AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Poulton: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if the motor has run since it was put in. Anywhere the car is — Raby Mere, Poulton — never run an engine that has not been started yet. Call 0333 366 0103 with your ignition and engine both off. Across Poulton, such a case is typically drained and cleaned on the spot. Where your engine has run, pull in somewhere safe straight away, then turn the vehicle off. The job is bigger, but the first step is the same.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever in Merseyside it happened.
Poulton forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Imagine it: standing by the pump, gripping the bottle, you realise the cap you took off wasn't the correct one. Be it BP, Asda or somewhere else in Poulton, the situation is the same.
Meaning? Spotting it on the forecourt is as good as it can be. The AdBlue is in that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has sucked it in.
What to do: don't get back in and fire it up to clear the pump. Ask the attendants to help you roll your car into a parking spot, keep the till receipt or the bottle, then phone us from the forecourt. Our equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt, so a car that can't be pushed away is drained where it is at the pump.
At home around Poulton with AdBlue in your diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. Picked up a container, poured it in outside the house, binned the empty — and only then looked at the cap again, after the fact. It takes place on driveways just off Poulton Road as commonly as anywhere.
Meaning? Provided your car has not been driven since, it's second to the pump case. On the bottom of the tank sits exactly where AdBlue waits, because it will not blend with diesel — and a night going by makes no difference.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so nobody moves your car in the morning. Then call. In Spital or right here around Poulton, the draining is done at your driveway. Our equipment works quietly enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Poulton?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the engine began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. It might have been heading for Liverpool, under 10 miles away, or simply down Hockenhull Close.
What it means: your fuel system has sucked the AdBlue in. Mileage decides how far it goes: filter and pipework to begin with, then the high-pressure pump and every injector. It travels further with each mile covered and every restart.
Your move: stop somewhere sensible, then turn your motor off. On the M53, under a mile from Poulton, that means the next exit, not the services further on. Don't restart the vehicle to see if it has cleared; it will not have. About how far did it gone? Say so as you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have just driven the car for days. Your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere, and so nothing warned you the AdBlue inlet was right next to your diesel. Any driver, wherever across Merseyside, could do it.
Meaning? Whatever case above counts too — run or unrun — plus one further step. The owner frequently has to sign off the work, under many hire and fleet contracts.
Sorting it before the van arrives is faster, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. Keep the vehicle off as the reply comes, whether you're waiting at Spital or close to Holy Trinity.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Poulton?
Honestly, the best answer may be that you think so. Which cap was taken off, you cannot recall; but the bottle weighs lighter than it ought to, and a whiff of ammonia lingers by the filler. Maybe on a friend's driveway in Bromborough, or in a rush outside Poulton Lancelyn Primary School at the school run.
The point: the motor is not harmed by a little AdBlue spilled around the filler. The diesel tank with AdBlue inside is another matter. If there is AdBlue in the tank, firing up the vehicle will draw it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Assume it went in, and never start your engine. Ring and give the details: we'd sooner confirm a clean tank than drain one after your engine has run.
The common ground in every Poulton AdBlue drain
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Anywhere the vehicle stands — Mississipi Lounge and Bar's car park, a street beside Saint Andrews, a driveway, a filling station — the van gets there and we ask for the fluid, the quantity, and whether your motor has been run. Replies shape the job; the price comes by phone while no one has set off yet.
AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to certain metals used in fuel systems, so it won't wash out unaided; that's why a full flush, after the drain, matters far more here than with petrol. Fresh diesel is put in once the fuel filter is flushed or changed, and your car is finally tested. The majority of unstarted vehicles are a half-hour visit from the moment we turn up.
Last, we start the engine. Before we leave, it's tested to confirm it runs properly on fresh diesel. If it is spotted quickly, the vehicle very rarely has permanent damage, and the whole job happens where it is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Poulton itself
Poulton is a suburban area on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, situated near the coast at an elevation of around 44 metres. Poulton lies approximately 5 miles from Liverpool and is surrounded by other nearby places such as Spital and Lower Bebington. Poulton has a population of around 5249 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Poulton is also close to the historic model village of Port Sunlight.
AdBlue drains across Merseyside, Poulton included
Over CH postcodes, the vans covering Poulton — a residential suburb — work surrounding towns as well, Lower Bebington and Port Sunlight included. Your location is quickest from a postcode beginning CH63 9.
Central Poulton or a lay-by towards Brotherton Park: either way it is, the car never needs to move at all for us. The van empties it where it stands. Assuming doesn't help beside War Memorial, close to a border or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
In one line: your scenario
Motor never started: phone, and leave it alone. Already run: stop, switch off and call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Poulton and anywhere across Merseyside on 0333 366 0103.