Audlem: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the system draws it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Audlem, is usually what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before the engine has run. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Audlem, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do at once
Things to do:
- Take the keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you are anywhere close to moving traffic.
- Keep your receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what was put in and about how much.
- Give us a postcode starting CW3 0, or whatever street lies closest, and the van finds you straight — so ring from wherever you stand.
Things not to do:
- Don't start the motor, even for a moment to shift the car.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Adding extra diesel does not help: AdBlue settles out rather than blending.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, including a short distance down Vicarage Lane.
- Draining that tank on your own beside the road is not worth trying.
On a forecourt around Audlem, whether it's the the nearest petrol station or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll the car clear of the pump. Stopped on your own drive? Then it stays exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Meant for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the engine. From a separate tank it is fed directly to your exhaust, cleaning what your engine lets out. A fuel pump isn't designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Poured in with your diesel, it stays apart rather than blending — entirely different from fuel. The intake sucks fuel from the lowest part of the tank, and that is exactly where AdBlue settles: being heavier than diesel, it sinks. A motor topped up on a driveway in Moblake overnight and not started since is the straightforward case. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though when your engine runs, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of that tank.
Two kinds of harm come from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that crystallises in filters and narrow passages; and, since it eats at some metals, each part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it remains in there. By daybreak, a vehicle sitting in Audlem with AdBlue through its pipework grows worse; where it's just inside your tank, nothing changes. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and every injector as it passes; water offers no lubrication, which is a second form of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's frequently worse than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on another forecourt nearby's forecourt leaves the fuel watery — that's the main issue. No harm comes as long as it sits unused, mixed into your diesel — only when your motor works on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is plainly the wrong one. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it can't be weakened. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Bunsley Bank or the middle of Audlem.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If the engine has not run, the AdBlue is still inside your tank, and your tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Cheshire your car is standing.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Audlem: how it ends up there
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, occasionally behind a single flap — may look the same. Nobody intends it; many designs invite it. Mostly it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
It tends to take place in a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside Audlem St James' CofE Primary School. Close to Stafford Street, someone tips a container in on the drive in the evening. One more pattern: darkness, the car park by The Lord Combermere, and someone using that flap the first time.
It occurs most in the cars 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. Keep it off: that's the first response to an identical mistake, wherever around Audlem or the rest of Cheshire you happen to be.
Started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Audlem?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Your filter and lines have had it sucked through, and some running time carries it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Lumpy running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard lights or cutting out: any might show up, perhaps midway across Audlem or returning from Kent's Rough. Once safe, stop then turn it off — with no turning it on again to see. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
Audlem sits under 10 miles from the M6; if you were on it, exit at the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than driving on.
Distance matters: each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into the system, and so driving for Stoke-on-Trent, under 15 miles away, gives a far bigger job than crossing Audlem to the car park by Saint James the Great. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once the engine has been started, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has come to a stop. Spotted soon, it very rarely leaves long-term damage.
Audlem: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
Our engineers come to the car, wherever it has stopped in Audlem: a side street close to Audlem Methodist Church, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Three answers decide the work, and so first our engineers ask what went in, roughly the amount, plus if your engine has turned over.
On the spot, the tank is then drained, and both the contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one. The fuel system is flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Most of these jobs are a half-hour visit once we arrive, if the motor hasn't run. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a live filling station is no fault, and it's hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
The final step is to bleed your system on fresh diesel. Whether it is a parking space by Wrenbury or a driveway around Audlem, that is where our technicians fire it up and you set off. Our technicians confirm it runs correctly on clean diesel before leaving. As the job is done in full where your car is, a garage never comes into it. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over once this job is done.
About Audlem, briefly
Audlem is a village in Cheshire, situated on the banks of the River Weaver, with a mix of old and new buildings, including many detached houses. Audlem has a population of around 1225 people and is located near other small settlements such as Little Heath and Chapel End. Audlem sits at an elevation of 64 metres, close to the Shropshire border, and is about 14 miles from Stoke-on-Trent. Audlem is part of the wider North West region of England, approximately 143 miles from London.
Audlem and Cheshire: AdBlue drains across the area
AdBlue call-outs around Audlem go to teams that cover the towns near it — Little Heath, Chapel End plus Browns Bank — and much of Cheshire further out, across CW postcodes. Near a border, or somewhere tricky to explain? Asking beats assuming, and so ring.
A van that comes to you suits Audlem, a village: there's no need to bring your car to us, because our technicians empty it on the spot, on a driveway, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
Audlem: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
No single price could be honest, since each job differs. Three things change the price: whether the engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the vehicle is. That last one comes down to whether our van can get to it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight space behind Audlem Public Hall.
For that reason, every call from Audlem begins by asking the identical trio — what was put in, how much, if the engine ran — ahead of a quote. With those replies, the range narrows to one fixed figure.
Our quote is quoted on the call, before anyone leaves; settling up comes on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
In Audlem and still beside the vehicle?
Then, the best thing to do with your vehicle is to leave it. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Call 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Audlem or anywhere across Cheshire.