Swarthmoor: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if the engine has been run since it went in. Anywhere your vehicle is — Croftlands, Swarthmoor — never start an engine that hasn't been started yet. Phone 0333 366 0103 with the ignition and engine still off. In Swarthmoor, that is generally emptied and flushed on the spot. Pull over the moment you safely can then switch off, if it has been run. A bigger job, then, but the identical first step.
Further down: the situations our technicians meet, anywhere across Cumbria. Choose yours.
On a Swarthmoor forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Picture it: stood by the petrol pump, gripping the bottle, you realise the cap you took off wasn't the correct one. Maybe you're at the Esso, possibly at the Shell, maybe somewhere else in Swarthmoor.
Put simply: there is no better place to be to discover it. Nothing has drawn it in, so the AdBlue stays only inside your tank.
Clearing the pump is no excuse to run it — so don't get back in. Ask the attendants to help you roll the car into a parking spot, keep the till receipt or the bottle, and call us from the forecourt. Stuck beside the petrol pump? Our explosion-proof kit keeps a busy forecourt safe, so it can be drained where it is.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home around Swarthmoor
On your dash, a reminder had been lit all week. Only at the recycling bin, the empty container in hand, did you look back at the cap you had used on the drive. It occurs on drives just off Fox Street as often as anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of your tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
Next: keys indoors, and so nobody takes your vehicle off at breakfast. Then, ring. Out in Three Bridges or right here in Swarthmoor, the drain happens at your driveway. Our equipment works quietly enough that it won't wake the street at night.
On the road in Swarthmoor with AdBlue in a diesel
A mile or two after topping up, your motor began playing up: rough running, smoke, less power, warnings on your dash. Maybe it was on Swarthmoor Hall Lane, maybe on the way out towards Lancaster, under 25 miles away.
The upshot: your system has drawn AdBlue in by now. The high-pressure pump and every injector get it as well on a longer run, once your filter and pipework have had it. Every restart, like every mile, carries it deeper.
Pull in somewhere safe — that is the first step — then switch everything off. Service stations farther on can wait: from the M6, under 25 miles out of Swarthmoor, use the next junction. Don't restart the vehicle to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Phone, saying what distance your car was driven.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've only driven this vehicle a week. Your own car either does without AdBlue or keeps it somewhere different, and so no one told you the AdBlue inlet sits right next to the diesel. It can happen to anyone, anywhere around Cumbria.
The upshot: just as above, split by if it ran, only with one added stage. Many hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on your car.
Sorting it before the van turn up is quicker, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, and then us. Waiting for a reply at the car park at Ulverston, or near Swarthmoor Church? Keep the engine off meanwhile.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, in Swarthmoor
"I think so" is sometimes the most honest answer there is. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia around the filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Pennington CofE School, or on a friend's drive in Rosside.
The point: your motor isn't hurt by a little AdBlue splashed around the outside. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. If there is AdBlue in that tank, starting your car will pull it in, and it would not tell you which either.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Do not start it. Checking a tank that proves clean beats emptying one after it has been run — so phone and tell us what you noticed.
Swarthmoor: what each AdBlue drain has in common
The job begins identically, whichever your case. Three things come when our technicians reach your car — at a forecourt, a driveway, a road beside War Memorial or the car park outside Miners Arms: the liquid, the amount, and whether it has been started. The price is given over the phone, ahead of anyone setting off, and those answers set the job.
Then your tank is cleared and your system rinsed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not rinse out on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. The majority of unrun cars are a half-hour job from the moment our technicians get there.
The last step is firing it up. Before our technicians head off, it is checked to make sure it runs properly on clean diesel. If it's caught quickly, the car very seldom has long-term damage, and the whole job takes place where it is. 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: misfuelling cover is included in many policies.
About Swarthmoor and where it is
Swarthmoor is a small village in Cumbria, situated near the coast at an elevation of 59 metres, with terraced housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Swarthmoor lies within commuting distance of Lancaster, which is approximately 15.7 miles away. Swarthmoor is close to nearby places such as Three Bridges, Rowe Head, and Pennington, and is home to around 1030 residents. Swarthmoor is located in the North West region of England, about 223 miles from London.
AdBlue drains around Swarthmoor, and across Cumbria too
Throughout LA postcodes, the vans covering Swarthmoor — a coastal village — work surrounding towns too, Rowe Head and Pennington included. Fastest of all: a LA12 0 postcode for your location.
No moving is needed, be it parked centrally in Swarthmoor or on a layby heading to Swarthmoor Hall Wood, so leave it where it is. Our technicians drain the car where it stands. If you're somewhere hard to explain, close to Swarthmoor Quaker Meeting House or close to a border, ring and ask instead of assuming.
The one-line version
If it hasn't started, phone and keep it that way. Run by now: stop, switch down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, within Swarthmoor or anywhere in Cumbria.