Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bollington
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, leave the motor off then leave the ignition off. Urea mixed in water is all AdBlue is. The trouble begins once it is sucked through the pump — it won't burn, and it won't combine with diesel. Caught before the engine has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Bollington. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around Bollington
To do:
- Keys out — then no one can switch anything on.
- Close to moving traffic? Then put the hazard lights on.
- The empty bottle or your receipt tells us the product and the amount, so do not throw it out.
- The van locates you quickest with a postcode starting SK10 5, or simply the name of a street nearby, and so phone from the car.
Things not to do:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to shift your car.
- Your ignition stays off: on lots of diesels, turning it on is enough to run the fuel pump.
- Adding more diesel doesn't help: AdBlue separates out rather than thinning.
- Leave it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short distance along Water Street.
- Draining that tank yourself beside the road isn't one to try.
Rolling your car off the pumps is a job for staff to help with, wherever Bollington forecourt you are on, the Shell or any other. On the drive, the car stays just as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it's fed into your exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. A fuel pump isn't made to take it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once tipped in, will not. The behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It is heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. A motor topped up on a drive in Lowerhouse overnight and left unstarted is the straightforward case. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up yet — though when your motor runs, that's what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of the tank.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. It attacks certain metals used in fuel components, working on whatever it reaches till it is removed completely. And once the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and lodge in narrow channels. By daybreak, a vehicle sitting around Bollington with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; where it is just inside that tank, nothing changes. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and every injector as it passes; water gives no lubrication, which is a second kind of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger problem?
Put petrol in a diesel at the Tesco and you have a fault of thin fuel. Blended into the diesel and sitting still, it's harmless for now; using your motor is the harm.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely wrong substance. It can't simply be run through, since it does not burn. Deposits and corrosion stay after the following fill, and AdBlue separates back out of the diesel, so watering it won't work. Hence the flush matters more, and turning your key "to see" costs more here than almost any other mistake — in Pott Shrigley or the centre of Bollington equally.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Anywhere across Cheshire the vehicle has come to rest, an unrun engine means the AdBlue still in the tank: the easiest bit of any fuel system to clear.
Bollington: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It is not on purpose. Many cars keep the AdBlue cap beside the diesel inlet, now and then under a single flap, and muddling them up is simple after dark. Most of the time it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
A couple of familiar ways cover the majority of them. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Bollington St John's CofE Primary School the top-up is hurried. In the evening, a bottle is tipped in on a driveway close to Park Street. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at Spinners Arms, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
Hired vehicles, new cars, company vehicles, or the spare vehicle in a home with one of each: the least known vehicles see it the most. Wherever you're around Bollington or the rest of Cheshire, it is the same error and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Bollington?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside the tank. It's been pulled through your filter and your lines, and if the motor ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure pump and the injectors.
Watch for rough running, exhaust smoke, falling power, lights on your dash, or a cut-out — returning from Bollington Cenotaph, say, or part way across Bollington. When safe, stop then turn everything off — with no turning it on again to test. More of it is pulled through with each start.
On the Roscoe's Spur, under 10 miles from Bollington, the next junction is where to leave, and somewhere sensible is where to park — not carrying on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Bollington to the car park by Bollington Cenotaph is a very different job from a run towards Manchester, under 15 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with each mile. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
There is more to rinse out once the motor has been started, and our engineers do all of it where the car has stopped. When it's spotted soon, permanent damage is very unusual.
Bollington: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
A road by Old horse trough, a drive, a layby or a filling station: wherever your vehicle has come to rest in Bollington, our engineers travel to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and if the engine has run, since those answers decide the work.
Next, draining your tank right there removes the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue together. A careful flush counts far more after AdBlue than after petrol, because what remains will not clear out by itself. Next, the filter: flushed, or replaced if it must be. Then clean diesel, then a check of the car. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when your motor has not run. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
The last step is to prime your system on clean diesel. Whether it's a parking space at Prestbury or a driveway around Bollington, that is where our engineers fire it up and you set off. Before we go, our engineers check it is running smoothly with clean diesel in. Because the job is done in full where your car is, a garage never comes into it. Afterwards, there is the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Bollington
Bollington is a charming town situated in the county of Cheshire, England, with a picturesque riverside setting. It is located to the east of Prestbury, an area steeped in history dating back to the Middle Ages. The town has a long association with the surrounding area, having once been part of a larger manor and parish. Bollington's scenic location makes it a notable town in the region.
AdBlue drains across Bollington and Cheshire
Sowcar, Kerridge and Clark Green are among the places around Bollington that the same teams reach, along with much of Cheshire beyond, over the SK postcode area. Near a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down? Asking is better than assuming, and so ring.
Bollington is a riverside town, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it stands, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
Bollington: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
No flat figure could be fair, because each job is different. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that got in. After that it rests on where the vehicle is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight spot behind Bollington Library.
Ahead of a figure, never after, each call from Bollington begins with the same three questions: the liquid, the amount, and whether it ran. With those replies, a range narrows to a single fixed figure.
You get that quote by phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Check your insurance whilst we're on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
In Bollington and still alongside the car?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with your car is to leave it. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, across Bollington or wherever in Cheshire, once you phone 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran.