Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in High Cross
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and nothing happens till the motor sucks it round. Caught before your motor has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in High Cross. First, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around High Cross: the first few minutes
Do these:
- Keys out — that way nobody can switch anything on.
- If you're at all near moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and roughly how much, keep your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting FY6 8, or the name of the closest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- No starting your motor — not for a second, not to shift your vehicle.
- Your ignition remains off: on lots of diesels, turning it on is enough to start the fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel will not weaken it.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short distance down Highcross Road.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself by the kerbside.
Rolling your car away from the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever High Cross forecourt you are on, the Gulf included. At home, the car remains exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not your motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it's fed into the exhaust, where it treats the gas. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
Tipped in with your diesel, it keeps separate rather than mixing — quite unlike fuel. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Normoss last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
From there it does two kinds of harm. It eats at certain metals found in fuel components, attacking whatever it touches until it's cleared from the system. And when the water goes, the urea forms crystals that block filters and settle in narrow channels. Overnight, a vehicle sitting around High Cross with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; if it's just inside that tank, it doesn't. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and each injector as it passes; water gives none of that, which is a second kind of damage.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is often worse
An issue of thin fuel is what you get from fuelling a diesel with petrol from the Texaco. It mixes with your diesel, and while it is inside your tank it does no harm; the damage comes from running your engine on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong liquid. It doesn't burn, and so it can't simply be run through. Nor can it be watered down, because it separates again — and the next fill will not clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters for more here, and trying your engine "to see", in the centre of High Cross or out in Staining, costs more than nearly any other mistake.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Wherever in Lancashire your vehicle has come to rest, an unstarted motor leaves the AdBlue yet inside the tank: the easiest bit of any fuel system to empty.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in High Cross: how it ends up there
Many cars put the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel one, occasionally behind a single flap, and in dim light the two may appear the same. Nobody intends it. It usually occurs outside the house, from a container grabbed on the journey home, not at the filling station.
It tends to happen in a few familiar ways. The top-up gets hurried outside Poulton-le-Fylde Carr Head Primary School, after the dash lit up with a warning while the children were taken off. After work, a bottle is tipped in on a drive close to Marina Avenue. Otherwise, in dim light by Miller & Carter Steakhouse, your vehicle is refilled by a driver using that flap the first time.
The least familiar cars see it the most — rentals, new cars, company cars, and the other vehicle of a home with both fuel types. Anywhere across Lancashire, High Cross included, the slip does not change, and neither does the first response: leave it off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around High Cross?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Given any running, it goes on to the injection pump and every injector, after passing through the fuel filter and pipework.
Lumpy running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard warnings or stalling: any may appear, maybe midway across High Cross or coming back from Puddle House Wood. Stop when it is safe. Turn off. Keep the vehicle off rather than restarting it to check. Every start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the M55, under 3 miles from High Cross, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
Hopping across High Cross to the car park by Horsebridge Community Centre is one thing; heading for Preston, under 15 miles away, is something else, since every mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So distance counts. Tell us about how far it had come.
There's more to flush once the engine has been run, and our technicians do all of it where the vehicle has come to a stop. Caught quickly, it very rarely leaves permanent damage.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves in High Cross
The vehicle stays put, whether that's a street near Church of St Luke, a drive, a layby or a filling station around High Cross, and the van travels to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and if the engine has been run, because those answers decide this work.
Then that tank is emptied where your car sits, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A careful flush matters much more with AdBlue than after petrol, because residue will not clear out by itself. Clean diesel goes in after the filter is cleaned — or replaced, if it needs to be — and after that the vehicle is tested. Not run? In that case expect about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Bleeding your system with fresh diesel comes at the end. Whether it is a parking space at Poulton-Le-Fylde or a drive in High Cross, that is where our engineers fire it up and you drive off. Before leaving, we make sure it is running smoothly with fresh diesel in. Because the job is done in full where your car is, a garage never comes into it. Your insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About High Cross and where it is
High Cross is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated near the coast at an elevation of around 25 metres. High Cross lies approximately 13 miles west of Preston and is close to nearby places such as Hardhorn and Newton. High Cross has a population of around 2461 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing.
AdBlue drains across Lancashire, High Cross included
Over the FY postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue jobs in High Cross reach most of Lancashire too, Hardhorn, Hardhorn Village and Newton among them. Phone and ask instead of guessing when you're by a county line, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
High Cross is a residential suburb, and a call-out drain suits it: whether your car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it is, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in High Cross
Since the callouts vary, a flat price wouldn't be honest. The price moves first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it rests on where the car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind @thegrange.
That is why each call from High Cross starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and whether it's run. Those answers turn a range into a straight quote.
Quoted by phone before the van sets out, it is settled that day — card or phone, no deposit. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
High Cross: still beside your car?
In that case, do nothing — that's the best step there is. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if it ran are all our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest throughout Lancashire, High Cross included.