Whether it's a parking space at Leicester or a driveway in Westcotes, that is where we fire it up and you head off. The test before our technicians leave is that it runs properly on clean diesel. No garage is needed at any point, with the entire job done then and there. Afterwards, there is the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Westcotes, briefly
Westcotes is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Leicester, situated near the River Soar in Leicestershire. Westcotes sits at an elevation of 66 metres, with its riverside setting influencing the local environment. Westcotes is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock, reflecting the area's historical development as a residential suburb of Leicester.
AdBlue drains across Westcotes and Leicestershire
AdBlue call-outs in Westcotes are passed to teams that serve the places around it — New Found Pool, Black Friars as well as Leicester — and much of Leicestershire beyond, across LE postcodes. Ring and ask instead of guessing when you're close to a county line, or somewhere awkward to pin down.
No moving is needed. In Westcotes, a residential suburb, a mobile service works: the vehicle is emptied where it stands, be it on a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Westcotes: the cost of fixing it
There's no fair single price, since the jobs aren't the same. Three things move the price: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the vehicle is. That last one comes down to whether our van can get to it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight spot behind Westcotes Bowling Club.
Which fluid went in, how much, and whether the engine ran: every Westcotes call opens by asking precisely that, ahead of a figure, never afterwards. Those answers narrow a range down to a single number.
Before anyone sets off, you hear our quote on the phone. Then you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Look at your insurance while we're on the way: plenty carry misfuelling cover.
Alongside the car around Westcotes, still?
Right now, the best thing to do with your car is to not touch it. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Westcotes or anywhere around Leicestershire.