AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Blackrod? Keep It Switched Off
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then keep your engine off — and the ignition as well. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. The harm begins once it is sucked through your lines — it will not burn, and it won't combine with diesel. If the motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally drained and thoroughly flushed where your car stands around Blackrod. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
Blackrod, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
Things to do:
- Take your keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and roughly how much.
- Give us a postcode starting BL6 5, or whatever street is nearest, and the van finds you directly — so call wherever you stand.
Do not do these:
- No starting the motor — not for a second, not to reposition the vehicle.
- Switching your key to ignition alone sets your pump going on many diesels. Avoid it.
- Do not top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Never drive the car anywhere, not even a short way along Chorley Road.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself by the roadside.
Get the people behind the counter to help you move your vehicle away from the pumps if you're at a forecourt in Blackrod, whether it's the BP or elsewhere. If you're on your own drive, leave the car precisely where it sits.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not the motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It does not mix in. Denser than diesel, it sinks and collects underneath it — the very place the pickup draws from. A car topped up on a drive in Scot Lane End yesterday evening and not started since counts as the simple case. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though when your motor runs, that's what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of the tank.
Two kinds of damage follow from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that hardens in filter elements and narrow passages; meanwhile, since it eats at some metals, each part it touches suffers for as long as it remains in there. By daybreak, a car sitting in Blackrod with AdBlue in its lines grows worse; where it is only in the tank, nothing changes. The water in it does harm of its own: your high-pressure pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel commonly the bigger problem?
A problem of thinned fuel is what you end up with from filling a diesel with petrol at the Essar. Blended into the diesel and left unused, it's harmless at that stage; running the engine does the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. It doesn't burn, and so it cannot just be run through. It does not stay mixed, and so it cannot be diluted. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the car is in Adlington or the middle of Blackrod.
The same good news holds as with petrol. If the engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in the tank, and your tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Greater Manchester the car is sitting.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Blackrod
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, now and then under one flap — may look the same. No one means it; plenty of layouts allow it. A container picked up while driving home and tipped in at home, rather than at the filling station, is the usual story.
Usually, it occurs in one of a few familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Blackrod Anglican/Methodist Primary School the top-up is rushed. A driver tips the bottle in at home, just off Blackhorse Street, as the day ends. Or a driver new to that flap tops up your car after dark, stopped in the car park by The Red Lion.
Hired vehicles, new motors, company cars, or the spare car in a family with one of each: the least familiar vehicles see it most. An identical slip, same first response — keep it switched off — anywhere you are in Blackrod or the remainder of Greater Manchester.
Started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Blackrod?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Via your filter, through the pipework, and — given any running time — on to the high-pressure pump and each injector: that's where it travels.
Perhaps coming back from Douglas Valley Golf Course, or part way across Blackrod, the motor may run lumpy, smoke, lose power, flash the dash or cut out. When you safely can, pull over and switch everything off — without turning it on again to see. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Blackrod lies under a mile from the M61; if you were on it, exit at the first junction and pull up safely instead of driving on.
Distance matters: each mile carries the AdBlue further in, so driving towards Preston, under 15 miles away, gives a much bigger job than hopping across Blackrod to the car park by St Andrew's Place. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
There is more to flush once your engine has been run, and our engineers do all of it where the vehicle has stopped. Spotted early, it very seldom leaves lasting damage.
Blackrod: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
The vehicle remains where it is, whether that's a street beside Blackrod Library and Children's Centre, a driveway, a layby or a forecourt in Blackrod, and our van travels to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether your engine has run, because those answers determine this work.
Next, emptying your tank right there removes the polluted diesel and the AdBlue together. Your system is flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel goes in once the filter is cleaned — or replaced, if it needs to be — and then your vehicle is tested. Engine not run? Then count on roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a live filling station is no issue, and it's hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
The final step is to bleed your system on clean diesel. Starting the engine comes next, and then you drive off from where the car is parked, by the nearest station or on a drive around Blackrod. It's checked on clean diesel to be sure it runs smoothly before our engineers leave. No garage is required at any stage, with the whole job done on the spot. At the end, there is paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Blackrod and where it is
Blackrod is a village in Greater Manchester, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 162 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Blackrod lies near several other small communities, including Little Scotland, Haigh, and Grimeford Village, and is approximately 12 miles from Preston. Blackrod has a population of around 2798 residents, who live in a setting that is relatively close to the North West's urban centres, yet still 177 miles from London. Blackrod's location allows for easy access to nearby cities and towns, while maintaining a distinct village character.
AdBlue drains across Greater Manchester, Blackrod included
Little Scotland, Haigh and Grimeford Village are among the towns near Blackrod that the same vans reach, along with most of Greater Manchester beyond, throughout the BL postcode area. Phone and check rather than guess if you are close to a border, or somewhere awkward to explain.
Anywhere your car sits — your driveway at home, a residential street, a car park, a filling station — we drain it there, and there's no need to bring it to us; which suits Blackrod, a village, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Blackrod: the cost of fixing it
Every job differs, so not one single price is fair. Whether the engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what changes the cost. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the location of the car, because an open driveway is easier for a technician to reach safely than a tight gap behind St. Katharine's Church.
That's why every call from Blackrod starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and if it's run. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
Quoted by phone before the engineer heads out, the job is settled that day — card or phone, no deposit. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
In Blackrod and still next to the vehicle?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to your car. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus if the engine ran is all our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest throughout Greater Manchester, Blackrod included.