AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Harper Green, and What to Do Next
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether your motor has been run since it got in. Wherever your car stands — Highfield, Harper Green — never run a motor that hasn't been started yet. Leave the engine and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103; it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Harper Green. When the motor has been run, stop somewhere safe first, then turn the car off. It is a bigger job, though stage one does not change.
Below: the cases our engineers see, wherever around Greater Manchester. Choose yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Harper Green forecourt
Picture it: standing by the petrol pump, holding the bottle, you spot the filler you opened was not the correct one. Somewhere in Harper Green, then — Gulf, EG On the Move, or anywhere else close by.
What it means: this is the ideal location to find out. Just the tank holds AdBlue; not one component beyond it has taken any in.
What to do: don't get back in and start it to clear the petrol pump. Three jobs: a push into a space with the staff helping, the bottle kept, and a ring to us from where you stand. If it cannot be shifted, it can be cleared at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a working forecourt.
At home around Harper Green with AdBlue in your diesel tank
For days the dash had been nagging you. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look again at the cap. Right off Begonia Avenue is no different from anywhere.
Meaning? Provided the car hasn't moved since, it is close to the pump case. Diesel and AdBlue keep separate: the AdBlue drops to the floor of that tank and remains put, no matter how long the night.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves the vehicle in the morning. Then call. Your drive is where it is drained, be it around Harper Green or Great Lever. Even at night, our pumps are quiet enough for a residential street.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel around Harper Green?
A mile or two after filling up, your engine started misbehaving: roughness, smoke, lost power, warnings on your dash. Doe Hey Grove, perhaps, or the way towards Salford — a run of under 10 miles.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been sucked through the system. Distance decides how deep it gets: filter and pipework first, then the high-pressure pump and every injector. It travels further with each extra mile covered and every restart.
What to do: pull over where it's safe then switch off. Service stations further on can wait: on the M61, under a mile out of Harper Green, take the first junction. Do not restart the vehicle to see if it has cleared; it will not have. About what distance had it gone? Say so as you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
It's a car you have had for a week. Unbeknown to you, the two inlets are next to each other here — not like your own car, which has none or stores it elsewhere. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Greater Manchester.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it's run, with one more step. The owner frequently needs to sign off the work, under plenty of rental and fleet agreements.
Do this: rental firm or fleet manager to begin with, us second, because sorting it early saves time. Hanging on for an answer at the car park at Moses Gate, or near Bolton Cricket Club? Keep the car off meanwhile.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Harper Green?
Honestly, the best answer might be that you think it did. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia around the filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. A rushed stop by the gates of The Ferns Primary Academy, or a visit to a friend in Burnden: both fits.
In short: a spill near the filler leaves your engine unharmed. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. If there is AdBlue in that tank, firing up the car will draw it in, and it would not tell you which either.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Do not fire it up. Phone with the details: we'd sooner confirm a tank free of AdBlue than drain one after the engine has run.
Harper Green: what each AdBlue drain has in common
The work begins the same way, whatever the situation. Our technicians come to the vehicle, whether it's on a forecourt, a driveway, the car park outside Kings Arms Hotel or a side street close to St George with St James, and ask three things: what got in, roughly how much, and if the motor has been run. On the phone, before anything else, you hear our quote, and those answers decide the job too.
Draining the tank comes first, then a careful flush — more important after urea than after petrol, because crystals and corrosion will not clear on their own, however long it sits. Last are the filter, flushed or replaced if necessary; fresh diesel; and a check of your car. Where your motor hasn't run, expect about half an hour once we arrive, in most jobs.
Finally, we fire it up. Before we leave, it is tested to be sure it runs correctly on new diesel. Our engineers do the entire job where your car is, and long-term damage is very uncommon when it has been caught quickly. Paying is on the day, never in advance. For the insurer, there is a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer. Dig out your insurance before we arrive: cover for misfuelling comes built into many policies.
About Harper Green itself
Harper Green is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated near several lakes and waterways at an elevation of around 105 metres. Harper Green lies approximately 7 miles from Salford and is surrounded by other local neighbourhoods such as Great Lever and Dixon Green. Harper Green has a population of around 9540 people and is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock.
AdBlue drains about Harper Green and across Greater Manchester
Harper Green is a residential suburb, and the same vans that cover it work the towns around it too, Dixon Green and Moses Gate among them, across the BL postcode area. Telling us your BL4 0 postcode pins you fastest of all.
No towing is required, whether stopped centrally in Harper Green or in a lay-by en route to Doe Hay Playing Field, so leave it put. Our engineers drain the vehicle where it sits. Awkward to explain? Close to Our Lady of Lourdes & St. Gregory's Parish or a border? Checking beats assuming, and so ring.
In one line: your scenario
Engine never started: ring, and leave it switched off. Run by now? Stop, switch off, phone. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder whatever it is, across Harper Green and Greater Manchester, on 0333 366 0103.