Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Martland Mill
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Urea mixed in water is all AdBlue is. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when your fuel system pulls it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Martland Mill, is generally all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before your motor has been run. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
What to do straight away, Martland Mill: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Things to do:
- So nobody can turn the ignition on, take the keys out.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what went in and about how much.
- Call right where you are. Say a WN5 0 postcode or the nearest street name, and no one has to search for you.
Things not to do:
- Shifting the car even a few yards is no reason to fire up your engine.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Even a short distance up Martland Mill Lane is too far to drive the vehicle.
- Don't try to drain it yourself by the kerbside.
At a forecourt around Martland Mill, whether it's the BP or another one, ask the attendants to help you push your car clear of the petrol pump. At your own driveway, don't move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Meant for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is fed into the exhaust, where it cleans the gas. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, once tipped in, will not. The behaviour is nothing like diesel's. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. Easiest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Marsh Green last night and hasn't turned since. The AdBlue sits at the base of the tank, untouched — though it will be first through if the engine runs, before any diesel at all.
It causes two kinds of harm from there. It eats at some metals used in fuel components, working on any part it reaches till it's cleared completely. And when the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that block filters and settle in narrow channels. Where the AdBlue is in the lines, leaving it till morning in Martland Mill leaves it worse. Inside your tank only, waiting does nothing. The water in it causes harm of its own: your high-pressure pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is frequently worse than petrol
A fault of thinned fuel is what you get after filling a diesel with petrol at the Esso. Mixed through your diesel and sitting still, it's harmless for now; using your engine is the damage.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is plainly the wrong one. It can't just be run through, because it does not burn. Nor can it be thinned, since it splits back out — and the next fill won't clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters more here, and turning your key "to see", in the centre of Martland Mill or out in Springfield, does more harm than almost any other mistake.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Wherever across Greater Manchester your car has come to rest, an unstarted engine leaves the AdBlue still inside the tank: the easiest part of any fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Martland Mill?
It is not on purpose. Many vehicles keep the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, occasionally under a single flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. A bottle bought while heading home and tipped in outside the house, instead of at the filling station, is the typical story.
Mostly, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Standish Lower Ground St Anne's CofE Primary School the top-up is rushed. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Scot Lane. Or your car is topped up in the car park outside Crooke Hall Inn, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
Hired motors, brand-new motors, fleet vehicles, or the spare vehicle in a home with one of each: the least known vehicles see it the most. An identical mistake, an identical first response — keep it switched off — anywhere you happen to be around Martland Mill or the remainder of Greater Manchester.
Martland Mill: started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer in the tank. Through your filter, along the lines, and — with any running time — on to the high-pressure pump and every injector: that's how far it has gone.
Perhaps returning from Coronation Park, or part way across Martland Mill, your engine may run lumpy, smoke, lose power, light up your dash or cut out. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart it to check. Every start pulls more of that through.
On the M6, under 3 miles from Martland Mill, the next junction is where to leave, and somewhere safe is where to stop — not driving on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Martland Mill to the car park by Marsh Green Branch Library is a very different job from a run towards Preston, under 15 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with every mile. Let us know about how far it had come.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out once the motor has been started. Lasting damage is very unusual when it's caught soon.
What clearing AdBlue from a diesel involves around Martland Mill
Wherever it has stopped in Martland Mill — a filling station, a layby, a drive, a road beside St Barnabas — the van travels to the vehicle. Three replies decide the job, and so first our engineers ask what was put in, roughly what quantity, and if the motor has run.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one when that tank is drained, right there. What remains from AdBlue won't flush away by itself, so the whole system gets a careful flush, which matters much more with urea than for petrol. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Not run? In that case count on about half an hour on site for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Finally, the system is primed with new diesel. You drive off as soon as we have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a drive in Martland Mill or in a space by Gathurst. It's checked on clean diesel to confirm it runs smoothly before we go. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, so it never needs to be taken to a garage. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Martland Mill itself
Martland Mill is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated on the riverside at a relatively low elevation of 28 metres. Martland Mill lies near several other local places, including Standish Lower Ground, Beech Hill, and Crooke, and is located approximately 14 miles from Preston. Martland Mill has a population of around 3514 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing.
AdBlue drains across Martland Mill and Greater Manchester
The vans that answer AdBlue call-outs around Martland Mill also cover the places around it, Standish Lower Ground, Beech Hill and Crooke among them, and most of Greater Manchester beyond, across the WN postcode area. Ring and check instead of guessing when you are close to a border, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
A van that comes to you suits Martland Mill, a residential suburb: there's no need to bring your car to us, because we empty it there, on a drive, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Martland Mill
Not one single price could be fair, since each job is different. What shifts the cost is, first of all, whether your engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and then where your car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight spot behind Wigan Athletic Community Trust.
With that reason, each enquiry from Martland Mill begins by asking the same trio — which fluid was put in, how much, if the engine ran — before any figure. Their replies shrink a range down to a single figure.
Quoted by phone before the van sets out, the job is settled that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. As our engineer is on the way, dig out your insurance: plenty include misfuelling.
Still next to the car around Martland Mill?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, across Martland Mill or wherever in Greater Manchester.