Wilminstone: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Engine off, ignition off: that is where you start if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and nothing happens till the motor sucks it round. In Wilminstone, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before the motor runs usually comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. No step comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Wilminstone, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do at once
To do:
- Pull the keys out, and so nobody switches your ignition on.
- If you're anywhere near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Hold on to your receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and roughly how much.
- Ring just where you are. Say a PL19 0 postcode or the nearest street name, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Don't:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift the car: your motor remains off.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Adding extra diesel does not work: AdBlue settles out instead of blending.
- Don't drive the car anywhere, not even a short distance down Union Mine Road.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, at the roadside.
Get the people behind the counter to help you move the vehicle off the pumps if you are on a forecourt around Wilminstone, whether it's the Texaco or somewhere else. On that drive, your car stays just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Not your engine but your exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. Not one side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in an injection pump, and an injection pump can't deal with urea.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It sinks, because it is denser than diesel, and pools down where the intake takes its fuel from. A vehicle filled on a driveway in Chaddlehanger overnight and not started since counts as the simple case. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up yet — though once your engine runs, that's what goes first, straight from the bottom of that tank.
From there it does two kinds of damage. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filters and tiny channels; and, since it eats at some metals, every part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it remains in there. Lines carrying AdBlue spell harm overnight for a car sitting around Wilminstone. Only in the tank, it stays the same. The water in it does damage of its own: your high-pressure pump and the injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is often worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Morrisons and you have a problem of thin fuel. No damage comes as long as it stays unused, blended into your diesel — only once your engine works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It cannot just be run through, since it doesn't burn. Crystals and corrosion remain through the next fill, and AdBlue separates back out of the diesel, so thinning it can't work. That is why the flush counts more, and trying the engine "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other slip — in Cudlipptown or the centre of Wilminstone alike.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Anywhere in Devon the vehicle has come to rest, an unstarted engine leaves the AdBlue yet in the reservoir: the simplest part of any fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Wilminstone?
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, now and then under one flap — may appear the same. No one intends it; plenty of layouts invite it. Most of the time it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
Mostly, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside St Rumon's Church of England (VC) Infants School the refill is rushed. A driver tips the container in at home, right off Rowden Wood Road, as the day ends. Or the car is topped up in the car park at The Trout 'n' Tipple, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
Hired motors, new motors, company vehicles, or the second car in a home with both fuels: the least known cars get it the most. Keep it switched off: that's the first response to an identical slip, anywhere in Wilminstone or the rest of Devon you happen to be.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Wilminstone, and the engine started?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. The fuel filter and lines have had it sucked through, and any running carries it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Perhaps coming back from Hurdwick Golf Course, or part way across Wilminstone, the engine may go rough, smoke, lose pace, flash the dash or stall. Stop when safe. Switch off. Leave the vehicle off instead of restarting it to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
Exit the M5, under 50 miles from Wilminstone, by the first junction and stop somewhere safe, not driving on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Wilminstone to the car park by St Peter is a very different job from a run towards Plymouth, under 15 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with every mile. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
There is more to clean out once the engine has run, and our engineers do all of it where the vehicle has stopped. Very seldom does it leave long-term damage if it is spotted soon.
Wilminstone: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
Anywhere it has come to rest in Wilminstone — a forecourt, a layby, a drive, a street by Peter Tavy Village Hall — our van travels to the vehicle. Before anything else our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and if your motor has run, because those answers decide the work.
Next, draining that tank right there removes the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. The system is flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Next, your filter: flushed, or changed when it must be. Then clean diesel, and then a check of the car. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our engineers get there, if your engine has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Lastly, the fuel system is primed with new diesel. Whether it is a parking bay at Gunnislake or a driveway around Wilminstone, that is where we start the engine and you set off. It's checked on clean diesel to confirm it runs correctly before our engineers leave. Because the job is done in its entirety where the vehicle is, a workshop never comes into it. Afterwards, you are given paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Wilminstone, briefly
Wilminstone is a locality in Devon, situated on the riverside in the South West region of England, with an elevation of around 155 metres. Wilminstone lies near the cities of Plymouth and the market town of Tavistock, and is close to the villages of Peter Tavy and Mary Tavy. Wilminstone has a population of approximately 559 people and predominantly consists of detached housing.
AdBlue drains around Wilminstone and across Devon
AdBlue jobs in Wilminstone are passed to vans that cover the places around it — Peter Tavy, Tavistock plus Mary Tavy — and most of Devon beyond, across PL postcodes. Guessing won't help by a county line or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
No towing is needed. In Wilminstone, a small village, a van that comes to you works: the car is emptied where it stands, whether in a drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Wilminstone
Since each jobs differ, a single figure wouldn't be honest. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it turns on where your car is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight gap behind Tavistock Area Support Services.
With that in mind, every call from Wilminstone opens with the identical trio — which fluid went in, what quantity, if it ran — ahead of any quote. Given them, a range shrinks to one fixed number.
You hear that price on the phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay 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 are on the way.
Next to the vehicle in Wilminstone, still?
Then, do nothing — that's the most helpful step there is. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, in Wilminstone or wherever in Devon, once you call 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.