AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Grassendale? Don't Start It
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and nothing starts until your engine pulls it through. Caught before the motor has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Grassendale. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
What to do right now, Grassendale: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do these:
- Keys out — then nobody can power anything on.
- Near moving traffic? So put your hazards on.
- Keep your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what was put in and about how much.
- Give us a postcode starting L19 9, or whatever street lies nearest, and our van finds you straight — so ring wherever you stand.
Don't:
- Don't start the motor, even for a moment to move the vehicle.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Adding more diesel does not help: AdBlue separates out rather than blending.
- Even a short stretch down Garston Old Road is too far to drive the car.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself by the kerbside.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you move the car off the island if you're on a forecourt around Grassendale, whether it is the Go or somewhere else. At your own drive, do not touch it at all.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the motor. From a separate tank it is fed directly to the exhaust, treating what the motor emits. Not one side fits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and a pump cannot deal with urea.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once tipped in, won't. The behaviour is not at all like fuel's. It drops, since it is heavier than diesel, and pools down where the pickup draws its supply from. The first thing the system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Garston last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
Once it's drawn in, the harm takes two forms. It eats at certain metals found in fuel components, working on any part it reaches till it's cleared from the system. And once the water evaporates, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and settle in narrow passages. Overnight, a vehicle parked in Grassendale with AdBlue through its pipework grows worse; where it is just in your tank, it doesn't. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector need diesel flowing through them, so the water content harms them by itself.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is regularly worse
An issue of thin fuel is what you end up with after filling a diesel with petrol from the BP. Damage only comes from driving on it. Mixed into your diesel and left inside the tank, it does nothing.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable substance. Since it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Whether the car is in Allerton or the centre of Grassendale, turning it over "to see" does more harm in this case than almost any other slip, and the flush counts more. Why: it will not stay blended, and so diluting it is impossible; and crystals and corrosion outlast the next fill.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest job on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue stays in it — wherever in Merseyside the car has stopped.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Grassendale
It is not deliberate. Plenty of cars have the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, now and then behind a single flap, and mixing them up is easy in poor light. It mostly happens outside the house, from a container bought en route home, rather than at the filling station.
Mostly, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside St Austin's Catholic Primary School. Near Eslington Street, a driver pours a container in at home after work. Another pattern: dim light, the car park by Dealers Arms, and a driver using that flap the first time.
It crops up most in a rental, a brand-new vehicle, a company motor, or the spare vehicle in a home with one of each fuels — the cars drivers use least. Wherever you are around Grassendale or the rest of Merseyside, it is the same mistake and the same first answer: leave it off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Grassendale, and your engine started?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer in that tank. The fuel filter and pipework have had it pulled along, and some running takes it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Perhaps coming back from Grassy Area, or part way across Grassendale, your engine may go lumpy, smoke, lose power, flash your dash or cut out. No restarting to check: stop when it is safe, then switch it off. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
If you were on the M62, under 5 miles from Grassendale, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere sensible instead of pressing on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into the system. That's why a hop across Grassendale to park near Parish Church of Saint Mary and a drive of under 5 miles for Liverpool are very separate jobs. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
There is more to rinse out once your engine has been started, and we do all of it where the car has come to a stop. Noticed quickly, it very seldom leaves permanent damage.
Grassendale: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
Our technicians come to the car, wherever it has stopped around Grassendale: a side street close to St Austin's Roman Catholic Church, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and if your motor has run, because those answers settle the work.
Next, emptying that tank right there takes out the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush matters: the whole system is cleaned right through because what remains won't flush away by itself. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Engine not run? In that case expect about half an hour on site for most jobs. Low-noise enough to use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
The last step is to bleed the fuel system on clean diesel. Whether it's a parking bay outside Cressington or a drive in Grassendale, that is where we fire it up and you set off. The check before our engineers leave is that it runs correctly on clean diesel. No workshop is required at any point, with the whole job done on the spot. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers ask for.
About Grassendale, for a moment
Grassendale is a suburban area in Merseyside, situated near the coast and approximately 4.4 miles south of Liverpool. Grassendale has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant, and the area is close to local amenities such as Cressington Park and Grassendale Park. Grassendale's elevation is around 28 metres above sea level, and it is part of the larger Liverpool urban area. Grassendale is also within commuting distance to Liverpool, making it a popular residential choice.
AdBlue drains around Grassendale and across Merseyside
AdBlue call-outs in Grassendale are passed to teams that cover the places around it — Cressington Park, Aigburth as well as Grassendale Park — and much of Merseyside beyond, across L postcodes. Assuming won't help close to a border or somewhere hard to describe; ring and check.
No moving is needed. In Grassendale, a residential suburb, a mobile service fits: your vehicle is drained where it stands, whether on a driveway, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Grassendale: the cost of fixing it
Each job differs, so not one fixed price would be fair. Whether the engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what moves the cost. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the position of the vehicle, since an open driveway is simpler for a technician to get to safely than a tight space behind Garston Library and One Stop Shop.
For that in mind, each enquiry from Grassendale opens with the same trio — which fluid went in, what quantity, whether it ran — ahead of a figure. Those answers turn a range into a straight quote.
Before anyone sets off, you hear the price by phone. Then you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing upfront. As our engineer is travelling, check your policy: plenty cover misfuelling.
In Grassendale and still alongside the vehicle?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, right now, the most useful thing you can do. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Grassendale or anywhere around Merseyside.