What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Blackburn
One thing counts above all when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is whether the motor has been started since. Wherever your car is — Towns Moor, Blackburn — never start a motor that hasn't been started yet. Normally this means emptying and thoroughly flushing it on the spot around Blackburn — and so keep the ignition and engine off and call 0333 366 0103. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The job is bigger, yet the first stage is the same.
Anywhere around Lancashire it took place, one of the cases below fits yours.
Blackburn forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you just spot it while you're standing at the pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. It could be the Prestonway Service Station, or perhaps the Shell, or another station around Blackburn.
Put simply: no better place exists to discover it. No pump has drawn it through, so the AdBlue stays just inside your tank.
Freeing the pump is no reason to run it — and so don't get back in. Have the attendants to lend a hand pushing it into a space, save the receipt, then ring us right there. Draining it there at the petrol pump is fine if it can't be moved, since the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home around Blackburn
On your dash, a reminder had shown for days. Only by the recycling, the empty bottle in your hand, did you look back at the cap you had opened at the drive. Homes just off Ainsworth Street are caught out as often as anywhere else.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue stay separate: the AdBlue drops to the base of your tank and remains there, no matter how long the night.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so nobody moves the vehicle in the morning. Then call. Brookhouse or Blackburn: whichever your driveway is, that is where it is emptied. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Blackburn: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Filled up, drove away, and before long the motor was running unevenly, smoking, losing power, or flashing up the dash. Anywhere along Victoria Street or on the road towards Preston — under 10 miles away.
Meaning? The pump has sucked the AdBlue up. Distance decides how far it gets: filter and lines to begin with, then the high-pressure pump and each injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Pull in safely — that's the next job — then turn everything off. Blackburn sits under 3 miles from the M65; there, come off at the next junction instead of pushing on for the services. Do not restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Phone, and say how far the vehicle went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company vehicles
A week back, the car was unknown to you. Your own motor either has no AdBlue or puts it somewhere different, and so no one warned you the AdBlue inlet was right beside your diesel. Throughout Lancashire, nobody is safe from it.
Meaning? Whichever case above applies here — run or unrun — and one further stage. The owner frequently needs to approve the work, under many hire and company contracts.
Next: ring the rental company or your fleet manager first, then us — settling it before we arrive is quicker. If you are stuck in the car park outside the nearest station, or by County Court, while you wait for an answer, leave your car off.
Blackburn: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
At times the honest answer is "I think so". The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia around the filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. It might have been at a friend's driveway in Higher Audley, or in a rush outside St Michael With St John CofE Primary School at the school run.
Meaning? Drips outside the filler don't touch your engine at all. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. You can't tell which by turning the key, and doing so would pull in any AdBlue that is in that tank.
Take it that it got in, and never start your engine. Ring and give what you saw: we'd sooner find a tank free of AdBlue than drain one once the engine has run.
What each AdBlue drain around Blackburn has in common
Whichever situation you are in, this job starts the same way. Three things come when our engineers reach the car — on a filling station, a drive, a road by Blackburn Town Hall or the car park at The Rock Box: the liquid, the amount, and whether the motor has been started. Your price is given over the phone, ahead of anyone setting off, and those answers set the job.
Emptying that tank comes first, followed by a careful flush — more important with urea than with petrol, because crystals and corrosion won't clear by themselves, however long you wait. Next is the fuel filter — flushed, or swapped where needed — then clean diesel, and a test of the vehicle. If the motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Firing it up comes last. With clean diesel in, it runs while we check it is running properly, and then we head off. If it's spotted soon, the vehicle very seldom has lasting damage, and the entire job takes place where it is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Check your insurance before we're en route: cover for misfuelling is built into many policies.
About Blackburn
Blackburn is a town in Lancashire, situated on the River Blakewater, with a mix of terraced housing and other residential areas. Blackburn sits at an elevation of 118 metres, approximately 8.9 miles east of Preston and 183.7 miles north of London. Blackburn has a number of nearby suburbs, including Brookhouse, Lower Audley, and Park Place, which form part of its wider urban area.
AdBlue drains across Lancashire, Blackburn included
Lower Audley and Park Place get the same teams as Blackburn, a riverside town, plus other towns throughout BB postcodes. A postcode starting BB1 6 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to Corporation Park War Memorial or in a car park in the middle of Blackburn, it doesn't need to shift. The van empties it in place. If you're somewhere hard to describe, near The Mall or close to a boundary, ring and ask instead of guessing.
In one line: your situation
Unstarted? Leave the vehicle that way and ring. Already run: stop, switch off then call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there around Blackburn and anywhere across Lancashire on 0333 366 0103.