What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Howick Cross
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if your motor has been run since it got in. Over in Higher Penwortham or right around Howick Cross, an unstarted motor should remain that way. Call 0333 366 0103 with the key and motor both off. Across Howick Cross, such a case is generally drained and cleaned where it stands. Already run? Pull over when you safely can, then switch it off. It is a larger job, though step one doesn't change.
Below: the situations our technicians meet, wherever around Lancashire. Choose yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Howick Cross forecourt
You are at the petrol pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. It might be the Gulf, or the another forecourt nearby, or a different station around Howick Cross.
Put simply: no better place exists to spot it. Still in the tank, and no fuel pulled onwards: that's where the AdBlue sits.
What to do: don't get back in and fire it up to clear the petrol pump. Ring us from the forecourt once the vehicle sits in a space — the staff will lend a hand to roll it — and keep the receipt. Stuck beside the petrol pump? Explosion-proof kit makes a live forecourt safe, and so we can drain the car in place.
Howick Cross, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
On your dash, a warning had shown all week. Picked up a bottle, poured it in at home, recycled the empty — and at that point looked at the cap again, after the fact. Drives close to John Horrocks Way see it as much as anywhere.
The point: zero miles since makes it almost as good to finding it at the petrol pump. At the bottom of the tank sits exactly where AdBlue waits, since it won't mix with diesel — and a night passing makes no difference.
Next: stop an early-morning drive by keeping your keys in the house, then phone us. Out in Hutton or right here in Howick Cross, the drain happens at your drive. Our pumping kit works quietly enough not to disturb the street at night.
Howick Cross: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your engine began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Anywhere along Howick Park Drive or else heading towards Preston — under 3 miles away.
The upshot: the system has drawn AdBlue through already. Past your filter, through the lines, and — the further the distance — deeper into the high-pressure pump and every injector. Every restart, like every mile, carries it on.
Next: pick a sensible place, stop, and switch the engine off. Leave by the first junction — not the services beyond — if you're on the M65, under 5 miles from Howick Cross. Don't restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Roughly how far had it gone? Say so when you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company vehicles
You've had this vehicle barely a week. Your own car either has no AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere, so nothing told you the AdBlue inlet sits just next to the diesel. Across Lancashire, no one is safe from it.
Put simply: an extra stage on top of the cases above, which depend on if it has run. Any work on the car frequently needs the owner's go-ahead under hire or company terms.
Settling it before we arrives is faster, and so ring the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. If you are stuck in the car park at Preston, or by Penwortham United Reformed Church, while you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
Howick Cross: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Now and then, "I think so" is the most you can honestly say. A faint ammonia-like smell hangs near your filler, the bottle seems too light, and the cap you took off is a blur. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Howick Church Endowed Primary School, or on a friend's drive in White Stake.
Meaning? Drips around the filler don't touch your motor at all. Inside the diesel tank, however, AdBlue damages it. You can't tell which by turning the key, and doing so will suck in any AdBlue that is in the tank.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Do not crank it. Call us and explain what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
What every AdBlue drain around Howick Cross has in common
No matter the case, one start applies. Forecourt, driveway, Sir Tom Finney's car park or a street beside New Longton Methodist Church — the van reaches the vehicle, and three questions come next: which fluid, which quantity, and whether it ran. On the phone, before anything else, you hear our price, and those answers decide the job too.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system purged thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel goes in after the fuel filter is cleaned or replaced, and the car is finally tested. If the engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
Firing it up comes at the end. Our technicians make sure it runs properly on new diesel before we leave. The entire job is done where your car is, and when it's noticed soon, long-term damage is very uncommon. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Check your insurance before we're en route: cover for misfuelling comes built into many policies.
About Howick Cross
Howick Cross is a locality situated on the riverside in Lancashire, with an elevation of 23 metres above sea level. Howick Cross is located near the city of Preston, approximately 2.5 miles away, and is close to nearby places such as Hutton, Penwortham, and New Longton. Howick Cross has a population of around 584 people and predominantly consists of semi-detached housing.
AdBlue drains round Howick Cross and across Lancashire
Over PR postcodes, the teams covering Howick Cross — a neighbourhood — work nearby towns as well, Penwortham and New Longton among them. The location comes quickest from a postcode that starts PR1 0.
Centre of Howick Cross or a lay-by near Tarn Wood: wherever it sits, your vehicle doesn't need to move an inch for us. Our engineers drain it where it is. Ring and ask rather than guess when you're close to Penwortham Farmers Market, on a boundary, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
Your scenario, summed up
If it hasn't run, phone and keep it off. Started already? Stop, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder whichever case, in Howick Cross and Lancashire, on 0333 366 0103.