What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Lydiate
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if your motor has been run since it was put in. Not run yet? Then leave it that way, wherever your vehicle sits — Lydiate or Downholland Cross. Call 0333 366 0103 with the ignition and motor both off. In Lydiate, such a case is typically emptied and cleaned where it stands. Stop the moment you safely can and switch off, if it has already run. A larger job, yes, yet the same opening move.
Further down: the cases we see, wherever in Merseyside. Pick yours.
On a Lydiate forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you only spot it while you're standing at the pump, bottle or the nozzle in hand. Be it Shell, Esso or anywhere else in Lydiate, the case is identical.
What it means: this is the ideal location to find out. Still inside that tank, and no fuel pulled through: that is where the AdBlue is.
Next: avoid the temptation to start it just to free up the pump. A few jobs: a shove into a space with the attendants assisting, the receipt saved, and a ring to us from where you stand. Our equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a live forecourt, so a vehicle that can't be pushed clear gets cleared right at the pump.
At home in Lydiate with AdBlue in your diesel tank
Several days had gone by with the dash light on. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look once more at the cap. Just off Southport Road is no less likely from any other place.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. At the bottom of your tank is where AdBlue waits, because it will not mix with diesel — and a night going by makes no difference.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so no one moves the car in the morning. Then ring. Our technicians drain the car on your driveway, whether that is around Lydiate or out in Maghull. Our pumping kit runs quiet enough that it won't wake the street at night.
On the road around Lydiate with AdBlue in a diesel
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the motor began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Maybe driving for Liverpool, under 10 miles away, or just along Pilling Lane.
In short: the AdBlue has been pulled through the fuel system. It has been through your filter and your lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and the injectors. It goes deeper with each extra mile driven and every restart.
Do this: stop somewhere sensible, then turn your engine off. Service stations farther along are too far: from the M58, under 3 miles out of Lydiate, use the next junction. No test restarts: clearing isn't something AdBlue will do. About how far had it gone? Say so as you call.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've had this car hardly a week. Your own motor either does without AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, so nothing told you the AdBlue inlet was just beside your diesel. Across Merseyside, no one is immune.
Put simply: one extra stage on top of the cases above, which turn on whether it has run. Many hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on your car.
Sorting it before the van arrives is faster, so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, and then us. If you are stuck in the car park outside Maghull North, or by Lydiate Parish Hall, while you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
Lydiate: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
At times, "I think so" is all anyone can honestly say. Too light, that bottle; a trace of ammonia near your filler; a hazy memory of the cap. Sound familiar? The gates of St Gregory's Catholic Primary School in a rush, say, or a friend's drive out in Lunt.
What it means: a little spilled around the filler does no damage to the motor. In your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue harms it. Any AdBlue in the tank would be drawn in by starting your car, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Don't fire it up. Phone with what you saw: we would rather find a clean tank than empty one after the engine has been run.
Lydiate: what every AdBlue drain has in common
The work begins identically, whatever the case. Our engineers come to the vehicle, whether it is on a forecourt, a drive, the car park outside The Running Horses or a side street close to Our Lady's Catholic Church, and ask three things: what went in, about how much, and whether your motor has been run. On the phone, before dispatch, you hear the quote, and those answers shape the work too.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system rinsed 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 does not rinse out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Firing it up comes at the end. Our check that it runs properly on clean diesel comes before our technicians leave. Our technicians do the whole job where the vehicle is, and permanent damage is very uncommon when it has been caught soon. Nothing is taken upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you get what the insurer wants: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies cover misfuelling, so check yours as we head over.
About Lydiate and where it is
Lydiate is a village in Merseyside, situated on the banks of the River Alt, with a low elevation of around 22 metres. Lydiate lies approximately 8 miles north of Liverpool, within the North West region of England. Lydiate is characterised by its semi-detached housing and is close to nearby places such as Maghull and Aughton. Lydiate has a population of around 2063 residents.
Lydiate and Merseyside: AdBlue drains across the area
Over L postcodes, the teams serving Lydiate — a village — reach nearby towns as well, Aughton and Holt Green included. A postcode starting L31 4 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to Lydiate Parish Hall Park or in a car park in the middle of Lydiate, it does not need to shift. Where it sits, that is where it gets emptied. Assuming won't help near St James, on a county line or somewhere awkward to describe; phone and check.
Your situation, summed up
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off then ring. Whatever line fits, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, throughout Merseyside and in Lydiate — after you pull over, turn off then ring, if it has run.