AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Whitwick? Don't Start It
Motor off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the system draws it in. Caught before your motor has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Whitwick. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, Whitwick: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do these:
- So nobody can switch the ignition on, pull your keys out.
- If you are at all close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the receipt shows us the fluid and the amount, and so don't bin it away.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting LE67 5, or the name of the closest street, gets our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Shifting your vehicle even a short way is no reason to fire up your motor.
- Switching the key to ignition by itself sets your pump running on plenty of diesels. Skip it.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue won't blend, so it's pointless.
- Even a short way along Hall Lane is too far to drive the vehicle.
- No emptying it yourself, either, at the verge.
The attendants working at any Whitwick forecourt — the Shell among them — will normally lend a hand rolling it clear if you ask. If you're on your own drive, leave it exactly where it stands.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not your engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. Kept in a separate tank, it's injected into the exhaust stream to clean the fumes. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, after poured in, won't. The behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It sinks, because it is heavier than diesel, and settles low where the intake takes its fuel from. Easiest of all: a vehicle that got AdBlue in Swannington overnight and hasn't been started since. The AdBlue waits at the base of that tank, untouched — though it would be the first thing through if your engine runs, before any diesel at all.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that hardens in filters and tiny channels; and, since it eats at certain metals, every part it reaches suffers for as long as it stays inside. A motor left standing around Whitwick 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 passes; water offers no lubrication, which is a second form of harm.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is frequently more significant than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error over at the Morrisons, and the problem is diluted fuel. No damage is done as long as it sits put, mixed into the diesel — only when your motor runs on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is simply the wrong one. It does not burn, so it can't simply be run through. It doesn't stay mixed, so it can't be thinned. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the car is in Agar Nook or the middle of Whitwick.
As with petrol, there is good news. Emptying a tank is the simplest job on any fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue stays in there — anywhere around Leicestershire your car sits.
Whitwick: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Plenty of cars put the AdBlue cap beside the diesel cap, now and then behind one flap, and after dark the two can appear the same. Nobody intends it. It mostly happens outside the house, from a container grabbed on the journey home, not at the forecourt.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. Rushing, outside Holy Cross School A Catholic Voluntary Academy, after a warning light came on during the school run, a parent refills the car. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off City Of Dan. Else, in dim light outside Three Horse Shoes, your vehicle is refilled by someone opening that flap the first time.
It takes place most in the motors motorists know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. An identical mistake, an identical first response — keep it off — anywhere you are in Whitwick or the rest of Leicestershire.
Whitwick: started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. The filter and lines have had it pulled through, and any running takes it on to the injection pump and every injector.
You may notice your engine running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Whitwick Football Pitches or halfway across Whitwick. Once you safely can, pull over and switch it off — with no restarting to see. Every start pulls more of that through.
Exit the M1, under 5 miles from Whitwick, at the next junction and park safely, not driving on.
Distance counts: each mile carries the AdBlue further into the system, and so heading for Leicester, under 15 miles away, gives a much larger job than crossing Whitwick to the car park by Whitwick Methodist Church. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to clean out once your engine has been started, and our engineers do all of it where your car has come to a stop. Very rarely does it leave permanent damage when it's noticed quickly.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Whitwick?
The car remains put, whether that is a street beside Hermitage Leisure Centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt around Whitwick, and the van comes to it. Before anything else we ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether your engine has run, because those replies decide this work.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave as one after that tank is drained, on the spot. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing counts: the whole system is flushed all the way through since residue won't wash away by itself. A test of the car follows last, after clean diesel is added and the filter gets cleaned or, if necessary, swapped. Engine not run? Then count on roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
Finally, your system is primed with clean diesel. Then our engineers start it and you set off, whether from a parking bay outside Loughborough or a driveway around Whitwick. Our engineers confirm it runs properly on clean diesel before leaving. The entire job is done where your car is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers ask for.
About Whitwick and where it is
Whitwick is a village in Leicestershire, situated near lakes and surrounded by other communities such as New Swannington and Thringstone. Whitwick sits at an elevation of 144 metres, approximately 11.8 miles northwest of Leicester. Whitwick has a population of around 1727 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Whitwick is located in the East Midlands region, about 99.8 miles north of London.
AdBlue drains across Whitwick and Leicestershire
Over the LE postcode area, the teams answering AdBlue jobs around Whitwick serve much of Leicestershire too, New Swannington, Thringstone and Coalville included. Near a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down? Asking is better than assuming, and so ring.
No moving is needed. In Whitwick, a village, a mobile service works: your vehicle is drained on the spot, be it on a drive, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Whitwick?
Not one single figure could be fair, since every job is different. What changes the price is, first of all, whether the motor has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and after that where the vehicle is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight space behind St John's.
Before a figure, not after, each enquiry from Whitwick opens with the same three questions: the liquid, the amount, and whether the engine ran. Those answers narrow a range down to a single number.
Our price is quoted on the call, before a van sets off; payment comes on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
Still next to the vehicle in Whitwick?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with the car is to leave it. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus whether it ran is everything our technicians ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder across Leicestershire, Whitwick included.