AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Tintwistle? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, keep the motor off then leave your ignition off. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Being water-based, it won't ignite and won't blend with diesel; trouble just starts when the pump starts drawing it. In Tintwistle, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the motor runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush, just where the car is. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
Tintwistle, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
Things to do:
- So no one can switch the ignition on, pull the keys away.
- Near moving traffic? So put the hazard lights on.
- Which product, and about what amount? Hang on to the bottle or the receipt, and our technicians can see.
- Give us a postcode starting SK13 1, or whatever street is nearest, and our van reaches you straight — so ring from wherever you are.
Not to do:
- Do not start your engine, even for a moment to shift the car.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Adding extra diesel does not work: AdBlue settles out instead of thinning.
- Even a short way along Sexton Street is too far to drive it.
- Beside the road, do not try draining it on your own.
Rolling the car away from the pumps is a job for staff to help with, wherever Tintwistle forecourt you are on, the BP included. If you are on your own drive, leave it exactly where it stands.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it is fed into the exhaust, and there it cleans the gas. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
It doesn't combine. After it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves nothing like diesel. It drops, since it's heavier than diesel, and pools down where the intake draws its fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Brookfield last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
It does two kinds of harm from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that hardens in filter elements and tiny passages; and, since it attacks certain metals, each part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it remains in there. Lines carrying AdBlue mean damage by morning for a vehicle parked in Tintwistle. Only in the tank, it stays the same. The water in it does damage of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel regularly the bigger issue?
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Tesco's forecourt makes your fuel watery — that's the whole problem. It mixes with your diesel, and while it is in the tank it does no damage; the damage comes from running your engine on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is plainly the wrong one. It does not burn, so it can't just be run through. Deposits and corrosion remain after the next tankful, and AdBlue splits back out of the diesel, and so watering it won't work. Hence the flush matters so much, and turning the key "to see" costs more here than nearly any other slip — in Shepley Street or the centre of Tintwistle equally.
As with petrol, there is good news. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue remains in it — wherever in Derbyshire the car sits.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Tintwistle?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of cars rests right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A bottle bought when driving home and poured in outside the house, instead of at the forecourt, is the usual story.
A couple of familiar ways account for most cases. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Tintwistle CofE (Aided) Primary School the refill is hurried. Someone pours the bottle in outside their house, right off New Road, as the day ends. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap refills your vehicle in dim light, stopped in the car park by Bulls Head.
Rented motors, new vehicles, fleet motors, or the spare car in a home with one of each: the least familiar vehicles see it the most. Anywhere in Derbyshire, Tintwistle as well, the slip doesn't change, and nor does the first step: leave it off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Tintwistle, and the engine started?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. The fuel filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and any running takes it on to the high-pressure pump and each injector.
You may notice your engine running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Tintwistle Low Moor Access Land or halfway across Tintwistle. When you safely can, stop and turn it off — with no restarting to see. More of that is pulled through with each start.
Tintwistle lies under 3 miles from the M67; if you were on it, exit by the next junction and stop safely instead of carrying on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into your system. That's why a hop across Tintwistle to park near Christ Church and a drive of under 15 miles for Manchester are such distinct jobs. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to rinse out once your engine has been run, and our technicians do all of it where the car has come to a stop. When it is caught quickly, permanent damage is very rare.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Tintwistle?
Anywhere it has stopped in Tintwistle — a filling station, a lay-by, a drive, a street beside Tintwistle Cricket Club — the van comes to the car. Before anything else our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and if your motor has run, since those replies decide the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out as one when the tank is emptied, on the spot. The fuel system is cleaned thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Clean diesel goes in after your filter is flushed — or replaced, if it needs to be — and after that your car is tested. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when the motor hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
The final step is to bleed the fuel system on new diesel. You drive off as soon as our technicians have started the car, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a drive around Tintwistle or in a space outside Hadfield. Our technicians make sure it runs smoothly on clean diesel before we go. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never needs to be taken to a garage. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over once the job is done.
About Tintwistle and where it is
Tintwistle is a village in Derbyshire, situated near the edge of the Peak District National Park and overlooking the surrounding lakes and countryside. Tintwistle sits at an elevation of 161 metres, with its terraced housing reflecting the local architectural style. Tintwistle is located close to the nearby towns of Hadfield, Padfield, and Hollingworth, and is approximately 11 miles from Manchester.
AdBlue drains across Derbyshire, Tintwistle included
Hadfield, Padfield and Hollingworth are among the places around Tintwistle that the same teams reach, together with much of Derbyshire further out, over the SK postcode area. Near a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down? Checking is better than assuming, and so phone.
Wherever your car sits — your driveway at home, a side street, a car park, a forecourt — our engineers drain it on the spot, and there's no need to bring it to us; that suits Tintwistle, a village, well.
Tintwistle: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
No flat figure could be honest, since every job is different. The price moves first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it turns on where the car is and whether our van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Longdendale Environmental Centre.
That's why every call from Tintwistle starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and whether it's run. Those replies turn a range into a straight price.
Before a van sets off, you hear the price on the phone. Then payment is on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As the van is travelling, dig out your insurance: many include misfuelling.
Tintwistle: still next to your car?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Say it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel handles it, across Tintwistle or wherever within Derbyshire.