Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Woburn
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. Being water-based, it will not burn and never combines with diesel; trouble just starts when the pump starts pulling it. Caught before the engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Woburn. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Woburn, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do straight away
To do:
- Keys out — that way nobody can switch anything on.
- If you're at all close to moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and roughly what quantity, keep your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call just where you are. Say a MK17 9 postcode or the nearest street sign, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Not to do:
- Moving the car just a short way is no reason to fire up your engine.
- Switching the key to ignition by itself starts your pump running on plenty of diesels. Avoid it.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue will not blend, and so it's pointless.
- Do not drive it anywhere, not even a short stretch along High Street.
- Don't try to drain the vehicle yourself at the roadside.
At a forecourt around Woburn, whether it's the Texaco or another one, ask the staff to help you push your car away from the petrol pump. If you are on your own drive, leave it precisely where it sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. Its own tank holds it, and from there it's fed into your exhaust, where it cleans the fumes. Not one side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in an injection pump, and a pump can't deal with urea.
Inside a diesel tank it acts really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. The pickup sucks fuel from the deepest part of your tank, and that's exactly where AdBlue ends up: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. Easiest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Aspley Heath last night and has not turned since. The AdBlue sits at the base of that tank, untouched — though it will be first through once your motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
After it's sucked in, the harm takes two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that crystallises in filter elements and narrow passages; meanwhile, since it eats at certain metals, every part it touches suffers for as long as it remains in there. A car left standing around Woburn with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank isn't. And there is the water: it offers no lubrication to the parts that need it the most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Petrol pumped into a diesel on another forecourt nearby's forecourt leaves the fuel thin — that's the main issue. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it's inside that tank it does no harm; the damage comes from running the motor on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. It can't simply be run through, since it does not burn. Nor can it be thinned, because it separates again — and the following fill will not clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and turning your key "to see", in the heart of Woburn or out in Aspley Guise, costs more than nearly any other error.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. If your motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in the tank, and the tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in Bedfordshire the vehicle is sitting.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Woburn
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of vehicles waits right next to the diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Usually it is not the filling station: a driver picks up a bottle driving home and tips it in at home.
Mostly, it happens in one of a few familiar ways. Rushing, outside Woburn Lower School, after a warning lamp came on during the school run, a parent refills the vehicle. Close to George Street, a driver pours a bottle in at home after work. Or someone new to that flap refills your vehicle after dark, stopped in the car park outside The Woburn Hotel.
It happens most in the vehicles people know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Keep it switched off: that is the first step to the same mistake, wherever around Woburn or the rest of Bedfordshire you happen to be.
Started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Woburn?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Via the fuel filter, through the pipework, and — given any running — into the high-pressure pump and each injector: that is how far it has gone.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, dropping power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each might appear, maybe midway across Woburn or returning from Pumpkin Wood. No starting it again to test: stop once safe, then turn it off. More of that is pulled through with each start.
On the M1, under 3 miles from Woburn, the next junction is where to exit, and somewhere sensible is where to stop — not driving on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Woburn to the car park by Woburn Art Gallery is a very different job from a run towards Milton Keynes, under 10 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with every mile. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
There is more to flush once the motor has been run, and we do all of it where the vehicle has come to a stop. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage when it's spotted quickly.
What clearing AdBlue from a diesel involves around Woburn
The vehicle remains put, whether that's a road beside Woburn Heritage Museum, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt around Woburn, and our van comes to it. Three answers decide the job, so before anything else our engineers ask what got in, about the amount, and if the motor has turned over.
Then that tank is emptied where the car stands, and so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush counts: the fuel system is flushed right through since what remains won't wash away unaided. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. About half an hour on site is usual for most jobs when the motor has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime the system, and that's the last step. Whether it is a parking bay at Aspley Guise or a drive in Woburn, that is where we start the car and you set off. Our technicians confirm it runs properly on new diesel before leaving. Our engineers do it all wherever the vehicle has ended up, and it never needs to go to a workshop. Afterwards, there is paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Woburn and where it is
Woburn is a small town in Bedfordshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 122 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type. Woburn lies near the larger town of Milton Keynes, and is also close to smaller settlements such as Speedwell and Birchmoor Green. Woburn is located approximately 39 miles north of London, making it a commuter town for some residents. Woburn has a population of around 958 people, according to recent estimates.
Woburn and Bedfordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
The teams that answer AdBlue call-outs in Woburn also cover the places around it, Speedwell, Birchmoor Green and Pinfoldpond among them, and most of Bedfordshire beyond, across the MK postcode area. Assuming won't help by a county line or anywhere hard to describe; phone and check.
A van that comes to you fits Woburn, a town: there's no need to bring the vehicle to us, because our technicians drain it there, in a drive, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Woburn?
Because the jobs vary, a flat price would not be honest. What shifts the cost is, first, whether the motor has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and after that where your car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind St Mary The Virgin.
That's why every call from Woburn starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and if it has run. Their replies narrow a range right down to one number.
You hear that price on the phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Woburn: still beside your car?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to your car. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, across Woburn or anywhere in Bedfordshire, once you call 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and if the engine ran.