Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Longton
Motor off, ignition off: that's where you begin if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and nothing happens until your engine sucks it round. If your motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally drained and carefully flushed where the vehicle sits around Longton. No step comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Longton, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do straight away
Things to do:
- So nobody can switch the ignition on, pull the keys away.
- Put the hazards on if you are anywhere close to moving traffic.
- Keep your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what was put in and about how much.
- Give us a postcode starting ST3 2, or whichever street is nearest, and our van reaches you straight — so call wherever you stand.
Do not do these:
- Shifting your vehicle even a few yards is no reason to start your engine.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Adding extra diesel doesn't help: AdBlue separates out instead of thinning.
- Keep it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short stretch down Heathcote Road.
- Beside the road, don't attempt emptying it yourself.
The staff on duty at any Longton filling station — the Tesco Longton Extra PFS among them — will normally lend a hand pushing it clear if you ask. Parked on your own driveway? Then it remains exactly as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. From a separate reservoir it goes directly to the exhaust, treating what your engine lets out. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Tipped in with your diesel, it stays apart rather than blending — quite different from fuel. It sinks, because it is denser than diesel, and settles low where the intake draws its supply from. When the system runs, the AdBlue is first to be pulled through. Until then it sits beneath the diesel, and that is how a car topped up in Florence last night and not started stays the straightforward case, as long as nobody turns the key.
From there it causes two kinds of harm. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that crystallises in filters and narrow channels; and, since it attacks certain metals, every part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it stays inside. Where the AdBlue is in the lines, waiting till morning around Longton makes things worse. Inside that tank only, waiting does nothing. The water in it causes damage of its own: the high-pressure pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is commonly more major than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on another forecourt nearby's forecourt leaves your fuel thin — that's the main fault. Damage only comes from driving on it. Mixed into the diesel and left inside the tank, it causes none.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It doesn't burn, so it can't just be run through. It does not stay mixed, and so it cannot be diluted. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the car is in Blurton or the middle of Longton.
As with petrol, there's good news. Clearing a tank is the easiest part on a fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever around Staffordshire the car has stopped.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Longton?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many motors sits right next to your diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A bottle bought while driving home and tipped in outside the house, instead of at the filling station, is the typical story.
A few familiar ways cover the majority of them. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside St Gregory's Catholic Academy the top-up is rushed. Close to Hurst Street, a driver pours a container in at home after work. Else, in dim light outside George & Dragon, the car is refilled by a driver opening that flap the first time.
The least known vehicles get it most — rentals, new ones, company ones, and the other car in a home with both fuels. An identical mistake, an identical first step — leave it off — wherever you happen to be in Longton or the rest of Staffordshire.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Longton, and your engine started?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in the tank. Your filter and lines have had it sucked along, and some running time carries it on to the injection pump and every injector.
Watch for lumpy running, exhaust smoke, lost power, lights on your dash, or a cut-out — coming back from Cockster Brook Community Park, perhaps, or part way across Longton. No restarting to test: stop once it is safe, then turn it off. Every start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M6, under 5 miles from Longton, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Longton to the car park by Salvation Army is a very different job from a run towards Stoke-on-Trent, under 3 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with each mile. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
There is more to rinse out once the motor has been run, and our technicians do all of it where the car has stopped. If it's spotted early, long-term damage is very unusual.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Longton?
The vehicle remains put, whether that is a street near St Gregory, a driveway, a layby or a filling station in Longton, and the van comes to it. Three replies shape the work, and so first our engineers ask which fluid was put in, roughly what quantity, and if the engine has turned over.
Next, emptying your tank right there takes out the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue together. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing counts: the fuel system is flushed right through since what remains will not flush away by itself. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Not run? Then expect roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live filling station is no problem, and it's quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
The final step is to prime your system on clean diesel. Then we start the car and you set off, whether from a parking space at the nearest station or a drive in Longton. It is checked on fresh diesel to confirm it runs smoothly before our engineers leave. Because the job is done in its entirety where the car is, a garage never comes into it. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers ask for.
About Longton and where it is
Longton is a suburban area in Staffordshire, situated on the River Trent and near the city of Stoke-on-Trent. Longton sits at an elevation of 148 metres, with its terraced housing stock reflecting its historical development as a residential area. Longton is located near other suburban areas, including Dresden and Sandford Hill, and is about 2.8 miles from Stoke-on-Trent. Longton has a population of approximately 3508 people.
AdBlue drains in Longton and across Staffordshire
Throughout the ST postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue call-outs around Longton serve most of Staffordshire too, Dresden, Sandford Hill and Hollybush included. Guessing won't help close to a border or anywhere tricky to describe; phone and check.
A van that comes to you suits Longton, a residential suburb: there's no need to bring the car to us, because we drain it on the spot, on a driveway, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Longton: the cost of fixing it
There's no fair single price, because the jobs aren't the same. Whether your engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what changes the price. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the position of the vehicle, since an open driveway is simpler for our van to get to safely than a tight spot behind Methodist Central Hall.
What was put in, what quantity, plus if it ran: every Longton enquiry opens with precisely that, ahead of a figure, not after. 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, nothing in advance. While the van is travelling, check your insurance: plenty include misfuelling.
Still beside the vehicle in Longton?
In that case, do nothing — that is the most helpful step available. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if the engine ran is all our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder throughout Staffordshire, Longton too.