AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Tyldesley? Don't Start It
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. The trouble starts once it's sucked through your pump — it will not ignite, and it will not combine with diesel. Caught before the motor has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Tyldesley. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Tyldesley
Things to do:
- Take the keys out, and so no one switches your ignition on.
- Put your hazards on if you're at all close to moving traffic.
- So you can tell us which liquid it was and roughly how much, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Give us a postcode starting M29 8, or whatever street lies nearest, and our van finds you straight — so ring from wherever you are.
Don't do these:
- No starting the engine — not for a second, not to reposition your vehicle.
- Your ignition stays off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to start the fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel won't thin it.
- Even a short way up Astley Street is too far to drive it.
- Emptying the tank on your own by the road isn't worth trying.
On a forecourt around Tyldesley, whether it's the Tesco or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll the car clear of the pump. At your own driveway, do not move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it is sprayed into your exhaust, where it cleans the gas. Not one side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in an injection pump, and an injection pump can't deal with urea.
It does not combine. Once it is tipped into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. It drops, since it is denser than diesel, and pools low where the intake draws its fuel from. When the pump runs, the AdBlue is first to go through. Until then it sits underneath the diesel, and that is how a car filled in Higher Folds yesterday and never started remains the straightforward one, as long as no one turns your key.
Two kinds of harm follow from there. It eats at certain metals found in fuel components, working on any part it touches until it's removed from your system. And when the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that block filters and lodge in tiny passages. Pipes holding AdBlue mean harm overnight for a car sitting around Tyldesley. Only inside your tank, it stays stable. Diesel protects the injection pump and each injector as it flows; water gives no lubrication, which is a separate kind of harm.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Fill a diesel with petrol in error over at the another forecourt nearby, and the issue is thinned fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and while it is inside the tank it causes no damage; the harm comes from running your engine on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid as such is simply the wrong one. It doesn't burn, and so it can't just be run through. It does not stay mixed, so it cannot be thinned. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether your car is in Astley or the middle of Tyldesley.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Never run? Then the AdBlue waits only inside that tank, the easiest bit of the whole system to clear, anywhere your car has come to rest in Greater Manchester.
Tyldesley: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It's not on purpose. Plenty of cars keep the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel inlet, occasionally behind one flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. A container bought when heading home and tipped in at home, rather than at the filling station, is the usual route.
A few familiar ways cover most cases. The refill is rushed outside Tyldesley St George's Central CofE Primary School and Nursery, because your dash lit up with a warning while the children were taken off. After work, a container is tipped in on a driveway near Stanley Street. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap refills the vehicle after dark, parked in the car park by Skenning Bob's.
The least known cars get it most — hire cars, brand-new ones, fleet cars, and the other vehicle in a home with one of each fuels. Keep it off: that is the first step to the same mistake, anywhere in Tyldesley or the remainder of Greater Manchester you are.
Started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Tyldesley?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Given any running time, it goes on to the injection pump and each injector, having passed through the filter and lines.
Perhaps returning from Astley Street Park, or part way across Tyldesley, the motor may go lumpy, smoke, lose power, flash the dash or stall. No starting it again to check: stop when it is safe, then switch it off. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
On the M61, under 3 miles from Tyldesley, the next junction is where to leave, and somewhere sensible is where to stop — not driving on.
Hopping across Tyldesley to the car park by Tyldesley Library is one thing; heading towards Salford, under 10 miles away, is something else, because every mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. So mileage counts. Tell us about how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the rinsing where the car has come to a stop, and once the engine has been started there is more of it. Very seldom does it leave lasting damage when it is caught early.
Tyldesley: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
The car remains where it is, whether that is a road beside King's Church, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station in Tyldesley, and the van comes to it. The job depends on three replies, and we get first — which fluid was put in, the amount, and if your engine has turned over.
Next, emptying that tank on the spot takes out the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. A full flush counts much more after AdBlue than after petrol, because residue will not wash out by itself. Testing the car comes last, after clean diesel goes in and the filter gets flushed or, if needed, replaced. If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once our technicians are there. The equipment is explosion-proof, so a live forecourt is no fault, and it's quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime the system, and that's the last step. Whether it is a parking space outside Atherton or a drive around Tyldesley, that is where our technicians fire it up and you head off. Before we go, our technicians check it's running correctly with fresh diesel in. No garage is required at any stage, with the whole job done then and there. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Tyldesley itself
Tyldesley is a town in Greater Manchester, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 57 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Tyldesley lies approximately 7 miles from Salford and is surrounded by nearby places such as Hindsford, Shakerley, and Blackmoor. Tyldesley has a population of around 19,193 people and is located in the North West region of England, about 170 miles from London. Tyldesley's riverside setting contributes to its geographical character.
AdBlue drains around Tyldesley and across Greater Manchester
The vans that answer AdBlue call-outs in Tyldesley also cover the places around it, Hindsford, Shakerley and Blackmoor among them, and most of Greater Manchester beyond, across the M postcode area. Guessing won't help by a border or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
No towing is needed. In Tyldesley, a riverside town, a van that comes to you works: the vehicle is drained where it stands, be it on a drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
Tyldesley: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Since the callouts vary, a single figure would not be fair. The cost changes first with how long, if at all, your 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 get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Tyldesley Town Hall.
Before a figure, never afterwards, each enquiry from Tyldesley begins with the same three checks: the fuel, the amount, and if the engine ran. Their answers narrow a range right down to a single figure.
Quoted by phone before the engineer heads out, it is settled on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
Still beside the vehicle in Tyldesley?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, right now, the most useful thing you can do. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Tyldesley or anywhere in Greater Manchester.