Westerhope: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you start if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor mixes, and no harm happens until the motor pulls it through. If your motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally emptied and thoroughly flushed where your car stands around Westerhope. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around Westerhope
Do:
- Keys out — that way nobody can power anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- Hold on to the till receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what went in and roughly how much.
- Give us a postcode starting NE5 5, or whichever street is closest, and the van finds you straight — so call from wherever you are.
Never:
- Moving the car just a few yards is no reason to start the motor.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short distance along Pilton Road.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself at the roadside.
Get the attendants to help you roll the vehicle away from the island if you are on a forecourt around Westerhope, whether it is the Esso or somewhere else. If you are on your own drive, leave the vehicle exactly where it sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it's fed into the exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, after tipped in, won't. Its behaviour is nothing like fuel's. It's 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 fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in East Denton last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
It does two kinds of harm from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and tiny channels; and, because it attacks certain metals, each part it touches suffers for as long as it remains inside. A vehicle left standing in Westerhope with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and every injector as it flows; water offers none of that, which is a second kind of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel regularly the bigger fault?
An issue of thinned fuel is what you get after filling a diesel with petrol from the Gulf. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it's in your tank it does no harm; the harm comes from running your engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It can't simply be run through, because it does not burn. Crystals and corrosion stay after the following fill, and AdBlue separates back out of your diesel, and so thinning it won't help. That is why the flush matters more, and trying your engine "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other slip — in Kenton Bar or the heart of Westerhope equally.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Never run? Then the AdBlue waits only in that tank, the easiest bit of the entire system to empty, wherever the vehicle has stopped around Tyne and Wear.
Westerhope: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue cap and the diesel cap, occasionally behind a single flap — may look the same. Nobody means it; many layouts invite it. It mostly happens at home, from a bottle bought en route home, not at the forecourt.
Usually, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside St Mark's Catholic Primary School, Westerhope the top-up is rushed. Close to Bournemouth Gardens, someone pours a bottle in on the drive in the evening. Else, in dim light outside The Hillheads, the vehicle gets refilled by a driver using that flap for the first time.
The least known cars see it the most — hire cars, brand-new cars, fleet cars, and the spare car of a family with one of each fuel types. Keep it off: that's the first response to the same slip, wherever in Westerhope or the remainder of Tyne and Wear you are.
Westerhope: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Given any running, it goes on to the injection pump and each injector, after passing via your filter and lines.
Rough running, smoke, lost power, dashboard lights or cutting out: each might show up, maybe midway across Westerhope or returning from Westerhope Golf Club. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the car to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
Westerhope sits under 5 miles from the Central Motorway East; if you were on it, exit by the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than driving on.
Hopping across Westerhope to the car park by Westerhope Methodist Church is one matter; driving towards Newcastle upon Tyne, under 5 miles away, is something else, because every mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. So mileage matters. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
There is more to flush once the motor has been run, and our technicians do all of it where the vehicle has stopped. Caught quickly, it very rarely leaves long-term damage.
Westerhope: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
A street beside St Mark's RC Church, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt: anywhere the vehicle has stopped around Westerhope, we come to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether your motor has been run, because those answers decide the work.
Then the tank is cleared where the vehicle stands, and so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Your system is rinsed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Testing the vehicle follows last, once fresh diesel is added and your filter is flushed or, where needed, swapped. Most of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our technicians turn up, provided the motor hasn't run. Our equipment is explosion-proof, and so a live forecourt is no problem, and it is hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
Last, the system is primed with new diesel. At that point our technicians start the engine and you drive off, whether from a parking bay outside Blaydon or a driveway in Westerhope. It's checked on new diesel to be sure it runs smoothly before we go. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. The insurer will want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — each handed over once the job is done.
About Westerhope itself
Westerhope is a suburban area located inland in Tyne and Wear, approximately 3.6 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne. Westerhope sits at an elevation of 111 metres, forming part of the wider urban area surrounding Newcastle. Westerhope is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, with nearby neighbourhoods including Newbiggin Hall Estate and West Denton.
Westerhope and Tyne and Wear: AdBlue drains across the area
Newbiggin Hall Estate, West Denton and Blakelaw are among the towns around Westerhope that the same vans reach, together with much of Tyne and Wear beyond, over the NE postcode area. Guessing won't help close to a county line or somewhere hard to describe; ring and check.
Westerhope is a residential suburb, and a mobile 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 sits, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
Westerhope: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Since each callouts vary, a flat figure would not be honest. What changes the cost is, first, whether your engine has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and after that where the vehicle is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind St Wilfrid.
What got in, how much, plus if it ran: every Westerhope call begins with exactly those, before a figure, not after. Their replies shrink the range right down to one figure.
You hear that price by phone, before anybody sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your policy whilst we are on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
In Westerhope and still beside your car?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the car. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if the engine ran are everything our technicians ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest across Tyne and Wear, Westerhope included.