AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Moorside, and What to Do Next
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. Not run yet? Then keep the vehicle like that, wherever the car is — Moorside or Farringdon. Usually this is emptying and properly purging it right there around Moorside — so keep your key and motor off and ring 0333 366 0103. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. A bigger job, yes, but the same opening move.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever in Tyne and Wear it happened.
On a Moorside forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
You are at the petrol pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Somewhere around Moorside, then — Morrisons, Esso, or anywhere else nearby.
The point: of every spot to notice, this is the best. The AdBlue is inside the tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
Do this: keep out of the car, even if the queue wants clearing. Ring us from the forecourt after the vehicle sits in a bay — the staff will help push it — then save the bottle. The equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a live forecourt, so a car that can't be pushed clear gets cleared where it is at the petrol pump.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Moorside
Several days had gone by with the dash 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 once more at the cap. It occurs on driveways just off Marcross Drive as often as anywhere.
The point: zero miles since makes it almost as good to finding it at the petrol pump. As it is unable to mix, AdBlue settles low inside that tank and waits. A night parked changes nothing.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves the vehicle in the morning. Then ring. Out in Silksworth or right here in Moorside, the draining is done on your driveway. Late-night empties beside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise.
On the road in Moorside with AdBlue in a diesel
A short way after topping up, your motor started misbehaving: roughness, smoke, less power, lights on the dash. It might have been heading for Sunderland, under 5 miles away, or simply down Doxford Park Way.
Meaning? Your pump has sucked the AdBlue up. Past the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — the more the distance — on into the injection pump and each injector. Every restart, like every mile, pushes it deeper.
What to do: pull over where it is safe to do so then switch off. Services farther along can wait: on the A1(M), under 5 miles out of Moorside, take the first junction. Starting it again to check achieves nothing — AdBlue never clears on its own. About what distance did it gone? Say so as you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've only had the vehicle a week. Unbeknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel inlets sit side by side here — unlike your own vehicle, which has no AdBlue or stores it in another spot. Anyone, wherever across Tyne and Wear, could do it.
In short: one extra stage on top of the cases above, and those turn on if it's run. The owner often has to sign off the work, under plenty of rental and company agreements.
Sorting it before we turn up is quicker, so ring the rental company or your fleet manager, then us. If you are stuck in the car park outside Sunderland, or by David Lloyd Fitness Sunderland, while you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, around Moorside
Honestly, the best answer might be that you think so. A faint ammonia-like smell lingers near your filler, the bottle feels too light, and which cap came off is hard to recall. The gates of Benedict Biscop Church of England Academy in a rush, perhaps, or a friend's driveway over in East Herrington.
The point: your engine is not hurt by some AdBlue spilled on the filler. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Turning on your car will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in that tank it would suck it in.
Do this: act as though it did, and don't start your engine. Phone with the details: we'd rather find a tank free of AdBlue than empty one once your motor has run.
What every AdBlue drain in Moorside has in common
Every case has the same start to the work. Our technicians come to the vehicle, whether it's at a forecourt, a drive, the car park at The Colonel Prior or a side street close to Sir Thomas Allen Centre, and ask three things: what went in, roughly how much, and if your motor has been run. The price is given on the call, before a van leaves, and the replies set the work.
Then the tank is drained and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't 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. Most unstarted cars are a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive.
The last step is starting it. Before we go, it's tested to be sure it runs properly on new diesel. If it is caught early, the car very rarely has permanent damage, and the whole job takes place where it is. Nothing is paid upfront, payment happens on the day, and you receive what your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies cover misfuelling, and so check yours as we head over.
About Moorside, briefly
Moorside is a suburban area located inland in Tyne and Wear, sitting at an elevation of 96 metres near the city of Sunderland. Moorside is situated approximately 3 miles from Sunderland and is close to nearby places such as Silksworth and Doxford Park. Moorside has a population of around 3147 people and predominantly consists of semi-detached housing. Moorside is part of the wider Sunderland urban area, with London being around 238 miles to the south.
AdBlue drains around Moorside and across Tyne and Wear
Over SR postcodes, the teams serving Moorside — a residential suburb — work nearby towns too, Doxford Park and Sourmilk Hill included. Fastest of all: a SR3 2 postcode to show where you stand.
Central Moorside or a layby towards Blakeney Woods: either way it sits, your car never needs to move at all for the drain. We drain it where it is. Phone and check rather than guess when you're close to Lakeside Baptist Church, near a boundary, or anywhere awkward to explain.
In one line: your situation
Engine not started: phone, leaving it switched off. Run by now: stop, switch down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, within Moorside or wherever in Tyne and Wear.