AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Cliffe? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, leave the motor off then leave your ignition off. Urea mixed in water is all AdBlue is. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the fuel system draws it in. If your engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and thoroughly purged where the vehicle sits in Cliffe. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around Cliffe
Things to do:
- Keys out — then nobody can power anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and about how much.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting BB6 7, or the name of the closest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Moving the car even a short way is no reason to start your motor.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel won't weaken it.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short distance along Westcliffe.
- By the road, do not try emptying it yourself.
The staff on duty at any Cliffe filling station — the Morrisons included — will normally lend a hand rolling it aside if you ask. At home, the car stays exactly as it was left.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the motor. Stored in a separate tank, it is squirted into the exhaust stream to clean the gases. Nothing in an injection pump is made for this liquid — and no part of that was intended to go through one.
It doesn't blend. Once it is tipped into the tank, AdBlue acts nothing like fuel. Denser than diesel, it drops and collects below it — the very spot the pickup sucks from. Simplest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Edge End last night and hasn't been started since. The AdBlue waits at the base of the tank, untouched — but it would be the first thing through once the engine starts, ahead of any diesel at all.
Once it is sucked in, the harm takes two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and tiny channels; meanwhile, because it eats at certain metals, each part it reaches suffers for as long as it remains inside. Overnight, a vehicle sitting in Cliffe with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; where it's only in the tank, nothing changes. Then there's the water: it offers no protection to the components that need it the most — the injection pump and each injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's frequently worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Ridings Auto Services and you have an issue of thin fuel. Blended through your diesel and sitting still, it is no threat for now; using your motor does the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Nor can it be thinned, because it separates back out — and the following fill won't clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters for more here, and trying your engine "to see", in the heart of Cliffe or out in Waverledge, does more harm than almost any other error.
As with petrol, there is good news. Wherever in Lancashire your vehicle has come to rest, an unrun motor means the AdBlue still in the tank: the easiest bit of a fuel system to empty.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Cliffe: how it ends up there
Plenty of motors place the AdBlue cap beside the diesel cap, occasionally behind one flap, and in dim light the two can appear the same. Nobody means it. It usually takes place at home, from a bottle bought en route home, not at the forecourt.
A couple of familiar ways account for most cases. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside Great Harwood St Bartholomew's Parish Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Hindle fold Lane. Another version: dim light, the car park by The Tavern, and a driver opening that flap for the first time.
Hired vehicles, brand-new vehicles, company cars, or the spare car in a family with both fuels: the least familiar cars see it most. Anywhere around Lancashire, Cliffe as well, the mistake doesn't change, and nor does the first response: leave it off.
Cliffe: started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. Given any running, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and every injector, having passed via the fuel filter and lines.
Perhaps returning from Great Harwood Cricket Club, or part way across Cliffe, the engine might run rough, smoke, drop power, flash your dash or cut out. When safe, pull over then switch everything off — with no restarting to test. More of it is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M65, under 3 miles from Cliffe, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
Mileage counts: every mile pushes the AdBlue further in, and so heading towards Preston, under 15 miles away, gives a far larger job than crossing Cliffe to the car park by Saint Bartholomews (Old Church). Tell us about how far it had come.
Wherever the car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out once your engine has been run. Permanent damage is very uncommon if it is caught quickly.
Cliffe: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
We come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped around Cliffe: a side street near Town_Hall, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether the engine has been run, since those answers settle the work.
On the spot, your tank is then drained, and all of the contaminated diesel and the urea leave at once. Residue from AdBlue will not flush out unaided, so the whole system gets a careful flush, which matters far more here than for petrol. Fresh diesel goes in once your filter is cleaned — or replaced, when it needs to be — and after that your car is tested. If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we arrive. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they run quiet enough not to disturb the street at night.
New diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that's the final step. Then we start the engine and you drive off, whether from a parking space at Langho or a driveway in Cliffe. The check before we head off is that it runs smoothly on clean diesel. Our technicians do it all wherever the car has ended up, and it never needs to go to a garage. The insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Cliffe and where it is
Cliffe is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated inland at an elevation of 166 metres, approximately 12 miles from Preston. Cliffe forms part of a larger residential area, with nearby places including Lower Fold, Hindle Fold, and Great Harwood. Cliffe has a population of around 2843 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Cliffe is located in the North West region of England, about 184.6 miles from London.
Cliffe and Lancashire: AdBlue drains across the area
The vans that answer AdBlue calls around Cliffe also cover the locations round it, Lower Fold, Hindle Fold and Great Harwood among them, and most of Lancashire beyond, across the BB postcode area. Near a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down? Checking is better than assuming, so phone.
Cliffe is a residential suburb, and a call-out drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it stands, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Cliffe
There is no fair single price, because the jobs aren't the same. Three things shift the cost: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where your car is. That last one comes down to whether a van can get to it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight gap behind Towngate Cafe.
Which fluid was put in, what quantity, and if it ran: every Cliffe call begins with exactly that, before any figure, never after. Those replies narrow a range down to one number.
Quoted on the call before the van sets out, the job is paid for that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
Alongside the vehicle around Cliffe, right now?
In that case, touch nothing — that's the most helpful step there is. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, across Cliffe or anywhere in Lancashire, once you phone 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether the engine ran.