AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Orrell: What Now?
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. If it hasn't, keep it that way, whether the car is in Orrell itself or out in Redwood. Keep nothing on, call 0333 366 0103, then expect a proper flush after a drain, carried out right where your vehicle sits around Orrell. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. A bigger job, then, yet the identical first move.
Below: the situations our technicians meet, wherever around Greater Manchester. Pick yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Orrell forecourt
Only now, nozzle yet in your hand, you realise that the cap you opened was the wrong one, there at the pump. Whether Esso, BP or anywhere else in Orrell, the case is identical.
What it means: this is the best location to find out. The AdBlue is inside your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
What to do: don't get back in and start it to clear the petrol pump. Ask the staff to help you roll the car into a parking bay, keep your receipt or the bottle, and call us from the forecourt. Can't move the car beside the pump? Our explosion-proof kit makes a live forecourt sensible, and so it can be drained where it is.
Orrell, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
For days the dash had been nagging you. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look a second time at the cap. It takes place on driveways just off Moor Road as commonly as anywhere.
The point: zero miles since leaves this nearly equal to spotting it at the petrol pump. At the bottom of your tank sits exactly where AdBlue waits, because it won't blend with diesel — and a night going by makes no difference.
Next: prevent any early-morning drive by putting your keys in the house, then phone us. Your driveway is where it gets emptied, whether around Orrell or Orrell Post. Our pumping kit works quietly enough not to disturb the street at night.
On the road in Orrell with AdBlue in a diesel
Topped up, pulled away, and soon the engine was turning unevenly, smoking, down on power, or lighting up your dash. Gathurst Road, perhaps, or the way towards Liverpool — a trip of under 15 miles.
Meaning? The pump has sucked the AdBlue up. It has been through your filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Do this: stop somewhere safe, then turn the motor off. Leave by the first junction — not the services beyond — if you are on the M58, under a mile from Orrell. It will not have cleared, so there is no point starting it again to check. Call, saying how far your vehicle went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
A week back, the car was new to you. Unknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel inlets sit side by side here — unlike your own vehicle, which has none or stores it in another spot. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Greater Manchester.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more step. Many hire and company contracts need the owner's sign-off for work.
Sorting it before we arrives is quicker, and so ring the rental company or your fleet manager, then us. If you are stuck in the car park at the nearest station, or by Orrell Post Methodist Church, while you wait for an answer, leave your car off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, around Orrell
Sometimes the fair answer is "I think so". Lighter, the bottle; a trace of ammonia round the filler; no clear memory of the cap. Look familiar? The gates of Orrell Holgate Academy in a hurry, perhaps, or a friend's driveway out in Lamberhead Green.
The point: your motor is not harmed by some AdBlue splashed around the filler. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Any AdBlue in your tank would be pulled in by firing up the car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Next: act as though it got in, then leave the motor off. Ring us and explain what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
What each AdBlue drain around Orrell has in common
Whatever the case, one opening applies. Three questions are asked once our engineers arrive — at a forecourt, a drive, a street by Orrell Bookcycle or the car park at The Stag: the fluid, the amount, and whether the motor has run. On the phone, ahead of dispatch, you hear our quote, and those answers decide the job too.
Draining your tank comes first, followed by a careful flush — more vital with urea than after petrol, because crystals and corrosion will not clear by themselves, no matter how long you wait. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Most unrun vehicles are a half-hour job from the moment our engineers turn up.
Lastly, our engineers fire it up. With fresh diesel in, it runs while our engineers check it's running properly, and then we go. If it is noticed quickly, the vehicle very seldom has permanent damage, and the entire job takes place where it is. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, nothing upfront. Check your insurance before we're en route: misfuelling cover is built into many policies.
About Orrell itself
Orrell is a locality in Greater Manchester, situated inland at an elevation of 91 metres, approximately 14 miles from Liverpool. Orrell has a population of around 3187 people, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type. Orrell is close to nearby places such as Orrell Post, Tontine, and The Bell, and is about 177 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains around Orrell, and across Greater Manchester too
Orrell is a small village, and the same teams that cover it work the towns around it too, Tontine and The Bell among them, across the WN postcode area. A postcode starting WN5 8 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
No towing is required, whether stopped in the centre of Orrell or on a lay-by en route to Oldam's Fold, so leave it where it is. Wherever it stands, that is where it gets cleared. If you are somewhere hard to describe, close to Living Faith Church or close to a boundary, ring and ask rather than guessing.
The one-line version
Engine not started: ring, leaving it alone. Run already? Pull over, turn off, phone. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest whatever case, in Orrell and Greater Manchester, on 0333 366 0103.