Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Deans
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. Being water-based, it will not ignite and never combines with diesel; damage just comes once the pump starts pulling it. Caught before your motor has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Deans. First, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
Deans, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do straight away
Things to do:
- Pull the keys out, so no one switches the ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- Which fluid, and roughly what quantity? Hang on to the bottle or the receipt, and we can see.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting M27 0, or the name of the nearest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Do not do these:
- Moving the vehicle even a short way is no reason to start the engine.
- Turning your key to ignition by itself sets your pump running on many diesels. Skip it.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue will not mix, so it's wasted.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short way down St Peter's Road.
- Draining the tank yourself by the road is not one to try.
The attendants on duty at any Deans filling station — the Shell included — will usually lend a hand rolling it aside if you ask. At home, your car remains exactly as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the motor. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it's fed into your exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, after poured in, won't. The behaviour is not at all like fuel's. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Moorside last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
Once it's drawn in, the harm comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that hardens in filter elements and narrow passages; and, since it attacks some metals, every part it touches suffers for as long as it stays in there. If the AdBlue is in the lines, leaving it till morning in Deans leaves things worse. In that tank alone, waiting does nothing. The water in it does harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is commonly more significant than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Power's forecourt leaves your fuel thin — that is the whole fault. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it is inside that tank it does no harm; the damage comes from running your motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It cannot just be run through, since it doesn't burn. Whether your vehicle is in Dales Brow or the centre of Deans, firing it up "to see" costs more in this case than nearly any other slip, and the flush counts more. Why: it will not stay blended, and so watering it down fails; and crystals and corrosion outlast the next fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue waits just in your tank, the simplest section of the whole system to clear, wherever the car has stopped across Greater Manchester.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Deans: how it ends up there
Plenty of vehicles place the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, occasionally under one flap, and after dark the two can look identical. No one intends it. It usually happens outside the house, from a bottle bought en route home, not at the filling station.
Usually, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside St Peter's CofE Primary School. Near Everton Street, a driver tips a bottle in on that drive after work. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap refills the car in dim light, parked in the car park outside The Church Inn.
It takes place most in the vehicles motorists know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. An identical slip, an identical first response — leave it off — wherever you happen to be in Deans or the rest of Greater Manchester.
Started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Deans?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. Via your filter, through the lines, and — given any running — on to the injection pump and each injector: that is how far it has gone.
You may see the motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Moorside Park or halfway across Deans. Stop when safe. Switch off. Keep the car off rather than testing it again. Each start pulls more of it through.
Deans sits under a mile from the M61; if you were on it, leave by the first junction and pull up somewhere safe rather than carrying on.
Distance counts: each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into your system, and so driving towards Salford, under 3 miles away, gives a far larger job than crossing Deans to the car park by Graham Matthews Cricket Ground. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
There is more to flush once the motor has run, and our engineers do all of it where the vehicle has stopped. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage if it's noticed quickly.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves in Deans
A road beside Church of St Peter, a drive, a layby or a filling station: anywhere the car has stopped in Deans, we come to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if the motor has been run, because those answers determine this work.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out together when that tank is drained, on the spot. The fuel system is cleaned thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel goes in once the fuel filter is flushed — or replaced, when it needs to be — and after that the vehicle is tested. About half an hour on site is typical for most jobs where the motor has not run. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Priming the system with new diesel comes last. Firing it up comes next, and then you set off from where the vehicle is parked, by Swinton (Manchester) or on a driveway in Deans. Before leaving, we check it is running correctly with fresh diesel in. Since the job is done in its entirety where the car is, a garage never comes into it. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours once the job is done.
About Deans itself
Deans is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated approximately 2.8 miles from Salford and 166.8 miles from London. Deans lies inland at an elevation of around 60 metres, characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Deans is located near other local areas such as Swinton, Newtown, and Light Bourne Green, and has a population of around 7545 residents.
AdBlue drains across Deans and Greater Manchester
Over the M postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue call-outs around Deans reach much of Greater Manchester too, Swinton, Newtown and Light Bourne Green included. Ring and ask rather than guess if you are close to a border, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
A mobile service suits Deans, a residential suburb: you have no need to take the vehicle to us, since our technicians drain it on the spot, on a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Deans
Every job is different, so no fixed price is fair. Whether the motor has run, and for how long, comes first in what changes the cost. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the location of the vehicle, since an open driveway is simpler for our van to reach safely than a tight gap behind Swinton Library.
That is why every call from Deans starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and if it has run. When those are known, a range turns into a single firm 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. As our engineer is on the way, check your insurance: many cover misfuelling.
Deans: still beside the vehicle?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with the vehicle is to not touch it. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus whether the engine ran are everything our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest across Greater Manchester, Deans too.