Yardley Fields: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Motor off, ignition off: that's where you begin if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. The harm begins once it is pulled through the pump — it will not burn, and it won't blend with diesel. Caught before the motor has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Yardley Fields. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, Yardley Fields: AdBlue in the diesel tank
To do:
- Remove your keys, which stops anyone turning the power on.
- If you are at all close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Which product, and about how much quantity? Hang on to the bottle or your receipt, and our engineers can see.
- Our van locates you fastest with a postcode starting B33 8, or just the name of a street nearby, so phone from the spot.
Things not to do:
- Shifting your car just a few yards is no reason to fire up the engine.
- Plenty of diesels run their pump the moment the ignition comes on, so leave it off.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel will not weaken it.
- Don't drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short stretch down Richmond Road.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, on the verge.
Moving the car away from the island is a job for staff to help with, wherever Yardley Fields forecourt you're on, the Shell or any other. At your own drive, don't touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, once tipped in, will not. Its behaviour is not at all like fuel's. It drops, since it is denser than diesel, and settles down where the intake draws its fuel from. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Bordesley Green East overnight and has not been started since. The AdBlue sits at the foot of your tank, untouched — though it will be first through if the engine starts, before any diesel at all.
From there it does two kinds of damage. It attacks some metals found in fuel components, working on whatever it reaches until it's cleared from your system. And when the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and settle in narrow channels. A vehicle left standing in Yardley Fields with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector depend on diesel flowing past them, and so the water content harms them in its own right.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Jet and you have a fault of thin fuel. No harm is done while it sits put, mixed into your diesel — only once your engine works on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. Because it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. It doesn't stay mixed, so it can't be weakened. 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 nearly anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Little Bromwich or the middle of Yardley Fields.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If your motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside that tank, and that tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around West Midlands your car is sitting.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Yardley Fields: how it ends up there
Many motors put the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel one, now and then under one flap, and after dark the two may look identical. Nobody means it. Mostly it is not the forecourt: someone picks up a bottle driving home and tips it in outside the house.
A couple of familiar ways cover most cases. The refill gets rushed outside Blakesley Hall Primary School, after your dash flashed with a warning as the children were dropped in. A driver pours the bottle in outside their house, right off Denton Grove, as the day ends. One more pattern: dim light, a pub car park outside The Yardley Arms Pub, and a driver opening that flap the first time.
It happens most in the motors people know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Anywhere across West Midlands, Yardley Fields included, the mistake does not change, and nor does the first response: leave it switched off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Yardley Fields?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. Given any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and each injector, having passed via the fuel filter and pipework.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, dropping power, dashboard lights or cutting out: any might show up, maybe part way across Yardley Fields or returning from Diamond Jubilee Garden. No restarting to test: pull over when it is safe, then turn it off. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Exit the M6, under 3 miles from Yardley Fields, by the first junction and stop somewhere safe, rather than driving on.
A quick hop across Yardley Fields to the car park by Stechford War Memorial is one thing; heading towards Birmingham, under 5 miles away, is another, since every mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. So distance matters. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once the engine has run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has come to a stop. If it is spotted early, long-term damage is very rare.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves in Yardley Fields
The vehicle remains where it is, whether that is a road near Corpus Christi, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station in Yardley Fields, and our van comes to it. Three answers decide the job, so before anything else our engineers ask which fluid was put in, about the amount, plus whether your engine has turned over.
Then your tank is emptied where the car sits, and so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. The system is purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Engine not run? In that case count on about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Our equipment is explosion-proof, and so a busy filling station is no issue, and it is hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
New diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that's the final step. You head off as soon as our engineers have started the engine, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a driveway around Yardley Fields or in a bay at Stechford. The check before our engineers head off is that it runs correctly on clean diesel. As the job is done in its entirety where the vehicle is, a workshop never comes into it. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers ask for.
About Yardley Fields itself
Yardley Fields is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated near the River Rea and close to the city of Birmingham. Yardley Fields has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are the most common, and its elevation is around 109 metres above sea level. Yardley Fields is located near other local places such as Yardley, Alum Rock, and Stechford, and is about 3.7 miles from Birmingham city centre. Yardley Fields has a population of approximately 9582 residents.
AdBlue drains across Yardley Fields and West Midlands
Yardley, Alum Rock and Stechford are among the places around Yardley Fields that the same vans serve, together with much of West Midlands further out, throughout the B postcode area. Guessing doesn't help close to a border or anywhere tricky to describe; phone and ask.
Yardley Fields is a residential suburb, and a call-out drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it sits, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Yardley Fields: the cost of fixing it
Each job is different, so not one single price is fair. Whether the engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the price. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the position of your car, because an open drive is easier for our van to reach safely than a tight space behind Stechford Parish Church.
Before any quote, not after, every call from Yardley Fields opens with three questions: the fuel, the amount, and whether it ran. With them, a range shrinks to a single fixed figure.
Priced on the call before the engineer heads out, it is settled that day — card or phone, no deposit. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
Beside the car in Yardley Fields, right now?
Then, the best thing to do with your car is to leave it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, about how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Yardley Fields or anywhere across West Midlands.