Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Whitchurch
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Urea mixed in water is what AdBlue is. As it is water-based, it will not ignite and never combines with diesel; damage just comes when your pump starts pulling it. Caught before your engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Whitchurch. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Your next steps right now, Whitchurch: AdBlue in the diesel tank
To do:
- Keys out — that way no one can power anything on.
- Put your hazards on if you're at all near moving traffic.
- Which product, and about what quantity? Hang on to the bottle or your receipt, and our technicians will see.
- Call right where you are. Quote a PL19 9 postcode or the nearest street name, and nobody has to search for you.
Don't:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift the vehicle: your motor remains off.
- Your ignition remains off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to start the fuel pump.
- Pouring in extra diesel does not work: AdBlue separates out instead of blending.
- Keep it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short way along Anderton Lane.
- Don't try to drain it yourself at the kerbside.
At a forecourt around Whitchurch, whether it is the Morrisons or another one, ask the staff to help you push the vehicle away from the pump. If you're on your own drive, leave the car just where it sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. A fuel pump is not designed to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
It doesn't combine. Once it is poured into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. Simplest of all: a vehicle that got AdBlue in Tavistock overnight and has not been started since. The AdBlue sits at the base of that tank, untouched — but it will be first through once the motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
Two kinds of damage follow from there. What is left when the water evaporates is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in narrow passages and block filters. On top of that, it eats at some metals in a fuel system, and keeps going until it is cleared out. Pipes holding AdBlue spell harm overnight for a vehicle sitting around Whitchurch. Just inside that tank, it stays stable. And there's the water: it offers no protection to the parts that rely on it most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger problem?
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Texaco's forecourt leaves your fuel watery — that's the main issue. Blended through the diesel and sitting still, it is harmless at that stage; using the motor does the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Since it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Whether your vehicle sits in Horrabridge or the heart of Whitchurch, firing it up "to see" costs more in this case than nearly any other slip, and the flush counts more. Why: it won't stay blended, and so diluting it is impossible; and deposits and corrosion survive the next fill.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If the engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in your tank, and the tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Devon the car is sitting.
Whitchurch: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It's not on purpose. Many cars have the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, now and then under a single flap, and muddling them up is simple after dark. It usually takes place outside the house, from a container grabbed on the journey home, not at the forecourt.
Usually, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Whitchurch Community Primary School the top-up is rushed. In the evening, a bottle is tipped in on a drive near Church Hill. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park outside The Whitchurch, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
The least known vehicles get it the most — rentals, new cars, company cars, and the other motor in a family with one of each fuel types. Wherever around Devon, Whitchurch as well, the mistake does not change, and nor does the first step: keep it switched off.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Whitchurch, and the motor started?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside the tank. It's been pulled through the fuel filter and the fuel lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure pump and the injectors.
Perhaps coming back from Tavistock Golf Club, or part way across Whitchurch, the engine might run lumpy, smoke, drop pace, light up your dash or stall. Once you safely can, stop and turn it off — with no restarting to test. Each start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M5, under 50 miles from Whitchurch, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere sensible instead of pressing on.
Mileage counts: each mile carries the AdBlue deeper in, so heading for Plymouth, under 15 miles away, makes a far bigger job than hopping across Whitchurch to the car park by St Andrew. Let us know about how far it had come.
Once the engine has been started, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where your car has ended up. Spotted early, it very seldom leaves lasting damage.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves around Whitchurch
Anywhere it has come to rest in Whitchurch — a filling station, a layby, a drive, a road by The Pimple — the van travels to the vehicle. The work depends on three replies, and we get first — which fluid was put in, the amount, and whether the engine has run.
Next, draining the tank right there takes out the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue in one go. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush matters: the fuel system is flushed right through since residue will not wash out unaided. Next, your filter: cleaned, or changed if it has to be. After that clean diesel, then a check of the vehicle. Not run? Then count on about half an hour on site for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
Bleeding your system with clean diesel comes last. Starting the engine comes next, and then you set off from where the car is parked, by Gunnislake or on a drive around Whitchurch. Our technicians check it runs correctly on new diesel before leaving. Our technicians 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 both come afterwards.
About Whitchurch itself
Whitchurch is a suburban area in Devon, situated inland at an elevation of 107 metres, approximately 11 miles north of Plymouth. Whitchurch is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its development as a residential area. Whitchurch is close to nearby places such as Middlemoor, Grenofen, and Walreddon, and is home to a population of around 1798 residents. Whitchurch is also relatively distant from London, at 186.5 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Devon, Whitchurch included
AdBlue jobs around Whitchurch are passed to vans that cover the places near it — Middlemoor, Grenofen plus Walreddon — and most of Devon further out, across PL postcodes. Guessing doesn't help by a border or anywhere tricky to describe; phone and ask.
A van that comes to you fits Whitchurch, a residential suburb: you have no need to bring the car to us, since we drain it on the spot, on a drive, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Whitchurch
Not one flat figure could be honest, since each job differs. Whether the engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the cost. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the location of the car, since an open driveway is easier for our van to get to safely than a tight spot behind Kingdom Hall.
That's why each call from Whitchurch starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and whether it's run. With them, a range narrows to one firm number.
Priced on the call before the engineer heads out, the job is paid for that day — card or phone, no deposit. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Still alongside your car around Whitchurch?
Then, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to leave it. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Say it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Whitchurch or anywhere in Devon.