Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Northwich
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, keep the engine off then keep your ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. Being water-based, it will not burn and never combines with diesel; damage just starts once your pump begins drawing it. In Northwich, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before your motor runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush, right where the vehicle is. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Northwich, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do at once
To do:
- So no one can turn the ignition on, take your keys away.
- Near moving traffic? Then put the hazard lights on.
- The empty bottle or the receipt tells us the product and the amount, and so don't throw it away.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting CW9 5, or the name of the nearest street, gets the van to you without a search.
Don't:
- No starting the motor — not for a second, not to reposition the car.
- Many diesels power their pump the instant the ignition comes on, and so leave the vehicle off.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue will not blend, and so it's wasted.
- Keep it where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way down Chester Way.
- By the road, do not attempt emptying it yourself.
The staff on duty at any Northwich forecourt — the Asda among them — will normally lend a hand rolling it clear if you ask. At home, the car remains exactly where it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your engine. Stored in a separate tank, it's injected into the exhaust to treat the gases. No part inside a fuel pump is made for this fluid — and no part of that was intended to go that way.
Poured in with the diesel, it stays separate instead of mixing — entirely unlike fuel. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. A vehicle filled on a driveway in Marston overnight and left unstarted counts as the straightforward case. Nothing has sucked the AdBlue up yet — though once your motor turns, that's what goes first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
Two kinds of damage come from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps labouring on the parts it hits for as long as it stays there. Pipes holding AdBlue mean damage by morning for a vehicle parked in Northwich. Only inside that tank, it stays stable. The water in it does damage of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is often worse than petrol
A problem of thin fuel is what you end up with from filling a diesel with petrol at the Sainsbury's. Blended through the diesel and sitting still, it is no threat at that stage; using the engine does the damage.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid as such is plainly the wrong one. It cannot just be run through, because it does not burn. Whether your car is in Greenbank or the centre of Northwich, firing it up "to see" does more harm in this case than nearly any other slip, and the flush counts for more. The reasons: it won't stay blended, and so diluting it is impossible; and deposits and corrosion outlast the following tankful.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Never started? Then the AdBlue sits just in that tank, the easiest section of the whole system to clear, anywhere the car has stopped in Cheshire.
Northwich: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of vehicles rests right next to your diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Usually it's never the forecourt: a driver buys a bottle driving home and pours it in outside the house.
Mostly, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. Hurrying, outside Witton Church Walk CofE Aided Nursery and Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, someone tops up the car. Near Brockhurst Street, someone pours a bottle in at home in the evening. Otherwise, in dim light outside The Swinging Witch, your vehicle is refilled by a driver using that flap the first time.
Rented cars, brand-new cars, company motors, or the second vehicle in a home with one of each: the least familiar cars see it the most. Leave it off: that's the first step to an identical mistake, wherever in Northwich or the rest of Cheshire you are.
Started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Northwich?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. It has been drawn through the fuel filter and your lines, and if your engine ran for any time, it has reached your high-pressure pump and the injectors.
Perhaps coming back from Apple Market Place, or part way across Northwich, the engine may go rough, smoke, drop power, flash your dash or cut out. No restarting to test: pull over when safe, then turn everything off. Each start pulls more of it through.
Northwich lies under 5 miles from the M6; if you were on it, exit at the next junction and stop safely instead of driving on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Northwich to the car park by Weaver Square Shopping Centre is a very different job from a run towards Chester, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with every mile. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush once your engine has been started. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage when it is caught early.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves around Northwich
Our engineers come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Northwich: a side street close to Memorial Court Leisure Complex, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The work rests on three answers, which our engineers ask for first — which fluid was put in, the amount, and whether your engine has run.
Right there, your tank is then emptied, and all of the contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one. Residue from AdBlue will not flush away by itself, so the whole system gets a careful flush, which counts far more here than with petrol. Fresh diesel goes in once your filter is cleaned — or replaced, if it needs to be — and then your vehicle is tested. Engine not run? In that case expect about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a live forecourt is no issue, and it's quiet enough for a residential street after dark.
The final step is to bleed the system on clean diesel. You drive off as soon as we have started it, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a drive around Northwich or in a space at the nearest station. Before we leave, we check it is running correctly with fresh diesel in. No workshop is required at any point, with the entire job done then and there. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers ask for.
About Northwich
Northwich is a town in Cheshire, situated on the banks of the River Weaver, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential areas. Northwich has a population of around 14686 people and is located near the towns of Winnington, Leftwich, and Rudheath. Northwich sits at a relatively low elevation of 17 metres above sea level, close to the city of Chester, which is 16.4 miles away. Northwich is also within commuting distance of major cities, being 157.4 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Northwich and Cheshire
AdBlue call-outs in Northwich go to vans that serve the places near it — Winnington, Leftwich as well as Rudheath — and most of Cheshire beyond, throughout CW postcodes. Phone and ask instead of guessing if you're close to a border, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
Wherever your vehicle stands — your driveway at home, a side street, a parking area, a forecourt — our technicians empty it there, with no need to bring it to us; that suits Northwich, a riverside town, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Northwich
Each job is different, so not one fixed price is honest. What shifts the cost is, firstly, whether your engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and after that where your car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Northwich Indoor Market.
Which fluid was put in, how much, plus if it ran: every Northwich call begins by asking precisely those, ahead of any quote, not after. The replies turn a range into a straight quote.
You hear that quote by phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
Northwich: still beside the car?
In that case, touch nothing — that is the best step there is. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Say it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, across Northwich or wherever within Cheshire.