We have recently had 2 vehicles, a Merc sprinter and the second a BT-50, in the yard at our Tamworth branch who have put AdBlue in their diesel from the same service station. Both of the vehicles Fuel systems were destroyed as the owners added Adblue into the diesel tank rather than into the dedicated AdBlue tank on the vehicle.
This servo like many servos have AdBlue and Diesel on the same bowser. A small part of the evidence showing damage is the crystalised contamination as shown in the pics. AdBlue is very corrosive, anything metal will corrode in a very short space of time.
The owner of the BT 50 put 4 litres of AdBlue in before he realised, so topped it up with 70Lts of diesel. He presumed the AdBlue must mix with the fuel somewhere along the line so thought by diluting it would be OK.
He only made it 500 metres before it came to a stop. The vehicle is covered by insurance but the reason we are writing this is to make sure if you make the same mistake you will need to replace everything. And we mean everything, New tank, lines under the car, tank pump if there is one, the pick up and the return lines.
There is no way of guaranteeing that you can get it out especially the tanks as they are plastic with various shapes and pockets that you just cant get to… And don’t forget the filler neck and hoses! Every part is full of crystals, we poured some fuel out of the pump onto the bench and it looked like diesel, after a while it dried to a large ring of crystals.
The other thing to remember is the time taken to organise all these parts from the dealer and the extra time to replace both the supply and return lines for the full length of the vehicle, especially if they are steel.
What this adds up to is a bloody big bill and the insurance company may right off your vehicle. If you have a vehicle which takes AdBlue or know of anyone who does make them aware and don’t let this happen to you!
