Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Woodend
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, leave your motor off then leave your ignition off. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. The trouble starts once it is pulled through the lines — it won't ignite, and it won't blend with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Woodend, is normally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before the motor has been run. Before anything, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
Woodend, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do at once
Do:
- So nobody can switch your ignition on, pull your keys away.
- If you are at all near moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Hold on to the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what got in and roughly how much.
- Ring right where you are. Say a WF10 2 postcode or the closest street sign, and no one has to hunt for you.
Things not to do:
- Moving your car just a few yards is no reason to start the motor.
- Turning your key to ignition alone starts the pump going on plenty of diesels. Skip it.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel won't weaken it.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short way along Leeds Road.
- Don't try to drain it yourself by the kerbside.
The staff working at any Woodend filling station — the Oakdale Garage included — will normally help pushing it clear if you ask. At home, the car stays just as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not your motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Neither side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and an injection pump can't take urea.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once poured in, won't. The behaviour is nothing like fuel's. It sinks, because it's denser than diesel, and pools down where the pickup takes its fuel from. Simplest of all: one that had AdBlue in Mickletown overnight and hasn't turned since. The liquid sits at the foot of the tank, undrawn — though it will be first through once your engine runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
Two kinds of damage come from there. What remains once the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in narrow passages and clog filters. On top of that, it eats at some metals in the fuel system, and keeps going until it is cleared out. Lines holding AdBlue spell harm overnight for a car parked around Woodend. Just inside your tank, it stays the same. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and every injector as it passes; water gives no lubrication, which is a second form of damage.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
Top up a diesel with petrol in error at the Gulf, and this problem is thinned fuel. No harm is done as long as it stays unused, blended into your diesel — only when the motor works on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable substance. Not burning, it cannot just be run through. Whether your car sits in Kippax or the centre of Woodend, turning it over "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other error, and the flush counts more. The reasons: it will not stay blended, and so watering it down fails; and crystals and corrosion outlast the next fill.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Never run? Then the AdBlue waits only inside your tank, the easiest section of the entire system to empty, wherever your car has stopped across West Yorkshire.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Woodend?
It is not deliberate. Plenty of cars have the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel inlet, occasionally under a single flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. Mostly it is not the forecourt: someone picks up a container driving home and tips it in outside the house.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. Rushing, outside Great Preston VC CofE Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, someone tops up your car. Someone tips the container in at home, right off Carlton View, as the day ends. Otherwise, after dark outside Great Preston Snooker And Sports Club, the vehicle gets topped up by someone opening that flap the first time.
Hired motors, new motors, fleet cars, or the spare car in a home with one of each: the least known cars see it the most. An identical mistake, same first step — leave it off — anywhere you are around Woodend or the rest of West Yorkshire.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Woodend?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. It has been pulled through the filter and the lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has got to your high-pressure pump and your injectors.
You may see your motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Hollinhurst Wood or halfway across Woodend. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the vehicle to check. More of that is pulled through with each start.
Exit the M1, under 3 miles from Woodend, by the first junction and park safely, rather than driving on.
A quick hop across Woodend to the car park by Allerton Bywater Youth And Adult Centre is one thing; heading for Wakefield, under 10 miles away, is something else, since each mile carries the AdBlue further in. So mileage matters. Let us know about how far it had come.
We do all of the rinsing where your car has stopped, and once the engine has run there is more of it. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage if it is noticed soon.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Woodend: what it takes
Wherever it has stopped around Woodend — a forecourt, a lay-by, a drive, a road by BE1150 Dragline — our van comes to your vehicle. What went in, roughly the quantity, and whether the motor has turned over: our technicians ask first, because those decide the job.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one when that tank is drained, on the spot. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing counts: the whole system is flushed right through because residue won't flush away by itself. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. About half an hour on site is usual for most jobs when your motor has not run. The equipment is explosion-proof, and so a busy forecourt is no problem, and it is hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
The last step is to bleed the fuel system on new diesel. After that our engineers fire it up and you head off, whether from a parking bay at Castleford or a drive around Woodend. Before we go, we check it's running smoothly with fresh diesel in. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never has to be taken to a workshop. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over once the job is done.
About Woodend itself
Woodend is a village in West Yorkshire, situated on the lakeside at an elevation of 32 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Woodend lies approximately 6.7 miles from Wakefield and is surrounded by nearby places such as Great Preston, Lower Mickletown, and Allerton Bywater. Woodend has a population of around 2110 residents and is located about 163.8 miles north of London.
AdBlue drains in Woodend and across West Yorkshire
Over the WF postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue call-outs around Woodend serve most of West Yorkshire too, Great Preston, Lower Mickletown and Allerton Bywater included. Close to a border, or somewhere tricky to explain? Checking is better than assuming, so phone.
Woodend is a village, and a mobile drain suits it: whether your car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it sits, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Woodend?
Because the jobs vary, a single figure would not be honest. What moves the price is, first of all, whether the engine has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and then where the car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Great & Little Preston Village Hall.
Which fluid got in, what quantity, and whether it ran: every Woodend call opens with precisely that, ahead of a quote, not afterwards. Once those are answered, a range turns into a single fixed number.
Before anyone sets off, you hear the price by phone. And payment is on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing in advance. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
In Woodend and still alongside the car?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Tell us it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Woodend or anywhere in West Yorkshire.