What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Wheelton
Has your motor turned over since the AdBlue went in? This single point settles almost everything about what comes next. Anywhere the vehicle is — Johnsons Hillock, Wheelton — don't start an engine that has not been started yet. Usually this means draining and thoroughly rinsing it on the spot around Wheelton — and so keep the ignition and motor off and call 0333 366 0103. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Stage one remains the same, even if the work grows.
Further down: the situations we see, wherever across Lancashire. Pick the one that fits.
Wheelton forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Picture it: stood by the petrol pump, gripping the bottle, you spot the cap you opened wasn't the right one. It could be the D.Mayor & Son Coal Merchants, or the BP, or a different station in Wheelton.
Meaning? Spotting it here is the best it can be. Still inside that tank, with nothing drawn onwards: that is where the AdBlue sits.
What to do: don't get back in and start the car to clear the petrol pump. Ask the staff to help you roll your car into a parking bay, keep your receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. If it cannot be shifted, it can be emptied at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a working forecourt.
Wheelton, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
On the dash, a reminder had shown all week. Only at the recycling bin, the empty bottle in hand, did you look back at the cap you'd used at the drive. Houses just off Kenyon Lane get hit as much as everywhere else.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. At the floor of that tank is exactly where AdBlue waits, because it won't mix with diesel — and a night going by changes no difference.
Keep the keys indoors tonight — otherwise a person may drive it away first thing — and call us. Lower Copthurst or Wheelton: wherever your drive sits, that is where it is cleared. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Wheelton: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
A short way beyond filling up, your motor began misbehaving: rough running, smoke, less power, lights on your dash. Perhaps it was on Blackburn Road, maybe on the way out towards Preston, under 10 miles away.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been sucked into the fuel system. It has been through the fuel filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors. It goes further with every extra mile covered and each restart.
Do this: stop somewhere sensible, then turn your motor off. On the M61, under a mile from Wheelton, that means the next junction, not the services further on. It won't have cleared, and so there's no point restarting to find out. Phone us and say how far you travelled.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
It is a vehicle you have had for a week. Your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere, and so nothing warned you the AdBlue cap was right next to your diesel. Any driver, anywhere in Lancashire, could make it.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it's run, with one more step. The owner often needs to sign off the work, under plenty of rental and company contracts.
Next: phone the rental company or your fleet manager first, and then us — settling it before our arrival is faster. If you are stranded in the car park at Chorley, or by Wheelton War Memorial, while you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Wheelton?
"I think so" is sometimes as honest answer there is. Too light, the bottle; a trace of ammonia round your filler; no clear memory of the cap. Look familiar? A hurried top-up by the gates of St Chad's Catholic Primary School, or a visit to a friend in Windy Harbour: either fit.
Meaning? Spills outside the filler never reach the motor at all. Once it's inside the diesel tank, though, it does. Any AdBlue in the tank would be sucked in by starting your car, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
Assume it was put in, and don't start the key. Ring and give the details: we'd rather confirm a clean tank than empty one once the engine has run.
Wheelton: what every AdBlue drain has in common
Whichever situation you are in, this job starts the same way. We come to your car, whether it is at a forecourt, a driveway, the car park at Red Lion or a side street near Heapey and Wheelton Village Hall, and ask three things: what was put in, roughly how much, and whether the engine has been run. The price comes over the phone, before a van leaves, and the replies shape the job.
Then that tank is cleared and the 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 doesn't rinse out on its own. Finally come the filter, flushed or renewed as needed; clean diesel; and a test of your car. Not started? In that case about half an hour once we are there is most jobs.
Finally, we start the engine. Our test that it runs smoothly on fresh diesel comes before our technicians head off. Permanent damage is very unusual when it is caught soon, and the whole job is done where the car is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Wheelton, for a moment
Wheelton is a village in Lancashire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 117 metres, with terraced housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Wheelton lies approximately 6.4 miles from Preston and is surrounded by nearby places such as Lower Copthurst, Higher Copthurst, and Heapey. Wheelton has a population of around 724 residents and is located in the North West region of England, about 182.9 miles from London.
Wheelton and Lancashire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout PR postcodes, the vans serving Wheelton — a village — work nearby towns as well, Higher Copthurst and Heapey included. Fastest of all: a PR6 8 postcode for your location.
No moving is required, be it parked centrally in Wheelton or in a layby heading to Denham Wood, so leave it put. We drain the car where it stands. If you're somewhere hard to describe, near Saint Chads or close to a border, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Your situation, in one line
Where it has not started, phone then keep it that way. Whatever case fits, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, throughout Lancashire and in Wheelton — after you pull over, turn off then phone, if it's run.