Blackpool: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. As it is water-based, it will not ignite and never combines with diesel; trouble just comes when your pump begins pulling it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Blackpool, is usually what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before your engine has been run. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, Blackpool: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Things to do:
- Pocket your keys, and that stops anyone turning the power on.
- If you are at all near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or your receipt tells us the product and the amount, and so do not throw it away.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting FY1 2, or the name of the nearest street, gets our van to you without a search.
Don't do these:
- No starting the engine — not briefly, not to shift the vehicle.
- The ignition stays off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to run the fuel pump.
- Pouring in more diesel does not work: AdBlue settles out rather than thinning.
- Don't drive it anywhere, not even a short distance up Dickson Road.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, on the verge.
At a forecourt in Blackpool, whether it is the Sainsbury's or another one, ask the attendants to help you push your car away from the pump. At home, the car remains just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not your engine. Kept in a dedicated tank, it is injected into the exhaust to treat the fumes. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
Tipped in with the diesel, it keeps apart instead of blending — quite unlike fuel. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Revoe last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and tiny channels; and, because it attacks certain metals, each part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it remains inside. By daybreak, a vehicle parked in Blackpool with AdBlue through its pipework grows worse; where it is just in the tank, nothing changes. The water in it does damage of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Shell and you have a problem of thin fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and while it is inside your tank it does no damage; the harm comes from running your engine on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is plainly the wrong one. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Whether the car sits in Little Layton or the centre of Blackpool, firing it up "to see" costs more with AdBlue than almost any other error, and the flush matters for more. Why: it won't remain mixed, so watering it down is impossible; and deposits and corrosion survive the following tankful.
As with petrol, there is good news. Emptying a tank is the easiest part on any fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue stays in it — anywhere around Lancashire your car has stopped.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Blackpool?
It's not deliberate. Many vehicles keep the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel inlet, now and then behind one flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. Most of the time it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
It tends to occur in a couple of familiar ways. The refill gets hurried outside Blackpool St John's Church of England Primary School, after the dash flashed with a warning while the kids were dropped in. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Lord Street. Another pattern: dim light, a pub car park outside Ma Kelly's, and a driver opening that flap for the first time.
The least known vehicles see it the most — rentals, brand-new cars, fleet cars, and the other car of a family with one of each fuel types. Leave it off: that is the first response to an identical mistake, anywhere around Blackpool or the rest of Lancashire you happen to be.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Blackpool?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. Your filter and pipework have had it pulled along, and some running time takes it on to the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Perhaps returning from Sparrow's Park, or part way across Blackpool, your engine might run lumpy, smoke, lose power, flash your dash or stall. No restarting to check: stop when it is safe, then switch it off. More of it is pulled through with each start.
On the M55, under 5 miles from Blackpool, the first junction is where to exit, and somewhere safe is where to stop — not carrying on.
Hopping across Blackpool to the car park by Funny Girls is one matter; driving towards Preston, under 25 miles away, is another, because each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So mileage matters. Let us know about how far it had come.
Once your engine has been run, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where the car has ended up. Caught soon, it very seldom leaves permanent damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Blackpool?
Our technicians come to your car, wherever it has stopped in Blackpool: a side street close to Grundy Art Gallery, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The job rests on three replies, and our technicians get first — which fluid got in, the quantity, and if the engine has run.
On the spot, that tank is then emptied, and both the contaminated diesel and the urea leave as one. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush matters: the fuel system is cleaned right through because residue will not wash out unaided. Next, the fuel filter: flushed, or replaced if it has to be. Then fresh diesel, then a test of your car. Engine not run? Then count on about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps make a live forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the street at night.
Bleeding the fuel system with clean diesel comes at the end. At that point our technicians start it and you head off, whether from a parking space outside Blackpool North or a driveway around Blackpool. Before we leave, our engineers check it is running smoothly with new diesel in. Our technicians do it all wherever the car has ended up, and it never has to go to a workshop. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Blackpool
Blackpool is a coastal town situated in the county of Lancashire, England. It occupies a spot on the Fylde peninsula, where the land meets the Irish Sea. The town is a key part of its surrounding borough and is nestled near major cities. Blackpool's seaside location has contributed to its development as a notable settlement in the region.
AdBlue drains across Lancashire, Blackpool included
Throughout the FY postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue call-outs in Blackpool reach much of Lancashire as well, Queenstown, Layton and North Shore included. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask rather than guessing.
A van that comes to you suits Blackpool, a coastal town: there's no need to bring your vehicle to us, since our technicians empty it on the spot, on a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
Blackpool: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Because the jobs differ, a flat price would not be fair. Three things change the price: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the car is. That last one comes down to whether our van can get to it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight gap behind Blackpool Central Library.
Which fluid was put in, how much, and if it ran: every Blackpool enquiry begins with exactly that, ahead of a quote, not afterwards. With them, a range shrinks to a single firm figure.
Our price is quoted on the call, before a van sets off; payment comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. As the van is on the way, dig out your policy: many cover misfuelling.
Blackpool: still next to your car?
Then, the best thing to do with the car is to leave it. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Blackpool or anywhere within Lancashire, once you phone 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if the engine ran.