AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Banks, and What to Do Next
One thing matters most once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is if your engine has been started afterwards. Over in Hundred End or right in Banks, an unstarted engine must stay unrun. Leave the engine and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103; it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Banks. Already started? Stop when you safely can, then switch everything off. Stage one remains the same, even though the job grows.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever in Lancashire it happened.
Banks forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you just spot it while you are stood at the pump, bottle or the nozzle in hand. Perhaps you are at the Texaco, perhaps at the BP, possibly somewhere else around Banks.
Put simply: no better spot exists to discover it. Only your tank holds AdBlue; not one component past it has taken any in.
Do this: stay out of the driver's seat, even if the queue wants freeing. Ask the attendants to help you roll the car into a parking space, keep the receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. Draining it right at the petrol pump is possible when it can't be moved, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home around Banks
The warning light had been on for days. Picked up a container, tipped it in outside the house, recycled the empty — and only then looked at the cap a second time, too late. Drives near Station Road get it as much as anywhere.
In short: if the vehicle hasn't been driven since, it is nearly as good as spotting it at the pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of your tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
Next: stop any early drive by putting your keys in the house, then ring us. Fiddlers Ferry or Banks: wherever your drive sits, that's where it is drained. Late-night empties outside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise.
On the road around Banks with AdBlue in a diesel
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your engine began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Hoole Lane, say, or the route to Preston — a trip of under 15 miles.
The upshot: your system has drawn AdBlue in already. Mileage decides how deep it goes: filter and pipework first, then the high-pressure pump and each injector. More miles, more starts: further it goes.
What to do: pull over where it's safe to do so and switch off. Exit by the first junction — not the services further along — if you are on the M55, under 10 miles from Banks. Starting it again to check achieves nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear on its own. Call, saying how far the car went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
It's a vehicle you have had for a week. The AdBlue filler sits right next to the diesel filler, which you did not know, since your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Lancashire.
Put simply: one extra stage on top of the cases above, which depend on if it's run. Plenty of rental and company contracts need the owner's approval for repairs.
Settling it before we turn up is faster, and so ring the rental company or your fleet manager, then us. Stuck near St Stephen-in-the-Banks or at Meols Cop until someone replies, the vehicle remains switched off throughout.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Banks?
At times the fair answer is "I think so". A slight ammonia smell lingers near the filler, the bottle feels too light, and the cap you took off is a blur. Maybe on a friend's driveway in Mere Brow, or in a rush by Banks St Stephen's CofE School at the school run.
The upshot: the engine isn't harmed by some AdBlue splashed around the outside. Once it is inside your diesel tank, though, that changes. You cannot tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so would pull in any AdBlue that is in the tank.
Take it that it got in, and never turn your engine. Call us and describe what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
What every AdBlue drain in Banks has in common
Each situation gets the same start to the job. Filling station, driveway, the pub in the village's car park or a road beside St. John's — the van reaches your vehicle, and three answers follow: which liquid, what quantity, and whether it ran. Answers shape the work; the price follows on the call while no one has left yet.
Emptying your tank comes first, followed by a full flush — more vital with urea than after petrol, because crystals and corrosion will not clear on their own, no matter how long it sits. Last are the filter, flushed or renewed as needed; clean diesel; and a check of your vehicle. If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Our engineers fire it up last. Our test that it runs smoothly on fresh diesel comes before our technicians leave. The entire job is done where the car is, and if it's noticed soon, lasting damage is very uncommon. Nothing is paid upfront, settlement is made on the day, and you get what your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Banks and where it is
Banks is a small coastal village in Lancashire, situated near the mouth of the River Ribble and close to the Irish Sea. Banks sits at a low elevation of around 6 metres, with nearby places including Fiddlers Ferry and Crossens. Banks has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant in the village.
AdBlue drains around Banks, and across Lancashire too
Banks is a coastal village, and the same vans that cover it work the places near it too, Far Banks and Crossens among them, across the PR postcode area. Giving us your PR9 8 postcode finds you fastest of all.
Central Banks or a lay-by towards Goose Dub Covert: either way it is, your car doesn't need to move an inch for us. Draining happens on the spot. If you are somewhere hard to describe, near Crossens Methodist Church or close to a boundary, ring and ask instead of assuming.
In one line: your scenario
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off then call. Started by now? Pull over, switch off, phone. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder whichever case, in Banks and Lancashire, on 0333 366 0103.