Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bottoms
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. It does not burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when your fuel system pulls it in. Caught before the engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Bottoms. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank in Bottoms
Things to do:
- Keys out — then nobody can power anything on.
- If you're at all near moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- Which product, and about what quantity? Save the bottle or your receipt, and our technicians will know.
- Ring right where you are. Quote a OL5 9 postcode or the nearest street name, and no one has to search for you.
Things not to do:
- Do not start your engine, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue will not mix, so it's pointless.
- Leave the car where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short stretch up Stanhope Street.
- No emptying it yourself, either, at the roadside.
Get the people behind the counter to help you move the vehicle off the pumps if you're at a forecourt in Bottoms, whether it's the Texaco or somewhere else. At your own drive, do not touch it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. From a dedicated reservoir it goes directly to the exhaust, treating what your motor lets out. Neither side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and a pump cannot deal with urea.
Inside a diesel tank it acts really differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It sinks, since it is heavier than diesel, and settles down where the pickup takes its fuel from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Luzley last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
From there it does two kinds of damage. What is left once the water goes is urea, which turns into crystals: they lodge in tiny channels and block filters. On top of that, it eats at some metals in a fuel system, and carries on till it is flushed out. A motor left standing around Bottoms with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. Diesel protects the injection pump and each injector as it passes; water gives no lubrication, and that is a second form of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's often worse than petrol
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Esso's forecourt leaves your fuel watery — that's the main problem. Damage only comes from driving on it. Mixed into the diesel and left in the tank, it does nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It doesn't burn, so it cannot simply be run through. Whether your vehicle sits in Mossley Cross or the heart of Bottoms, turning it over "to see" does more harm in this case than almost any other slip, and the flush counts for more. Why: it will not stay blended, so diluting it is impossible; and crystals and corrosion survive the next fill.
As with petrol, there is good news. Wherever across Greater Manchester the vehicle has stopped, an unrun engine means the AdBlue still in the reservoir: the simplest part of any fuel system to clear.
Bottoms: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Many vehicles put the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, now and then under one flap, and in dim light the two may look identical. Nobody means it. A container picked up while heading home and tipped in outside the house, rather than at the forecourt, is the usual route.
A few familiar ways account for most cases. The top-up is rushed outside Livingstone Primary School, after your dash lit up with a warning while the children were dropped in. Near Bury Street, a driver pours a bottle in on that drive in the evening. Or the car is topped up in the car park outside The Friendship, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
It crops up most in a hire car, a brand-new vehicle, a fleet car, or the other motor of a home with both fuels — the cars drivers know the least. Wherever you are in Bottoms or the rest of Greater Manchester, it's the same mistake and the same first answer: leave it off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Bottoms, and the motor started?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. Via the fuel filter, through the lines, and — with any running — on to the high-pressure pump and every injector: that is how far it has gone.
You may notice your motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from King George Fields or halfway across Bottoms. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
If you were on the M60, under 5 miles from Bottoms, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
A quick hop across Bottoms to the car park by Seel Park is one matter; driving for Manchester, under 10 miles away, is something else, since every mile carries the AdBlue further in. So distance matters. Tell us about how far it had come.
We do all of the cleaning where the vehicle has stopped, and once the engine has been run there is more of it. Lasting damage is very unusual if it's spotted soon.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel around Bottoms: what it takes
Anywhere it has stopped around Bottoms — a filling station, a lay-by, a driveway, a street by St Joseph — the van travels to the car. Three answers decide the job, and so first we ask which fluid got in, about the amount, and whether the motor has run.
Next, emptying that tank on the spot removes the polluted diesel and the AdBlue together. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush matters: the whole system is cleaned all the way through since residue won't flush away unaided. A test of your vehicle comes last, once clean diesel is added and the filter gets flushed or, where needed, swapped. Not run? In that case expect roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Bleeding the system with new diesel comes at the end. You head off as soon as we have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a driveway in Bottoms or in a space by Mossley (Manchester). The test before our engineers head off is that it runs correctly on clean diesel. Our engineers do it all wherever your car has ended up, and it never needs to be taken to a garage. Afterwards, there is the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Bottoms and where it is
Bottoms is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated near the River Tame and close to the Peak District National Park. Bottoms sits at an elevation of 136 metres, with terraced housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Bottoms is located near several nearby places, including Micklehurst, Fox Platt, and Mossley Brow, and is approximately 8.8 miles from Manchester. Bottoms has a population of around 4265 residents.
Bottoms and Greater Manchester: AdBlue drains across the area
The teams that answer AdBlue jobs around Bottoms also cover the locations around it, Micklehurst, Fox Platt and Mossley Brow among them, and most of Greater Manchester beyond, across the OL postcode area. Assuming won't help by a border or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
No moving is needed. In Bottoms, a residential suburb, a van that comes to you fits: your car is drained on the spot, whether in a drive, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
Bottoms: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Every job differs, so no single quote is honest. The price moves first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it depends on where the car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight gap behind Mossley Methodist Church.
That is why each call from Bottoms starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it has run. The replies turn a range into a straight quote.
Before anyone heads out, you hear our price by phone. Then payment is on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
In Bottoms and still next to the vehicle?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with the car is to not touch it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if the engine ran is all our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest throughout Greater Manchester, Bottoms too.