Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fiddlers Ferry
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then leave the engine off — and the ignition too. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. The harm starts once it is sucked through the pump — it won't burn, and it will not combine with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Fiddlers Ferry, is normally what AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before your motor has been run. First, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps right now, Fiddlers Ferry: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do these:
- Pocket the keys, and that prevents anyone switching the electrics on.
- If you are anywhere near moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt shows us the fluid and the quantity, and so do not bin it out.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting PR9 8, or the name of the closest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Do not do these:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift the vehicle: the engine stays off.
- Turning the key to ignition alone sets the pump going on plenty of diesels. Skip it.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel won't weaken it.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short distance down Beverley Close.
- Emptying that tank on your own by the road is not one to try.
On a forecourt in Fiddlers Ferry, whether it is the BP or another one, ask the staff to help you roll your car away from the pump. If you are on your own drive, leave the car precisely where it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the motor. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sprayed into the exhaust, and there it treats the fumes. Not one side fits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and a pump cannot take urea.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It does not mix in. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and pools below it — the very spot the pickup sucks from. Simplest of all: a vehicle that got AdBlue in Churchtown overnight and has not turned since. The liquid waits at the base of the tank, untouched — but it will be first through once the motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
It does two kinds of damage from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that hardens in filters and narrow passages; meanwhile, since it eats at some metals, every part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it stays inside. If the AdBlue is in the lines, leaving it overnight in Fiddlers Ferry makes things worse. Inside the tank alone, waiting does nothing. Then there is the water: it offers no lubrication to the parts that rely on it most — the injection pump and each injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is often worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the Texaco and you have a problem of thin fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it's in your tank it causes no harm; the damage comes from running your motor on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable liquid. Not burning, it can't just be run through. Crystals and corrosion stay through the next tankful, and AdBlue separates back from your diesel, so thinning it can't help. Hence the flush counts more, and turning your key "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other mistake — in Far Banks or the heart of Fiddlers Ferry equally.
As with petrol, there's good news. Anywhere in Merseyside the vehicle has stopped, an unrun motor means the AdBlue still inside the reservoir: the simplest part of any fuel system to empty.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Fiddlers Ferry
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, occasionally behind one flap — can appear the same. No one means it; many layouts allow it. It usually occurs at home, from a container bought on the journey home, rather than at the filling station.
Mostly, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. The top-up is rushed outside St John's Church of England Primary School, because your dash lit up with a warning as the kids were dropped off. Near Banks Road, someone tips a bottle in at home in the evening. One more pattern: darkness, a pub car park outside The Marsh Harrier, and a driver opening that flap for the first time.
It occurs most in the motors motorists know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Same mistake, an identical first response — keep it off — anywhere you are in Fiddlers Ferry or the rest of Merseyside.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Fiddlers Ferry, and the motor started?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. The fuel filter and lines have had it sucked through, and some running time takes it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Maybe coming back from Crossens Community Park, or midway across Fiddlers Ferry, your motor might go lumpy, smoke, drop power, light up your dash or cut out. Pull over when it is safe. Switch off. Leave the vehicle off instead of testing it again. More of it is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M55, under 10 miles from Fiddlers Ferry, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Fiddlers Ferry to the car park by St. John's is a very different job from a run towards Preston, under 15 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with every mile. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Once the motor has been run, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has stopped. Spotted early, it very rarely leaves permanent damage.
Fiddlers Ferry: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
A street by Crossens Methodist Church, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station: wherever the vehicle has stopped around Fiddlers Ferry, our engineers travel to it. Three answers shape the job, so before anything else our technicians ask which fluid went in, about the amount, plus if your engine has turned over.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave together after your tank is emptied, on the spot. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush counts: the fuel system is flushed right through since residue will not flush away unaided. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs where the engine has not run. Explosion-proof pumps make a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the street at night.
New diesel goes in to bleed the system, and that's the final step. Firing it up comes next, and then you set off from where the car is parked, at Meols Cop or on a driveway in Fiddlers Ferry. Before we leave, our engineers confirm it is running smoothly with clean diesel in. Because the job is done in its entirety where the vehicle is, a workshop never comes into it. At the end, you are given the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Fiddlers Ferry, briefly
Fiddlers Ferry is a coastal locality in Merseyside, situated near the mouth of the River Ribble, with nearby places including Crossens, Banks, and Marshside. Fiddlers Ferry has a population of around 1813 people, living in predominantly semi-detached housing. Fiddlers Ferry is located close to the city of Preston, approximately 11.7 miles away, and is about 191 miles northwest of London. Fiddlers Ferry sits at a low elevation of around 9 metres above sea level, characteristic of the coastal lowlands of the North West region.
Fiddlers Ferry and Merseyside: AdBlue drains across the area
Crossens, Banks and Marshside are among the places around Fiddlers Ferry that the same teams serve, along with much of Merseyside beyond, over the PR postcode area. Ring and check rather than guess when you are by a county line, or anywhere tricky to explain.
Anywhere your car stands — a driveway at home, a side street, a car park, a filling station — our technicians empty it on the spot, with no need to take it to us; which suits Fiddlers Ferry, a coastal area, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Fiddlers Ferry: the cost of fixing it
Not one single figure could be fair, since each job differs. Whether the engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what moves the price. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the position of the vehicle, since an open driveway is easier for a van to reach safely than a tight spot behind The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
That is why each call from Fiddlers Ferry starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and whether it has run. Their answers narrow a range right down to a single number.
Quoted on the call before the engineer heads out, the job is paid for on the day — card or phone, no deposit. While our engineer is on the way, check your insurance: plenty cover misfuelling.
Fiddlers Ferry: still next to the vehicle?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with your car is to not touch it. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Fiddlers Ferry or anywhere across Merseyside.