AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Speke, and What to Do Next
Has your engine turned over since the AdBlue got in? That single point settles nearly everything else from here. Out in Halewood or here in Speke, an unstarted motor should stay unrun. Leave your engine and your ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103; it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Speke. When your engine has been run, pull in somewhere safe straight away, then switch it off. A bigger job, then, yet the same first move.
Wherever around Merseyside it happened, one of the cases below fits yours.
Speke forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Picture it: standing by the pump, gripping the nozzle, you spot the cap you opened wasn't the right one. Be it EG On the Move, BP or somewhere else around Speke, the case is identical.
Meaning? Finding out here is as good as it gets. Just the tank holds AdBlue; no part beyond it has drawn it in.
Next: avoid the urge to fire it up just to move away from the pump. A few jobs: a shove into a space with the attendants assisting, the receipt saved, and a call to us from the forecourt. If it can't be moved, it can be cleared at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a working forecourt.
At home around Speke with AdBlue in your diesel tank
Days had gone by with the warning light on. Bought a bottle, poured it in outside the house, recycled the empty — and only then checked the cap again, after the fact. Homes just off Speke Hall Avenue get caught out as much as anywhere else.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. At the bottom of that tank sits exactly where AdBlue waits, because it will not blend with diesel — and a night passing changes no difference.
Next: stop an early drive by putting your keys indoors, then phone us. Our technicians drain it on your driveway, whether that is in Speke or out in Hunts Cross. The pumping kit runs quietly enough not to disturb the street at night.
On the road in Speke with AdBlue in a diesel
Filled up, drove away, and soon your motor was turning roughly, smoking, down on power, or lighting up your dash. School Way, say, or the route towards Liverpool — a trip of under 10 miles.
Meaning? Your fuel pump has taken the AdBlue in. Through the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — the more the distance — on into the high-pressure pump and every injector. It goes further with every extra mile covered and every restart.
Pull in somewhere safe — that is the next job — then switch everything off. Exit at the first junction — not the services further along — if you are on the M62, under 5 miles from Speke. Don't restart the vehicle to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Call, and say what distance the vehicle went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have only driven this vehicle a week. Your own car either does without AdBlue or keeps it somewhere different, so nothing told you the AdBlue inlet was right beside your diesel. Across Merseyside, nobody is immune.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it's run, with one more step. Plenty of hire and fleet agreements require the owner's approval before repairs.
Next: ring the rental company or your fleet manager first, then us — settling it before our arrival is quicker. Hanging on for a reply at the car park at Hunts Cross, or beside All Saints Church? Leave your engine off meanwhile.
Unsure about AdBlue in your diesel tank in Speke?
Now and then, "I think so" is the most you can honestly say. What cap was taken off, you cannot say; meanwhile the bottle weighs lighter than it ought to, and ammonia hangs by your filler. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Stockton Wood Community Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Allerton.
The point: the motor isn't harmed by some AdBlue spilled on the filler. Inside the diesel tank, however, AdBlue harms it. You can't tell which by turning the key, and doing so would draw in any AdBlue that is in the tank.
Assume it was put in, and don't turn your key. Phone with the details: we would sooner find a clean tank than empty one after the engine has been run.
The common ground in every Speke AdBlue drain
Whichever scenario you are in, this job starts the same way. We come to the vehicle, whether it's on a forecourt, a driveway, the car park outside Dunnies Social Club or a side street close to Goals, and ask three things: what was put in, about how much, and if your motor has been run. Those replies determine the work, and you get the quote by phone, before anyone sets off.
AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain metals in fuel systems, so it does not rinse out on its own; that is why a full flush, after this drain, counts much more here than with petrol. Then comes your filter — flushed, or replaced where needed — then fresh diesel, and a test of the vehicle. Most unstarted vehicles are a half-hour job after the moment our engineers arrive.
Finally, we start the car. Our test that it runs smoothly on new diesel comes before we head off. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, and when it is caught soon, permanent damage is very uncommon. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Dig out your insurance before we're en route: cover for misfuelling is included in plenty of policies.
About Speke, briefly
Speke is a suburban area in Merseyside, located on the coastal fringe of the Liverpool urban area, approximately 6.7 miles south of Liverpool city centre. Speke sits at a relatively low elevation of 26 metres, near the mouth of the River Mersey, and is bordered by nearby places such as Hunts Cross, Oglet, and Garston. Speke has a population of around 4419 people, predominantly living in terraced housing.
AdBlue drains across Merseyside, Speke included
Throughout L postcodes, the teams serving Speke — a residential suburb — work surrounding places too, Oglet and Garston among them. Your location is quickest from a postcode beginning L24 1.
Stopped en route to Blackrod Park, or right in the centre of Speke, your car stays where it is — there is no need to shift it anywhere. Wherever it sits, that is where it gets drained. Assuming won't help near World Duty Free, on a border or somewhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
The one-line version
Motor never started: ring, leaving it switched off. Run by now: pull over, power down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, in Speke or anywhere in Merseyside.