What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Lane Ends
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if your engine has been run since it was put in. Anywhere your car stands — Compstall, Lane Ends — never start a motor that hasn't been started yet. Switch nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, then count on a thorough flush plus a drain, done right where the vehicle stands in Lane Ends. Stop the moment it is safe and switch off, if it has been run. Step one stays unchanged, even though the work grows.
Anywhere across Greater Manchester it happened, one of the cases below matches yours.
On a Lane Ends forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Imagine it: standing by the petrol pump, gripping the nozzle, you spot the cap you took off was not the correct one. Maybe you are at the Shell, possibly at the Texaco, maybe somewhere else in Lane Ends.
Meaning? Spotting it on the forecourt is the best it gets. No pump has drawn it in, and so the AdBlue sits just inside the tank.
Do this: stay out of the driver's seat, even if the pump wants freeing. Ask the staff to help you roll the car into a parking space, keep your receipt or the bottle, then phone us from the forecourt. If it can't be moved, it can be cleared at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a working forecourt.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Lane Ends
Days had gone by with the warning light on. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look again at the cap. It takes place on drives just off Cote Green Road as frequently as anywhere.
Meaning? Provided your car hasn't been driven since, it is second to the forecourt case. On the floor of your tank sits where AdBlue stays, since it won't blend with diesel — and a night going by makes nothing of the difference.
Next: prevent any early drive by putting your keys indoors, then ring us. Out in Cote Green or right here around Lane Ends, the drain happens at your drive. Even at night, our pumps are quiet enough for a driveway.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel in Lane Ends?
Rough running, smoke, lost power or a lit dashboard started a short way beyond the fill. Anywhere along Ley Lane or heading towards Manchester — under 10 miles away.
In short: the AdBlue has been pulled into the fuel system. The high-pressure pump and each injector see it too on a longer run, once the filter and lines have had it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
What to do: pull over where it's safe and switch off. Lane Ends lies under 5 miles from the M67; on it, pull off at the next junction instead of pushing on to the services. Don't restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Let us hear the mileage covered when you ring.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company cars
A week ago, it was unknown to you. On your own car, AdBlue is absent or somewhere else. On this one, its cap is right next to your diesel inlet — a surprise to you. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Greater Manchester.
Meaning? Whatever applies above applies too — run or unrun — and one extra step. The owner frequently has to approve the work, under plenty of rental and company agreements.
Your move: rental firm or fleet manager first, us second, because settling it early saves time. If you're stranded in the car park at Marple, or by Farmer Johns MTB Park, while you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Lane Ends?
"I think so" is often as honest as it gets. Which cap came off, you cannot recall; but the bottle weighs lighter than expected, and a whiff of ammonia lingers by your filler. Maybe it happened in a hurry at the school gates at St Mary's Catholic Voluntary Academy, or on a friend's drive in Marple Bridge.
The upshot: the motor is not hurt by some AdBlue splashed around the outside. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. If there is AdBlue in your tank, starting your car would suck it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
Next: act as though it went in, and keep the engine off. Phone and give what you saw: we'd sooner find a tank free of AdBlue than drain one once your motor has run.
The common ground in each Lane Ends AdBlue drain
Whichever situation you are in, this job starts the same way. Our technicians come to the car, whether it is at a forecourt, a drive, the car park at Northumberland Arms or a side street close to Compstall Cricket Club, and ask three things: what got in, roughly how much, and if the motor has run. Over the phone, before anything else, you are told our quote, and those replies decide the job too.
Draining the tank comes first, followed by a careful flush — more vital with urea than after petrol, because crystals and corrosion will not clear by themselves, no matter how long it sits. Last are the filter, flushed or renewed as needed; fresh diesel; and a check of the car. If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
We fire it up last. Our check that it runs properly on new diesel comes before our engineers leave. The entire job is done where the car is, and if it's spotted early, long-term damage is very unusual. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Dig out your insurance before we're en route: misfuelling cover is built into plenty of policies.
About Lane Ends and where it is
Lane Ends is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated near the River Mersey and characterised by its detached housing stock. Lane Ends sits at an elevation of 172 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside and located approximately 9.6 miles from Manchester. Lane Ends is part of a network of suburban areas, including nearby Cote Green and Mill Brow, that have developed along the riverside in this part of Greater Manchester.
AdBlue drains around Lane Ends, and across Greater Manchester too
As a residential suburb, Lane Ends has the same vans as the surrounding places — Hollywood End, Mill Brow — right through SK postcodes. Quickest of all: a SK6 5 postcode to show where you stand.
Central Lane Ends or a layby near Etherow Country Park: either way it is, the vehicle never needs to move an inch for us. Wherever it sits, that is where it is emptied. If you are somewhere hard to explain, near Ludworth & Mellor Women's Institute or close to a boundary, ring and ask rather than guessing.
In one line: your scenario
Not run yet: keep the car off and ring. Whatever case fits, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, throughout Greater Manchester and in Lane Ends — once you stop, turn off then phone, if it's run.