Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Siss Clough
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, your ignition stays off and so does the motor. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. Being water-based, it won't burn and never combines with diesel; damage only starts when your pump starts pulling it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Siss Clough, is generally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before the motor has run. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Siss Clough, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do straight away
To do:
- Keys out — that way nobody can switch anything on.
- If you're anywhere close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Hold on to the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what got in and about how much.
- The van locates you quickest with a postcode starting BB4 9, or just the name of a street nearby, so call from the spot.
Do not do these:
- No starting the engine — not for a second, not to shift the car.
- Plenty of diesels run their fuel pump the moment the ignition comes on, so keep it off.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short stretch up Booth Crescent.
- By the road, do not attempt emptying it yourself.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you roll your car off the pumps if you are on a forecourt around Siss Clough, whether it's the Shell or elsewhere. At your own drive, don't move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It is heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. A motor topped up on a driveway in Newchurch yesterday evening and not started since counts as the straightforward one. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up yet — but when your motor runs, that's what goes first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
After it's pulled in, the damage takes two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that crystallises in filters and narrow passages; and, since it attacks some metals, each part it reaches suffers for as long as it remains inside. Lines holding AdBlue spell harm by morning for a vehicle sitting around Siss Clough. Just in the tank, it stays stable. Water protects nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel running past them, so the water part damages them in its own right.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Petrol put into a diesel on Texaco's forecourt makes the fuel watery — that is the main issue. Mixed through the diesel and left still, it is harmless for now; running the engine is the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Because it does not burn, running it through is not an option. It doesn't stay mixed, so it can't be diluted. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Piercy or the middle of Siss Clough.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Wherever in Lancashire the car has stopped, an unstarted motor leaves the AdBlue yet inside the tank: the simplest bit of a fuel system to empty.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Siss Clough: how it ends up there
It is not deliberate. Many cars keep the AdBlue cap beside the diesel inlet, occasionally behind a single flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. A container picked up while heading home and poured in outside the house, instead of at the forecourt, is the usual route.
A few familiar ways account for most cases. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Waterfoot Primary School the top-up is hurried. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Lowe View. Or someone new to that flap refills your car in dim light, stopped in the car park by The Jolly Sailor.
The least known cars get it most — rentals, brand-new cars, fleet ones, and the other motor in a family with both fuel types. Wherever you're in Siss Clough or the remainder of Lancashire, it is the same slip and the same first answer: leave it off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Siss Clough?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in that tank. It's been pulled through the filter and the lines, and if your engine ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure pump and the injectors.
Watch for rough running, smoke, falling power, warnings on your dash, or a cut-out — returning from Edgeside Park, say, or part way across Siss Clough. Pull over when it is safe. Turn off. Leave it off rather than restarting it to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
Siss Clough lies under 5 miles from the M66; if you were on it, leave at the first junction and pull up safely instead of driving on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. That is why crossing Siss Clough to park near St Nicholas with St John & St Michael and a drive of under 25 miles towards Manchester are very different jobs. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Our engineers do all of the cleaning where the car has stopped, and once the motor has run there is more of it. Long-term damage is very unusual if it's caught soon.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves in Siss Clough
The vehicle stays put, whether that's a street beside St Anne, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt in Siss Clough, and our van travels to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and if your engine has been run, because those answers decide this work.
Then that tank is cleared where your car sits, so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. What remains from AdBlue will not wash out unaided, so the whole system gets a full flush, which matters much more with urea than for petrol. A test of your vehicle follows last, once clean diesel goes in and your filter is cleaned or, if necessary, swapped. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs where the engine hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
The last step is to prime the fuel system on fresh diesel. Whether it is a parking bay at Walsden or a drive around Siss Clough, that is where we start the engine and you drive off. Before leaving, our technicians make sure it is running properly with fresh diesel in. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never has to be taken to a workshop. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both afterwards.
About Siss Clough
Siss Clough is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Lancashire, with a mix of terraced housing and a population of around 3080 residents. Siss Clough sits at an elevation of 235 metres, overlooking the surrounding landscape and located near other local places such as Hey Head and Booth Fold. Siss Clough is positioned approximately 15 miles from Manchester, making it a commuter-friendly location. Siss Clough is also relatively distant from London, at around 175 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Lancashire, Siss Clough included
The teams that answer AdBlue jobs around Siss Clough also cover the spots round it, Hey Head, Booth Fold and Edgeside among them, and most of Lancashire beyond, across the BB postcode area. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask instead of assuming.
No moving is needed. In Siss Clough, a residential suburb, a mobile service works: the vehicle is emptied where it stands, be it on a drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Siss Clough: the cost of fixing it
No single figure would be fair, because each job is different. The price shifts first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that went in. After that it rests on where the car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Bamboo Theatre.
With that in mind, each call from Siss Clough begins with the same trio — what got in, what quantity, if it ran — before any quote. When those are known, a range turns into a single firm figure.
Our price is given on the call, before anyone sets off; settling up happens on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your insurance whilst we are on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Beside your car around Siss Clough, right now?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the car. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Call 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Siss Clough or anywhere across Lancashire.