Reeds Holme: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, leave the engine off then leave the ignition off. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when the system pulls it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Reeds Holme, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before the engine has run. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
What to do straight away, Reeds Holme: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do:
- Pull your keys out, and so no one switches your ignition on.
- If you're at all near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what was put in and roughly how much.
- Give us a postcode starting BB4 8, or whichever street is closest, and the van finds you straight — so call from wherever you are.
Do not do these:
- Shifting the vehicle just a short way is no reason to start your motor.
- Plenty of diesels power their fuel pump the instant your ignition comes on, so keep the vehicle off.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel won't thin it.
- Do not drive it anywhere, not even a short way along Meadowcroft Close.
- Beside the road, don't attempt emptying it on your own.
The staff on duty at any Reeds Holme forecourt — the Shell among them — will normally lend a hand rolling it aside if you ask. On that drive, your car stays exactly as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the motor. Kept in a separate tank, it is squirted into the exhaust stream to clean the gases. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
Poured in with your diesel, it keeps apart instead of mixing — entirely different from fuel. The pickup sucks fuel from the deepest part of the tank, and that is exactly where AdBlue settles: being heavier than diesel, it sinks. A car topped up on a driveway in Rake Foot yesterday evening and not started since counts as the straightforward case. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up so far — but when your engine runs, that's what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
Two kinds of damage follow from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that crystallises in filters and narrow passages; meanwhile, because it eats at certain metals, each part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it stays in there. Pipes carrying AdBlue spell harm by morning for a vehicle parked in Reeds Holme. Just inside that tank, it stays stable. And there is the water: it offers no protection to the components that need it the most — the injection pump and each injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is often worse than petrol
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Tesco's forecourt leaves the fuel thin — that's the main issue. No damage comes while it sits unused, blended into the diesel — only when the engine runs on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. It does not burn, and so it cannot just be run through. Deposits and corrosion remain through the following fill, and AdBlue splits again from the diesel, and so thinning it won't help. That is why the flush counts so much, and trying the engine "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other slip — in Constable Lee or the centre of Reeds Holme equally.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue waits just in that tank, the simplest bit of the entire system to clear, wherever your vehicle has stopped in Lancashire.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Reeds Holme?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many motors rests right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It mostly happens outside the house, from a bottle bought en route home, rather than at the forecourt.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside Rawtenstall St Paul's Church of England Primary School. After work, a bottle goes in on a drive close to Croft Close. One more pattern: dim light, a pub car park by The Black Dog, and a driver using that flap the first time.
The least familiar cars see it the most — hire cars, new cars, fleet cars, and the spare motor of a family with both fuels. Wherever you are around Reeds Holme or the remainder of Lancashire, it's the same mistake and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Reeds Holme?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. Via your filter, along the lines, and — with any running — on to the high-pressure pump and each injector: that's how far it has gone.
Perhaps returning from Old Hall Plantation, or midway across Reeds Holme, your motor might run rough, smoke, drop pace, light up the dash or stall. No starting it again to test: pull over once it is safe, then switch it off. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Exit the M66, under 5 miles from Reeds Holme, at the next junction and stop somewhere safe, rather than driving on.
Distance counts: each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into the system, so heading for Salford, under 25 miles away, gives a far bigger job than crossing Reeds Holme to the car park by St Paul. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the rinsing where the car has ended up, and once the motor has been started there is more of it. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage if it's spotted early.
Reeds Holme: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
Anywhere it has stopped around Reeds Holme — a filling station, a layby, a driveway, a street beside St James the Less — our van travels to your vehicle. Which fluid was put in, about the quantity, and if your motor has turned over: we ask first, because those decide the job.
Next, draining the tank on the spot removes the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue together. The fuel system is cleaned thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. After that, the filter: cleaned, or changed when it must be. After that clean diesel, and then a check of your car. Most of these jobs are a half-hour visit once we arrive, if the engine has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
The final step is to bleed the system on fresh diesel. At that point we start the car and you drive off, whether from a parking bay by Accrington or a drive around Reeds Holme. It is tested on clean diesel to confirm it runs properly before our technicians leave. The whole job is done where your car is, so it never needs to go to a garage. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers want.
About Reeds Holme
Reeds Holme is a suburban area situated on the lakeside in Lancashire, with a mix of detached housing and scenic views. Reeds Holme sits at an elevation of 205 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. Reeds Holme is located near several smaller communities, including Rush Bed, Higher Constable, and Laund, and is approximately 16.3 miles from the city of Salford.
AdBlue drains across Lancashire, Reeds Holme included
The teams that answer AdBlue jobs around Reeds Holme also cover the spots about it, Rush Bed, Higher Constable and Laund among them, and most of Lancashire beyond, across the BB postcode area. Guessing doesn't help close to a border or anywhere hard to describe; ring and check.
Reeds Holme is a residential suburb, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it is, so it never needs to be moved to us.
Reeds Holme: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no fair single quote, because the jobs are not the same. Whether your engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the cost. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the location of the car, since an open driveway is simpler for our van to get to safely than a tight spot behind Rawtenstall Market.
Before any figure, not afterwards, each enquiry from Reeds Holme opens with the same three questions: the liquid, the quantity, plus whether the engine ran. Those replies turn a range into a straight quote.
Quoted on the call before the engineer heads out, it is paid for on the day — card or phone, no deposit. Look at your insurance whilst we are on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Beside the vehicle in Reeds Holme, right now?
Then, the best thing to do with your car is to not touch it. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and if the engine ran are everything our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder throughout Lancashire, Reeds Holme included.