AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Tang, and What to Do Next
Has the motor turned over since the AdBlue was put in? This single point settles almost everything about what comes next. Anywhere your car stands — Barrack Hill, Tang — never start a motor that hasn't been started yet. Usually that is emptying and properly rinsing it right there in Tang — so keep the ignition and motor off and call 0333 366 0103. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. It's a bigger job, though stage one does not change.
Further down: the situations our technicians meet, wherever across Greater Manchester. Pick yours.
On a Tang forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you just spot it as you are stood at the petrol pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. Be it Esso, Morrisons or somewhere else in Tang, the case is identical.
In short: no better place exists to spot it. Still in the tank, and no fuel drawn onwards: that's where the AdBlue is.
Freeing the petrol pump is no reason to start it — and so don't get back in. Phone us from the forecourt once the vehicle is in a space — the attendants will lend a hand to push it — and save the receipt. Can't move the vehicle beside the pump? Explosion-proof kit keeps a busy forecourt safe, and so we can drain the car in place.
At home in Tang with AdBlue in your diesel tank
Days had gone by with the dash light on. Only by the recycling, the empty container in hand, did you look back at the cap you had opened at the driveway. Just off Green Lane is no less likely from any other place.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of your tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so no one moves the car in the morning. Then call. Romiley or Tang: wherever your drive sits, that's where it is drained. Our equipment works quietly enough that it won't wake the street at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Tang?
A short way after filling up, your motor began playing up: roughness, smoke, less power, warnings on the dash. Possibly it was on Metcalfe Drive, possibly on the way out towards Manchester, under 10 miles away.
The upshot: the system has pulled AdBlue through by now. The injection pump and every injector get it too on a longer trip, after the fuel filter and pipework have it. It travels deeper with each extra mile driven and each restart.
Stop safely — that's the next job — then switch it off. Leave by the next junction — not the services beyond — if you are on the M60, under 3 miles from Tang. It will not have cleared, and so there is no point restarting to find out. Let us hear the mileage covered as you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
A week ago, it was new to you. Unbeknown to you, the two inlets sit next to each other here — not like your own car, which has no AdBlue or keeps it in another spot. Anywhere you happen to be around Greater Manchester, every motorist can slip up.
Meaning? Whatever case above applies here — run or unrun — plus one further stage. Many rental and company contracts require the owner's approval before repairs.
Do this: rental firm or your fleet manager to begin with, us second, because settling it early saves time. Leave the car switched off as the reply arrives, even if you are waiting at Romiley or close to Romiley Methodist Church.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Tang?
"I think so" is often as honest answer there is. A faint ammonia-like whiff lingers near your filler, the bottle seems too light, and the cap you took off is hard to recall. Maybe on a friend's driveway in Top-o-th Hill, or rushing outside St Christopher's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy on the school run.
The point: the motor is not harmed by a little AdBlue spilled around the outside. Once it's inside the diesel tank, though, that changes. If there is AdBlue in the tank, firing up the car would suck it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
Your move: act as if it got in, and never start the engine. Phone and give what you saw: we'd rather find a tank free of AdBlue than drain one once your engine has been run.
Tang: what each AdBlue drain has in common
The work opens identically, whichever the case. Three things are asked once we reach the car — on a filling station, a driveway, a street beside St. Chads or the car park at Duke of York: the liquid, the quantity, and whether the motor has been started. Answers shape the work; the price comes by phone while nobody has left yet.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to certain metals in fuel systems, and so it won't wash out unaided; that's why the flush, after the drain, counts far more with AdBlue than with petrol. Fresh diesel is put in after the fuel filter is flushed or replaced, and your car is then tested. Where your engine hasn't run, allow about half an hour on site, in most cases.
Starting it comes last. Our check that it runs smoothly on clean diesel comes before we go. The entire job is done where your car is, and if it's caught quickly, permanent damage is very rare. Payment is on the day, never in advance. For the insurer, there is a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer. Worth remembering: many insurers include misfuelling cover, so a check of your policy while you wait pays.
About Tang and where it is
Tang is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated on the riverside at an elevation of around 105 metres. Tang lies approximately 7.6 miles from Manchester and is near other local places such as Romiley, Burymewick, and Hatherlow. Tang has a population of around 4942 people and is characterised by predominantly semi-detached housing.
AdBlue drains across Greater Manchester, Tang included
Tang is a residential suburb, and the same teams that cover it work the towns around it too, Burymewick and Hatherlow among them, across the SK postcode area. Giving us a SK6 3 postcode finds you quickest of all.
Stopped en route to Little Wood, or bang in the centre of Tang, the car remains where it is — there is no need to move it anywhere. Draining happens on the spot. Ring and ask rather than guess when you are by The Bredbury and Romiley War Memorial, near a boundary, or anywhere awkward to explain.
In one line: your scenario
Not run yet: keep the car off then ring. Run by now: stop, switch down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, within Tang or wherever in Greater Manchester.