AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Blaguegate? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, keep the motor off then leave your ignition off. Urea mixed in water is all AdBlue is. As it is water-based, it will not burn and never combines with diesel; trouble only starts once the pump begins drawing it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Blaguegate, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it is caught before the engine has been run. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
What to do right now, Blaguegate: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Things to do:
- So no one can turn your ignition on, pull your keys away.
- Put the hazards on if you're at all near moving traffic.
- Which fluid, and about what quantity? Save the bottle or the receipt, and our engineers will see.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting WN8 8, or the name of the closest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift your vehicle: the engine stays off.
- Many diesels power their fuel pump the moment your ignition goes on, and so keep it off.
- Pouring in extra diesel does not work: AdBlue separates out instead of thinning.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short way along Dicket's Lane.
- By the road, do not attempt emptying it yourself.
Moving your car away from the pumps is a job for staff to help with, wherever Blaguegate forecourt you are on, the BP included. At home, your car remains exactly where it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. From a separate reservoir it goes directly to the exhaust, treating what your motor emits. Nothing inside a fuel pump is made for this fluid — and no part of it was intended to go that way.
It does not blend. After it is tipped into the tank, AdBlue behaves nothing like diesel. The pickup takes fuel from the deepest part of that tank, and that is exactly where AdBlue ends up: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. Simplest of all: one that had AdBlue in Westhead last night and hasn't been started since. The AdBlue waits at the foot of your tank, untouched — but it will be first through once your motor starts, before any diesel at all.
After it is sucked in, the harm comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that hardens in filters and tiny passages; meanwhile, because it eats at certain metals, every part it reaches suffers for as long as it stays inside. Overnight, a car parked around Blaguegate with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; if it's just in that tank, it doesn't. The water in it causes harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Shell's forecourt makes your fuel watery — that is the whole problem. No damage is done while it sits put, blended into your diesel — only when your motor runs on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely wrong substance. It doesn't burn, so it can't simply be run through. Nor can it be watered down, because it splits again — and the following fill won't rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters more here, and trying the engine "to see", in the centre of Blaguegate or out in Chapel House, costs more than almost any other mistake.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue sits only inside the tank, the simplest section of the whole system to clear, wherever your car has come to rest across Lancashire.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Blaguegate
After dark, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, now and then behind a single flap — can look the same. No one intends it; many designs invite it. Usually it is not the forecourt: someone picks up a container driving home and pours it in outside the house.
Mostly, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside St Richard's Catholic Primary School, Skelmersdale the refill is hurried. Near Firswood Road, someone tips a bottle in at home after work. Else, in dim light outside Victoria Hotel, your car is refilled by someone using that flap for the first time.
It occurs most in the cars drivers know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. An identical mistake, an identical first response — leave it off — anywhere you happen to be around Blaguegate or the remainder of Lancashire.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Blaguegate?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. With any running, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and each injector, having passed through the filter and lines.
Watch for rough running, exhaust smoke, lost power, lights on the dash, or a stall — returning from Skelmersdale Cricket Club, say, or part way across Blaguegate. Pull over when it is safe. Switch off. Leave the vehicle off instead of restarting it to check. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
On the M58, under a mile from Blaguegate, the first junction is where to exit, and anywhere sensible is where to stop — not driving on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Blaguegate to the car park by WWII Memorial is a very different job from a run towards Liverpool, under 15 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with every mile. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Our technicians do all of the flushing where your car has ended up, and once the engine has run there is more of it. Noticed early, it very rarely leaves lasting damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Blaguegate?
A street by Skelmersdale War Memorial, a drive, a layby or a filling station: anywhere the car has stopped in Blaguegate, our technicians come to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and whether your motor has been run, because those replies settle the work.
Next, draining the tank on the spot removes the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue together. Residue from AdBlue won't wash out by itself, and so the whole system gets a full flush, which counts far more here than with petrol. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Most of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our technicians turn up, provided the engine has not run. Low-noise enough to use outside a house at night, and safe on a working forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
The last step is to prime the system on new diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you head off from where the car is parked, by Ormskirk or on a drive around Blaguegate. Our technicians confirm it runs correctly on fresh diesel before leaving. As the job is done in its entirety where the vehicle is, a garage never comes into it. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers ask for.
About Blaguegate
Blaguegate is a village in Lancashire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 66 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Blaguegate lies near several smaller settlements, including Brighouse Green and West Gillibrands, and is close to the larger urban area of Liverpool. Blaguegate is located in the North West region of England, approximately 181 miles from London. Blaguegate has a population of around 645 residents.
AdBlue drains across Lancashire, Blaguegate included
AdBlue jobs around Blaguegate are passed to vans that cover the towns near it — Brighouse Green, West Gillibrands as well as Four Lane Ends — and much of Lancashire further out, throughout WN postcodes. Close to a border, or somewhere awkward to explain? Asking beats guessing, and so phone.
Anywhere the car stands — a drive at home, a side street, a parking area, a forecourt — we empty it on the spot, and there's no need to bring it to us; that suits Blaguegate, a village, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Blaguegate
Every job differs, and so no fixed price is fair. Whether your engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what moves the cost. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the location of the car, because an open driveway is simpler for a technician to get to safely than a tight gap behind Sandy Lane Centre.
Before any quote, not after, each call from Blaguegate opens with three checks: the fuel, the quantity, plus if the engine ran. Those answers shrink a range right down to a single number.
Quoted by phone before the engineer heads out, the job is paid for on the day — card or phone, no deposit. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
Blaguegate: still next to the car?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to the car. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, in Blaguegate or wherever within Lancashire, after you call 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if the engine ran.