Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hallowsgate
Engine off, ignition off: that is where you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the system pulls it in. If your engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally drained and carefully purged where your car sits around Hallowsgate. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
What to do right now, Hallowsgate: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do:
- So nobody can switch the ignition on, pull the keys away.
- Near moving traffic? So put your hazards on.
- Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what went in and roughly how much.
- Give us a postcode starting CW6 0, or whichever street is nearest, and our van finds you directly — so call from wherever you stand.
Not to do:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift the car: your motor remains off.
- Your ignition remains off: on lots of diesels, turning it on is enough to run the fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel won't thin it.
- Leave the vehicle where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short stretch along Common Lane.
- Emptying that tank on your own by the road is not one to try.
The staff on duty at any Hallowsgate filling station — the BP included — will usually help pushing it clear if you ask. On your own drive, do not touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. From a separate reservoir it goes directly to the exhaust, cleaning what your motor emits. Neither side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and a pump cannot take urea.
It does not blend. After it's poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts nothing like fuel. Denser than diesel, it drops and pools underneath it — the same spot the intake draws from. When your pump runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Before then it sits beneath the diesel, which is how a car filled in Willington Corner last night and never started remains the simple one, provided nobody touches the key.
Two kinds of harm come from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps labouring on the components it reaches for as long as it stays there. A car left standing in Hallowsgate with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and each injector as it passes; water gives no lubrication, which is a second form of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel commonly the bigger fault?
A problem of thinned fuel is what you get after fuelling a diesel with petrol at the Murco. Blended into the diesel and left unused, it is no threat for now; running the engine is the harm.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. It does not burn, so it cannot simply be run through. Whether the car sits in Oscroft or the heart of Hallowsgate, firing it up "to see" costs more in this case than nearly any other mistake, and the flush matters more. Why: it won't remain mixed, so watering it down is impossible; and deposits and corrosion survive the following fill.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue remains in it — wherever across Cheshire the car has stopped.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Hallowsgate
After dark, two caps side by side — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, now and then behind a single flap — may look the same. No one intends it; plenty of layouts invite it. Usually it is never the filling station: a driver buys a container heading home and tips it in at home.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Kelsall Primary and Nursery School the refill is hurried. After work, a container is tipped in on a drive close to Flat Lane. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap refills your car after dark, stopped in the car park outside Weetwood Shop and Tap Room.
Hired motors, new vehicles, company motors, or the spare car in a family with one of each: the least familiar cars see it the most. Keep it switched off: that is the first step to an identical slip, anywhere in Hallowsgate or the rest of Cheshire you are.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Hallowsgate?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in that tank. With any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and each injector, after passing through the fuel filter and pipework.
You may notice your motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Kelsall Park or halfway across Hallowsgate. Once you safely can, pull over and turn everything off — without turning it on again to see. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Hallowsgate lies under 10 miles from the M53; if you were on it, leave at the next junction and pull up safely rather than driving on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into the system. That is why a hop across Hallowsgate to park beside Kelsall Community Centre and a drive of under 10 miles for Chester are such distinct jobs. Let us know about how far it had come.
Wherever the car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out after the motor has been started. Noticed quickly, it very seldom leaves permanent damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Hallowsgate?
Our engineers come to your car, wherever it has stopped in Hallowsgate: a side street close to St Philip's, Kelsall, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. What went in, roughly how much, plus whether the engine has turned over: we ask before all else, because those decide the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave as one when your tank is emptied, on the spot. A full flush matters much more after AdBlue than after petrol, because residue won't wash away on its own. After that, your filter: flushed, or changed when it must be. After that clean diesel, then a test of your car. Most of these jobs are a half-hour job once our engineers arrive, provided the engine hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Last, the system is bled with clean diesel. Starting the engine comes next, and then you head off from where your car is parked, outside Mouldsworth or on a driveway in Hallowsgate. It's checked on new diesel to make sure it runs smoothly before we leave. The whole job is done where your car is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. At the end, you are given the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer.
About Hallowsgate, briefly
Hallowsgate is a locality in Cheshire, situated inland at an elevation of 68 metres, approximately 7.5 miles from Chester. Hallowsgate is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting the area's residential nature. Hallowsgate is close to nearby places such as Kelsall, Boothsdale, and Weetwood Common, and is home to around 1162 residents.
AdBlue drains across Hallowsgate and Cheshire
Kelsall, Boothsdale and Weetwood Common are among the places around Hallowsgate that the same vans reach, along with most of Cheshire beyond, over the CW postcode area. Ring and ask rather than guess if you are close to a county line, or anywhere tricky to explain.
A mobile service suits Hallowsgate, a small village: there's no need to bring the car to us, since our engineers drain it there, on a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Hallowsgate
Since each jobs vary, a single price wouldn't be honest. Whether your engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the price. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the location of the car, because an open driveway is easier for a technician to reach safely than a tight spot behind Iron Age Fort Kelsborrow Castle.
That is why each call from Hallowsgate starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and if it has run. Those replies shrink a range down to a single number.
Quoted on the call before the van sets out, it is settled on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van gets there.
Still next to your car in Hallowsgate?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to the car. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and if it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Hallowsgate or anywhere around Cheshire.