Seascale: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
Has your engine run since the AdBlue got in? That one question settles almost everything about what comes next. Over in Drigg or right around Seascale, an unrun motor must remain unrun. Leave your motor and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103; it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Seascale. Pull over the moment it is safe then turn off, if it has been run. A larger job, then, but the same opening move.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever around Cumbria it happened.
Seascale forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Imagine it: stood by the pump, holding the bottle, you spot the filler you opened was not the right one. Perhaps you're at the Esso, maybe at the Mill Garage, perhaps somewhere else around Seascale.
Meaning? Spotting it here is the best it gets. Still inside your tank, with nothing pulled through: that is where the AdBlue sits.
Clearing the pump is no excuse to run it — and so don't get back in. Three jobs: a push into a bay with the attendants assisting, the receipt saved, and a ring to us from where you stand. Can't move the vehicle by the petrol pump? Our explosion-proof kit makes a live forecourt sensible, and so it can be drained where it is.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Seascale drive?
The warning light had been on for days. Only by the recycling, the empty container in your hand, did you look back at the cap you'd used at the driveway. Homes just off Santon Way get hit as much as anywhere else.
Meaning? As long as your car hasn't been driven since, it is second to the forecourt case. Diesel and AdBlue keep apart: the AdBlue drops to the floor of the tank and stays put, no matter how long the night.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves your car in the morning. Then ring. Stubble Green or Seascale: wherever your driveway is, that's where it gets emptied. Late-night clears beside a house are no problem: the pumps are low-noise.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel in Seascale?
Topped up, drove away, and soon your engine was running roughly, blowing smoke, down on power, or lighting up your dash. The Fairways, say, or the way to Lancaster — a trip of under 50 miles.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked into the fuel system. The injection pump and every injector see it as well on a longer run, after the filter and pipework have it. It travels further with every mile covered and each restart.
Next: pick a safe spot, stop, then switch your engine off. On the M6, under 50 miles from Seascale, that means the next junction, not the services further on. Restarting it to check achieves nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear on its own. Phone us and say how far you travelled.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
A week ago, it was new to you. The AdBlue filler sits right beside the diesel filler, which you didn't know, since your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Anyone, anywhere around Cumbria, could do the same.
In short: one extra step on top of the situations above, and those turn on whether it has run. Any work on the car often requires the owner's approval under hire or fleet terms.
Sorting it before we turn up is faster, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, and then us. Waiting for a reply in the car park at the nearest station, or near Seascale Library? Keep your car off throughout.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Seascale?
Now and then, "I think so" is the most anyone can truthfully say. Which cap came off, you can't recall; meanwhile the bottle weighs less than it ought to, and a whiff of ammonia lingers by the filler. It might have been at a friend's drive in Greengarth Hall, or in a rush outside Seascale Primary School on the school run.
Put simply: spillage near your filler does the engine no harm. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Firing up your car will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in that tank it would suck it in.
Next: assume it got in, then keep the engine off. Describe what you noticed on your phone. A clean tank looked at is a better result than an already-run one emptied.
What every AdBlue drain around Seascale has in common
Every case has the same start to the work. Three things are asked when we arrive — on a filling station, a driveway, a street beside St Joseph's RC Church or the car park at Windscale Club & Gym: the liquid, the quantity, and if the motor has run. Replies set the work; the price comes on the call while no one has left yet.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a full flush — more important after urea than after petrol, because crystals and corrosion will not clear on their own, no matter how long it sits. Fresh diesel goes in after your filter has been cleaned or changed, and the car is finally checked. If the motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
We fire it up last. Our test that it runs properly on clean diesel comes before our technicians head off. Our technicians do the entire job where your car is, and permanent damage is very unusual when it has been noticed early. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, no money upfront. Worth remembering: many insurers offer misfuelling cover, and so a quick look at your documents as you wait is worthwhile.
About Seascale and where it is
Seascale is a small coastal village in Cumbria, situated on the Irish Sea coast at an elevation of 19 metres. Seascale lies near the villages of Stubble Green and Hallsenna, and is close to the Calder area. Seascale has a population of around 1097 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Seascale is located 36.3 miles from Lancaster and 243.5 miles from London.
Seascale and Cumbria: AdBlue drains across the area
Seascale is a coastal village, and the same vans that cover it work the places near it too, Hallsenna and Calder among them, across the CA postcode area. Fastest of all: a CA20 1 postcode for where you stand.
Parked heading to Seascale Playground, or right in the centre of Seascale, your vehicle stays put — there is no need to move it anywhere. Our van drains it in place. Awkward to explain? By Seascale Methodist Church or a county line? Asking beats assuming, so phone.
Your situation, in one line
Unstarted? Keep the vehicle off and ring. Whichever line fits, Petrol in Diesel takes over from there on 0333 366 0103, throughout Cumbria and in Seascale — after you pull over, switch off and ring, if it's run.