What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Bidston
All of that turns on a single fact: whether the motor has been run since the AdBlue went in — far more than anything else. Out in Noctorum or right around Bidston, an unrun motor must remain unrun. Switch nothing on, call 0333 366 0103, then expect a proper flush plus a drain, done right where your car stands around Bidston. Where your motor has run, pull in safely first, then switch the vehicle off. A bigger job, yes, yet the identical first move.
Below: the cases our engineers meet, wherever across Merseyside. Choose yours.
Bidston forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
You are at the petrol pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Be it BP, Tesco or somewhere else around Bidston, the case is identical.
Meaning? Spotting it on the forecourt is the best it gets. The AdBlue is in the tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Your move: stay out of the driver's seat, however much the queue wants clearing. Ask the attendants to help you push your car into a parking space, keep the till receipt or the bottle, and phone us from the forecourt. Stuck by the petrol pump? Explosion-proof equipment makes a busy forecourt sensible, and so it can be drained where it is.
Bidston, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
On the dash, a warning had shown all week. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look a second time at the cap. Right off Boundary Road is not less likely from any other place.
The point: zero driving since leaves it nearly equal to finding it at the pump. Diesel and AdBlue keep separate: the AdBlue drops to the base of that tank and remains put, however long it waits.
Next: prevent any early-morning move by putting your keys in the house, then phone us. In Bidston Hill or right here around Bidston, the drain is done at your drive. Even at night, the pumps stay quiet enough for a residential street.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel in Bidston?
Rough running, smoke, falling power or a lit dashboard started a mile or two after the top-up. Worcester Road, say, or the route to Liverpool — a run of under 5 miles.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked into the system. It's been through the filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and the injectors. More miles, more starts: deeper it goes.
Stop somewhere safe — that's the first job — then turn everything off. Services farther along are too far: from the M53, under a mile out of Bidston, use the next junction. It will not have cleared, so there's no sense restarting to find out. Tell us know the mileage covered when you call.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
It's a car you have had for a week. Your own car either has no AdBlue or puts it somewhere different, so no one told you the AdBlue inlet was just next to the diesel. Wherever you are in Merseyside, every driver can be caught.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it has run, with one more stage. Plenty of hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on your car.
Sorting it before we turn up is faster, and so ring the rental company or your fleet manager, and then us. If you're stuck in the car park at Birkenhead North, or by Horse Carving, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
Bidston: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Sometimes the honest answer is "I think so". The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia around the filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. A rushed stop by the gates of Holy Cross Catholic Primary School, or a call to a friend in Poulton: either fits.
In short: spillage near your filler leaves your engine unharmed. Inside your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue damages it. Firing up the car won't tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in the tank it would pull it in.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Don't start the vehicle. Describe what you saw on your phone. A clean tank looked at counts as a better result than a run one emptied.
The common ground in every Bidston AdBlue drain
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. Three things come when we arrive — on a forecourt, a driveway, a street beside Church of God or the car park at The Claughton Hotel: the fluid, the quantity, and whether the motor has been started. The price is given over the phone, before a van leaves, and the replies set the work.
A thorough flush comes after the drain. With petrol it's standard; with AdBlue it is essential, because crystals form and certain metals corrode, and neither rinses out unaided. Last come the fuel filter, flushed or replaced as needed; fresh diesel; and a test of the car. If the motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
Firing it up comes at the end. Before we head off, it's checked to be sure it runs correctly on clean diesel. When it is caught soon, the vehicle very seldom has permanent damage, and the whole job takes place where it is. Nothing is paid upfront, settlement is made on the day, and you receive what the insurer asks for: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling, so check yours as we head over.
About Bidston and where it is
Bidston is a suburban area on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, situated near the coast and approximately 3.8 miles from Liverpool. Bidston sits at an elevation of around 35 metres, with Bidston Hill nearby offering views of the surrounding area. Bidston is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock and is close to other local neighbourhoods such as Beechwood and Claughton.
AdBlue drains round Bidston and across Merseyside
Over CH postcodes, the teams serving Bidston — a residential suburb — work surrounding towns too, Beechwood and Claughton among them. The whereabouts is quickest from a postcode beginning CH43 7.
Stopped heading to Silver Birch Wood, or bang in the centre of Bidston, your vehicle remains put — there's no need to move it at all. We drain the car where it stands. If you're somewhere hard to describe, near Gautby Road Play, Youth & Community Centre or close to a border, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Your scenario, in one line
Where it hasn't started, ring and leave it that way. Run already: pull over, power down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, in Bidston or anywhere across Merseyside.