AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Pendlebury: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if your engine has run since it was put in. Wherever the car stands — Newtown, Pendlebury — don't start an engine that has not run yet. Leave the engine and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103; it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Pendlebury. Already started? Pull over when you safely can, then turn everything off. Stage one stays unchanged, even though the work grows.
Wherever in Greater Manchester it took place, one of the cases below matches yours.
At the petrol pump in Pendlebury: AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you just spot it while you're standing at the petrol pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. Possibly you're at the Morrisons, maybe at the another forecourt nearby, possibly somewhere else in Pendlebury.
The upshot: of every spot to find out, the forecourt is the best. The AdBlue is in that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has sucked it in.
Do this: stay out of the car, even if the queue wants freeing. A few things: a shove into a space with the attendants helping, the bottle kept, and a ring to us from the forecourt. The equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt, so a car that can't be pushed clear is cleared where it is at the petrol pump.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Pendlebury drive?
On your dash, a reminder had shown for days. 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. Just off Bolton Road is not less likely from any other place.
Meaning? Provided the car has not been driven since, it is second to the pump case. As it is unable to blend, AdBlue drops to the base in the tank and waits. A night standing alters nothing.
Put the keys in the house tonight — or someone may take it off at breakfast — and phone us. Your driveway is where it gets emptied, whether in Pendlebury or Swinton Park. Late-night drains outside a house are fine: the pumps are quiet.
On the road in Pendlebury with AdBlue in a diesel
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power or a lit dashboard started a mile or two after the top-up. Maybe it was on Gladstone Street, possibly on the way out towards Salford, under 3 miles away.
What it means: the system has sucked the AdBlue in. It has been through your filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors. It travels further with each mile covered and every restart.
Stop safely — that is the first job — then turn everything off. On the M60, under 3 miles from Pendlebury, that means the next junction, not the services further on. No test starts: clearing isn't something AdBlue does. Let us hear the mileage driven as you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
You have had this car barely a week. Your own vehicle either does without AdBlue or keeps it somewhere different, so nothing told you the AdBlue inlet sits right beside your diesel. Wherever you happen to be across Greater Manchester, every motorist can slip up.
In short: one extra step on top of the cases above, and those depend on if it's run. Work on your vehicle often requires the owner's approval under hire or company terms.
Next: ring the hire company or the fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before our arrival is faster. Waiting for a reply in the car park outside Swinton (Manchester), or beside St. Augustine's Church? Keep your engine off throughout.
Pendlebury: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Honestly, the best answer may be that you think so. Too light, the bottle; a hint of ammonia near the filler; a hazy memory of which cap. Sound familiar? Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at St Augustine's CofE Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Swinton.
What it means: a little spilled about your filler does no harm to the motor. Once it is inside the diesel tank, though, that changes. You can't tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so will pull in any AdBlue that is in your tank.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Don't crank it. Inspecting a tank that turns out clean is better than draining one after it's been run — so phone and describe to us what you noticed.
Pendlebury: what every AdBlue drain has in common
Whatever the case, one start is used. Our technicians come to the vehicle, whether it's on a forecourt, a driveway, the car park outside Windmill Hotel or a side street close to Christ Church, and ask three things: what got in, about how much, and whether the motor has been run. The price is given over the phone, before a van leaves, and those answers set the work.
Then your tank is cleared and the 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, and so it doesn't rinse out on its own. Clean diesel goes in once your filter is flushed or replaced, and the car is then tested. Where the engine has not been started, expect about half an hour on site, in most cases.
The last step is starting it. Our test that it runs correctly on clean diesel comes before our engineers head off. Our engineers do the whole job where your car is, and long-term damage is very uncommon if it has been spotted soon. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Check your insurance while we're en route: cover for misfuelling comes built into plenty of policies.
About Pendlebury and where it is
Pendlebury is a locality in Greater Manchester, situated approximately 2.5 miles from Salford and 166.5 miles from London. Pendlebury lies inland at an elevation of around 86 metres, near to Swinton Park, Clifton Green, and Clifton. Pendlebury has a population of approximately 1367 people, predominantly residing in flats.
Pendlebury and Greater Manchester: AdBlue drains across the area
Clifton Green and Clifton get the identical vans as Pendlebury, a neighbourhood, plus other places throughout M postcodes. A postcode starting M27 4 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
No towing is required, whether parked in the centre of Pendlebury or on a layby heading to LIVIA, and so keep it put. Where it sits, that's where it gets cleared. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are close to Swinton Football Club, on a border, or somewhere tricky to explain.
Your situation, in one line
Motor not started: phone, and leave it switched off. Run already: pull over, switch down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Pendlebury or wherever in Greater Manchester.