Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Howley
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, your ignition remains off and so does your engine. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Being water-based, it won't burn and won't blend with diesel; trouble only starts once the pump begins drawing it. In Howley, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before your engine runs usually comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where the car is. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, Howley: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Things to do:
- So no one can turn your ignition on, take your keys out.
- Close to moving traffic? So put your hazards on.
- Which product, and about how much amount? Hang on to the bottle or the receipt, and our technicians will know.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting WA1 2, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Do not:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to shift your car.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel won't weaken it.
- Even a short distance down Ellesmere Street is too far to drive the car.
- Draining that tank yourself beside the road is not worth trying.
Get the people behind the counter to help you move your car off the pumps if you are on a forecourt around Howley, whether it's the Sainsbury's or somewhere else. On your own driveway, don't move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not your engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sprayed into your exhaust, where it cleans the gas. Neither side suits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and an injection pump cannot deal with urea.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, once tipped in, will not. The behaviour is not at all like fuel's. Denser than diesel, it sinks and pools underneath it — the same place the intake draws from. Simplest of all: one that had AdBlue in Bruche overnight and hasn't turned since. The AdBlue waits at the base of the tank, untouched — but it would be first through once your engine starts, before any diesel at all.
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's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps labouring on the components it gets to for as long as it remains there. Lines holding AdBlue spell harm overnight for a car sitting around Howley. Just inside the tank, it stays stable. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and each injector as it flows; water gives none of that, and that is a separate kind of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is often worse than petrol
An issue of thinned fuel is what you get from filling a diesel with petrol from the Esso. No damage comes while it sits unused, blended into the diesel — only when your motor runs on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. Because it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it cannot be thinned. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Westy or the middle of Howley.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Anywhere around Cheshire the vehicle has come to rest, an unrun engine leaves the AdBlue yet inside the reservoir: the easiest part of any fuel system to empty.
Howley: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It is not on purpose. Many vehicles have the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel inlet, occasionally under a single flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. A bottle picked up while driving home and poured in at home, instead of at the filling station, is the typical story.
Mostly, it occurs in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside St Elphin's Church of England Primary Academy. After work, a bottle is tipped in on a drive near St Elphins Close. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap refills the car after dark, parked in the car park by Ring O' Bells.
It happens most in the cars people know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever you are in Howley or the rest of Cheshire, it is the same mistake and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Howley?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in the tank. Via the filter, through the pipework, and — with any running time — into the high-pressure pump and every injector: that is how far it travels.
Watch for rough running, exhaust smoke, lost power, lights on the dash, or a cut-out — returning from Saint Elphin's Park, say, or midway across Howley. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the car to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M62, under 3 miles from Howley, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
How far it went counts. A couple of hundred yards across Howley to the car park by Saint Elphin's Church is a very different job from a run towards Salford, under 15 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with every mile. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Our engineers do all of the rinsing where your car has stopped, and once the engine has been started there is more of it. Caught quickly, it very seldom leaves long-term damage.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Howley: what it takes
Wherever it has stopped around Howley — a forecourt, a layby, a drive, a street by The Mount — the van comes to your vehicle. What got in, roughly how much, plus if the engine has turned over: our technicians ask before all else, because those decide the job.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave together when your tank is emptied, right there. The system is rinsed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. A test of the car follows at the end, once clean diesel is added and your filter is cleaned or, where necessary, replaced. If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we arrive. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Bleeding the system with new diesel comes at the end. Whether it's a parking bay outside Warrington Central or a drive around Howley, that is where our engineers fire it up and you head off. It is tested on clean diesel to confirm it runs properly before our engineers head off. Since the job is done in full where the vehicle is, a workshop never comes into it. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Howley itself
Howley is a suburban area in Cheshire, situated on the riverside with an elevation of 11 metres. Howley is located near several nearby places, including Warrington, Latchford, and Wilderspool, and is approximately 13.4 miles from Salford. Howley has a population of around 5321 people and predominantly consists of flat housing. Howley is also relatively distant from London, at around 166.1 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Howley and Cheshire
Warrington, Latchford and Wilderspool are among the places near Howley that the same teams reach, along with most of Cheshire further out, over the WA postcode area. Ring and check instead of guessing if you're close to a county line, or anywhere awkward to pin down.
Anywhere the vehicle sits — your drive at home, a residential street, a parking area, a filling station — we drain it on the spot, with no need to bring it to us; which suits Howley, a residential suburb, well.
Howley: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
No flat figure could be fair, since each job is different. The cost shifts first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it rests on where your car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight spot behind M&S Outlet.
That's why every call from Howley starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and whether it's run. With those replies, the range shrinks to one firm figure.
The price is quoted during the call, before anyone leaves; settling up happens on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. While the van is travelling, check your insurance: many cover misfuelling.
Howley: still alongside the vehicle?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to your car. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and if it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Howley or anywhere around Cheshire.