AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Crowton, and What to Do Next
One thing counts most once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is if your motor has been started since. Not started yet? Then leave it like that, wherever the vehicle sits — Crowton or Acton Bridge. Leave your engine and your ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103; it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Crowton. Stop the moment you safely can and turn off, if it has already run. Stage one remains unchanged, even though the job grows.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever across Cheshire it happened.
Crowton forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Just now, nozzle yet in your hand, you realise that the cap you took off was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. It might be the Esso, or the Applegreen, or a different station around Crowton.
What it means: this is the ideal place to find out. The AdBlue is inside the tank and nowhere else. Nothing has sucked it in.
Freeing the petrol pump is no reason to start it — so do not get back in. Ask the attendants to help you push your car into a parking space, keep your receipt or the bottle, and phone us from the forecourt. If it cannot be shifted, it can be emptied at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
At home in Crowton with AdBlue in the diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. Bought a container, tipped it in outside the house, binned the empty — and only then looked at the cap again, too late. Houses just off Ainsworth Lane are hit as much as anywhere else.
In short: if the vehicle hasn't been driven since, it is nearly equal to finding out at the pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of your tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
Next: keys indoors, and so nobody drives the vehicle off at breakfast. Then, ring. Your driveway is where it gets drained, whether in Crowton or Cooksongreen. Our equipment works quietly enough not to disturb the street at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Crowton?
A short way beyond topping up, your motor started playing up: rough running, smoke, lost power, lights on the dash. Maybe heading to Chester, under 15 miles away, or simply down Station Road.
What it means: the fuel system has drawn the AdBlue in. It's been through the filter and your lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and your injectors. More driving, more restarts: further it goes.
What to do: pull over where it's safe to do so and switch off. Crowton sits under 5 miles from the M56; on it, come off at the first junction rather than pushing on for the services. No test restarts: clearing itself isn't something AdBlue does. About what distance did it gone? Say so when you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've just had this vehicle a week. Your own motor either does without AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, and so no one warned you the AdBlue cap sits right beside the diesel. Anyone, anywhere across Cheshire, might do it.
The upshot: exactly as above, divided by whether it ran, but with one added stage. Plenty of hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on your car.
Next: phone the hire company or your fleet manager first, then us — sorting it before we arrive is quicker. If you are stuck in the car park outside Acton Bridge, or by Crowton War Memorial, while you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, around Crowton
"I think so" is often as honest as it gets. Too light, the bottle; a trace of ammonia near the filler; no clear memory of the cap. Look familiar? Maybe at a friend's driveway in Norley, or in a rush by Crowton Christ Church CofE Primary School at the school run.
What it means: a little spilled about the filler does no harm to the motor. In the diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue damages it. Turning on your car will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in the tank it would pull it in.
Next: assume it went in, then keep your engine off. Ring with what you saw: we would sooner find a tank free of AdBlue than empty one once the engine has run.
The common ground in every Crowton AdBlue drain
No matter the case, a single opening applies. Filling station, drive, Hare and Hounds's car park or a road beside Christ Church, Crowton — the van comes to your vehicle, and three answers follow: what fluid, what amount, and whether it ran. Your price is given on the call, before a van leaves, and the replies shape the job.
Then that tank is emptied and your system flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel is put in once the filter has been cleaned or changed, and your car is then tested. If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Lastly, we fire it up. Before our technicians leave, it's checked to make sure it runs correctly on fresh diesel. Our technicians do the entire job where your car is, and lasting damage is very unusual if it has been noticed quickly. Paying comes that day, never in advance. For your insurer, you get a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer. Check your insurance while we're en route: misfuelling cover comes built into many policies.
About Crowton and where it is
Crowton is a small village in Cheshire, situated on the riverside at a low elevation of around 19 metres. Crowton lies near the city of Chester, approximately 11.9 miles away, and is close to other nearby places such as Cooksongreen, Onston, and Ruloe. Crowton has a population of around 516 people and predominantly features detached housing.
AdBlue drains about Crowton and across Cheshire
Being a village, Crowton has the same vans as the surrounding places — Ruloe, Onston — right through CW postcodes. A postcode starting CW8 2 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Centre of Crowton or a lay-by near Crowton Millennium Green: either way it sits, your vehicle never needs to move at all for this drain. Our technicians drain the vehicle where it stands. Phone and ask rather than guess if you are close to Crowton Village Hall, near a border, or somewhere tricky to explain.
The one-line version
Not run yet: keep it off then ring. Run already: stop, power down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, within Crowton or anywhere across Cheshire.