AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Formby: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether the motor has run since it went in. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the vehicle is in Formby itself or out in Hightown. Switch nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, and count on a thorough flush plus a drain, done just where your car sits around Formby. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. It is a larger job, yet stage one does not change.
Anywhere across Merseyside it happened, one of the situations below matches yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Formby forecourt
You're at the pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Be it BP, Tesco Petrol or somewhere else in Formby, the situation is identical.
In short: no better place exists to spot it. Just that tank holds AdBlue; not one component past it has taken any in.
Your move: stay out of the car, however much the queue wants freeing. Phone us from the forecourt once the vehicle is in a space — the attendants will lend a hand to push it — and save the bottle. Stuck by the pump? Our explosion-proof equipment keeps a live forecourt sensible, and so it can be drained in place.
Formby, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Several days had gone by with the dash light on. Only by the recycling, the empty bottle in your hand, did you look back at the cap you had opened on the drive. It occurs on driveways just off Three Tuns Lane as frequently as anywhere.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. At the floor of that tank is exactly where AdBlue waits, because it won't blend with diesel — and a night going by makes no difference.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves the vehicle in the morning. Then ring. Out in Freshfield or here around Formby, the drain is done at your driveway. Late-night empties outside a house are no problem: the pumps are low-noise.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Formby?
Lumpy running, smoke, falling power or a glowing dashboard started a short way after the fill. Maybe it was on Chapel Lane, perhaps on the way out towards Liverpool, under 15 miles away.
The point: your system has drawn AdBlue through already. It's been through your filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and your injectors. Each restart, like every mile, pushes it deeper.
What to do: pull over where it's safe to do so and switch off. Services farther along can wait: on the M58, under 10 miles out of Formby, use the next junction. Do not restart the vehicle to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Ring us and say how far you drove.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
It's a motor you have had for a week. Your own car either does without AdBlue or keeps it somewhere different, and so nothing warned you the AdBlue cap was just next to the diesel. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Merseyside.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it's run, with one more stage. Many hire and company contracts need the owner's sign-off before work.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's quicker settled before our engineers turn up than after. Stuck by War Memorial or outside the nearest station till someone answers, your car stays switched off the whole time.
Formby: unsure whether it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
"I think so" is sometimes the most honest answer there is. Too light, the bottle; a trace of ammonia near the filler; no clear recollection of which cap. Look familiar? The gates of Our Lady of Compassion Catholic Primary School in a hurry, say, or a friend's driveway out in Lady Green.
In short: spillage round your filler does your motor unharmed. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. If there is AdBlue in that tank, starting the vehicle will pull it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
Your move: act as if it did, and don't start your motor. Tell us what you noticed on the phone. A clear tank checked is a better result than an already-run one emptied.
The common ground in every Formby AdBlue drain
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. Our engineers come to your car, whether it's on a forecourt, a drive, the car park outside Village Inn or a side street near Marks & Spencer, and ask three things: what got in, roughly how much, and if your engine has run. Those replies determine the work, and you get our price by phone, before anybody sets off.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system rinsed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not rinse out on its own. Last are your filter, flushed or replaced if necessary; clean diesel; and a check of your car. Never started? Then about half an hour on site is most jobs.
The last step is firing it up. Our engineers check it runs correctly on clean diesel before we leave. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, and if it is spotted soon, long-term damage is very uncommon. Nothing is taken upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you receive what your insurer wants: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Formby
Formby is a coastal town in Merseyside, situated on the Irish Sea coast, approximately 11 metres above sea level. Formby lies to the north of Liverpool, with which it has strong economic and cultural ties. Formby is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock and its proximity to nearby places such as Freshfield and Great Altcar. Formby has a population of around 20,247 people, making it a significant urban centre in the region.
AdBlue drains across Merseyside, Formby included
Formby is a coastal town, and the same vans that cover it work the places around it too, Little Altcar and Great Altcar among them, across the L postcode area. Fastest of all: a L37 4 postcode to show where you stand.
Stopped en route to Duke Street Park, or right in the centre of Formby, your car stays where it is — there's no need to move it anywhere. The van drains it in place. Guessing won't help beside Holy Trinity Church, on a border or anywhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
Your situation, summed up
Engine never started: ring, leaving it switched off. Run already? Stop, turn off, phone. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest whatever case, across Formby and Merseyside, on 0333 366 0103.