AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Dallam, and What to Do Next
Everything turns on a single fact: if the engine has started after the AdBlue went in — far more than anything else. Over in Winwick Quay or right in Dallam, an unrun engine should remain that way. Switch nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, then count on a thorough flush plus a drain, carried out right where the car sits around Dallam. Pull over the minute you safely can and turn off, if it has been run. Stage one remains unchanged, even though the work is bigger.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever in Cheshire it happened.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Dallam forecourt
Just now, bottle still in your hand, you realise that the cap you took off was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. It might be the Tesco, or the Shell, or a different forecourt in Dallam.
In short: there is no better place to be to spot it. No pump has drawn it through, so the AdBlue sits just in your tank.
Clearing the petrol pump is no reason to run it — so don't get back in. Ask the staff to help you push the vehicle into a parking spot, keep your receipt or the bottle, then call us from the forecourt. Our equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt, and so a vehicle that can't be pushed away gets cleared right at the pump.
At home in Dallam with AdBlue in your diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. Only by the recycling, the empty container in your hand, did you glance back at the cap you'd opened on the drive. Just off Bardsley Avenue is not less likely from anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of that tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so nobody moves the car in the morning. Then ring. Longford or Dallam: wherever your drive sits, that is where it is cleared. Even at night, the pumps are quiet enough for a driveway.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Dallam?
Topped up, drove away, and before long your motor was turning roughly, smoking, losing power, or flashing up the dash. Perhaps it was on Tavlin Avenue, possibly on the way out towards Salford, under 15 miles away.
What it means: your fuel system has drawn the AdBlue in. Through the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — the further the distance — on into the injection pump and each injector. It travels deeper with each extra mile driven and every restart.
Pull in safely — that is the first job — then switch it off. Exit at the next junction — not the services further along — if you are on the M62, under a mile from Dallam. No test starts: clearing isn't something AdBlue does. Roughly what distance had it go? Tell us when you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
It is a vehicle you have had for a week. The AdBlue filler is right beside the diesel filler, which you didn't know, since your own car either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Anywhere you happen to be across Cheshire, every motorist could be caught.
The point: exactly as above, split by if it ran, but with one added stage. The owner frequently has to approve the work, under plenty of hire and fleet agreements.
Sorting it before we turn up is quicker, so ring the rental company or your fleet manager, and then us. If you're stranded in the car park outside Warrington Central, or by Urban Church, while you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
Dallam: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Truthfully, the best answer might be that you think so. What cap came off, you cannot say; but the bottle feels less than it ought to, and a whiff of ammonia hangs by your filler. Maybe it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Dallam Community Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Hulme.
Put simply: a spill near the filler leaves the motor no harm. The diesel tank with AdBlue inside is another matter. Starting your car cannot tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in that tank it would draw it in.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Don't fire it up. Checking a tank that proves free of AdBlue beats emptying one once it's been run — so ring and tell us what you noticed.
What each AdBlue drain around Dallam has in common
The job begins the same way, whichever your situation. Three things come when our technicians arrive — at a filling station, a driveway, a road beside Safari Swings or the car park outside The Imperial Hotel: the fluid, the quantity, and if it has run. On the phone, before dispatch, you hear the quote, and those replies shape the job too.
A thorough flush follows the drain. With petrol it's routine; with AdBlue it is essential, because crystals build up and certain metals corrode, and neither rinses out unaided. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. If the motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
Our technicians fire it up at the end. Before we leave, it's tested to be sure it runs smoothly on fresh diesel. When it is noticed early, the car very seldom has long-term damage, and the whole job happens where it is. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling, so look at yours as we head over.
About Dallam and where it is
Dallam is a suburban area in Cheshire, situated on the riverside with an elevation of around 11 metres. Dallam lies near the cities of Salford and Manchester, and is close to nearby places such as Longford, Callands, and Bewsey. Dallam has a population of approximately 4081 residents, who mostly live in semi-detached housing. Dallam is located about 167.7 miles northwest of London, in the North West region of England.
Dallam and Cheshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Dallam is a residential suburb, and the same vans that cover it work the places near it too, Callands and Bewsey among them, across the WA postcode area. Fastest of all: a WA5 0 postcode to show where you stand.
Parked heading to Dallam Recreation Ground, or bang in the centre of Dallam, your car remains where it is — there's no need to shift it at all. The van empties it where it stands. Awkward to pin down? By Temple Raider or a county line? Asking is better than guessing, so ring.
Your situation, in one line
Motor not started: ring, and leave it switched off. Run already: stop, switch down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, within Dallam or wherever across Cheshire.