The Crescent: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: whether your engine has been run since it was put in. If it hasn't, keep it that way, whether the car is around The Crescent itself or out in Brookfoot. Switch nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, then count on a thorough flush plus a drain, carried out just where your car sits in The Crescent. When the motor has been run, pull in somewhere safe straight away, then turn the vehicle off. It is a bigger job, yet step one doesn't change.
Further down: the situations our technicians see, wherever around West Yorkshire. Choose yours.
On a The Crescent forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
You're at the petrol pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. It could be the Tesco, or perhaps the Shell, or another station around The Crescent.
Put simply: there is no better place to be to discover it. The AdBlue is in your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
Next: avoid the urge to fire it up only to free up the pump. Have the attendants to help rolling it to a bay, hold on to the receipt, then phone us from there. If it can't be shifted, it can be drained at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a working forecourt.
At home in The Crescent with AdBlue in your diesel tank
On your dash, a warning had shown all week. A bottle bought at the garage, tipped in at the driveway — and it was only by the recycling that the cap got a second look. Drives near Manley Street see it as much as any other street.
The upshot: no driving since leaves this almost as good to finding it at the petrol pump. As it is reluctant to mix, AdBlue drops low in your tank and stays. A night parked changes none of that.
Put your keys indoors tonight — otherwise someone might take it off first thing — then phone us. We drain the car on your drive, whether that's in The Crescent or out in Brighouse. The pumping kit works quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
The Crescent: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
A mile or two beyond filling up, the motor began misbehaving: rough running, smoke, less power, warnings on the dash. Perhaps it was on Kimberley Street, possibly on the way out towards Bradford, under 10 miles away.
Meaning? The fuel pump has taken the AdBlue in. It has been through your filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors. Each restart, like every mile, carries it on.
Do this: stop anywhere safe, then switch the engine off. Service stations farther along can wait: on the M62, under 3 miles out of The Crescent, use the first junction. Starting it again to check achieves nothing — AdBlue never clears itself. Call, and say what distance the vehicle was driven.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company vehicles
You have just had the car a week. On your own car, AdBlue is absent or elsewhere. On this one, the inlet is just by your diesel cap — news to you. It can happen to anyone, anywhere in West Yorkshire.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it's run, with one more stage. The owner frequently needs to approve the work, under plenty of rental and fleet contracts.
Sorting it before we arrives is quicker, and so ring the hire company or your fleet manager, and then us. Hanging on for an answer in the car park at Brighouse, or near Waring Green Community Centre? Leave your engine off throughout.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, around The Crescent
Now and then, "I think so" is the most you can truthfully say. What cap came off, you cannot recall; but the bottle weighs lighter than expected, and ammonia hangs by the filler. Maybe on a friend's drive in Clifton, or in a rush by St Andrew's CofE (VA) Junior School at the school run.
The point: your motor isn't hurt by a little AdBlue spilled around the filler. A diesel tank with AdBlue in it is another story. You can't tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so will draw in any AdBlue that is in that tank.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Do not crank it. Ring with what you saw: we would sooner find a tank free of AdBlue than drain one after the motor has been run.
Each AdBlue drain around The Crescent shares these stages
Every case gets the same opening to the job. Anywhere your car is — Thornhill Briggs WMC's car park, a street by St. Martin's Parish Church, a drive, a filling station — our van gets there and we ask about the fluid, the quantity, and whether the engine has turned over. On the phone, ahead of dispatch, you are told the price, and those answers decide the work too.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to some metals used in fuel systems, and so it does not wash out unaided; that is why the flush, after the drain, matters much more here than with petrol. Clean diesel is put in after your filter is cleaned or changed, and the car is then tested. Most unstarted cars are a half-hour job from the moment our technicians turn up.
Starting it comes at the end. Our technicians check it runs correctly on clean diesel before leaving. The entire job is done where the car is, and when it's caught quickly, long-term damage is very unusual. Nothing is paid upfront, settlement is made on the day, and you receive what your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About The Crescent itself
The Crescent is a locality situated on the riverside in West Yorkshire, with an elevation of 69 metres and a mix of terraced housing. The Crescent lies near several nearby places, including Brighouse, Slead Syke, and Thornhills, and is approximately 6 miles from the city of Bradford. The Crescent is part of the larger urban area surrounding Bradford, with the city's amenities and services within easy reach. The Crescent has a population of around 3897 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains in The Crescent, and across West Yorkshire too
As a small village, The Crescent has the same vans as the nearby places — Thornhills, Slead Syke — all the way across HD postcodes. Telling us a HD6 1 postcode pins you quickest of all.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to Rydings Park or in a car park in the middle of The Crescent, it does not need to move. Our technicians drain the car where it sits. Ring and ask instead of guessing when you are by Brighouse Spiritualist Church, near a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down.
Your situation, summed up
Where it has not run, ring and keep it that way. Run by now: pull over, switch down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, within The Crescent or anywhere in West Yorkshire.