AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Alconbury, and What to Do Next
One thing counts most when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if your engine has run since. Not started so far? Then keep the vehicle like that, wherever your car sits — Alconbury or Upton. Leave the motor and your ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103; it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Alconbury. When the engine has run, pull in somewhere safe straight away, then switch the car off. A bigger job, then, but the identical opening move.
Wherever across Cambridgeshire it happened, one of the situations below fits yours.
At the pump in Alconbury: AdBlue in a diesel
Only now, nozzle still in your hand, you realise that the cap you opened was the wrong one, there at the pump. It might be the Alconbury Services, or perhaps the BP, or a different forecourt around Alconbury.
The upshot: of every spot to notice, this is the best. Still in that tank, with nothing drawn through: that's where the AdBlue sits.
Clearing the petrol pump is no excuse to start it — so do not get back in. Ring us from the forecourt after your vehicle is in a space — the staff will help push it — and keep the receipt. Emptying it there at the petrol pump is possible if it cannot be shifted, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home in Alconbury
Days had passed with the dash light on. A bottle bought at the shop, emptied in at the drive — and it's just at the bin that the cap got your eye. Drives close to Chapel Street get it as much as any other street.
The upshot: zero miles since makes this almost equal to spotting it at the petrol pump. Being reluctant to blend, AdBlue drops to the base in your tank and stays. One night parked alters none of that.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves your car in the morning. Then ring. Your driveway is where it gets drained, be it around Alconbury or Alconbury Weston. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
On the road around Alconbury with AdBlue in a diesel
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the motor began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Perhaps it was on High Street, maybe on the way out towards Peterborough, under 15 miles away.
The upshot: your system has drawn AdBlue in by now. Past your filter, along the lines, and — the further the distance — on into the high-pressure pump and every injector. It goes further with every mile covered and each restart.
What to do: pull over where it's safe then switch off. Leave by the next junction — not the services further along — if you're on the A1(M), under a mile from Alconbury. Starting it again to test gets nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear itself. Call, and say how far your vehicle went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
It's a motor you have had for a week. Your own car either has no AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere, and so nothing warned you the AdBlue cap was just next to the diesel. Throughout Cambridgeshire, no one is immune.
The upshot: just as above, divided by whether it ran, only with one added step. Many hire and fleet contracts need the owner's sign-off before work.
Your move: hire firm or fleet manager first, us next, because sorting it beforehand saves time. Waiting for an answer in the car park outside Huntingdon, or near St. Peter's & St. Paul's? Keep the car off meanwhile.
Alconbury: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
"I think so" is often the most honest answer there is. Which cap was taken off, you cannot recall; meanwhile the bottle feels less than expected, and ammonia lingers by the filler. A hurried top-up by the gates of Alconbury CofE Primary School, or a call to a friend in Great Stukeley: either fit.
Meaning? Drips outside the inlet don't touch the engine at all. A diesel tank with AdBlue inside is another story. You cannot tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so would suck in any AdBlue that is in your tank.
Next: assume it got in, then keep your engine off. Ring us and describe what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
The common ground in every Alconbury AdBlue drain
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. We come to your car, whether it is on a forecourt, a drive, the car park outside The White Hart or a side street near View of Meadow and Church, and ask three things: what went in, about how much, and whether the motor has been run. Those answers settle the work, and you get the price by phone, before anyone sets off.
A thorough flush comes after this drain. With petrol it is standard; with AdBlue it's crucial, since crystals build up and certain metals are attacked, and none of that washes out unaided. Then is the fuel filter — flushed, or swapped where necessary — then fresh diesel, and a test of the car. Never started? In that case about half an hour on site covers most jobs.
Firing it up comes last. Before our engineers leave, it's checked to confirm it runs smoothly on new diesel. Our engineers do the whole job where the car is, and permanent damage is very unusual when it has been caught early. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling, and so look at yours while the van travels.
About Alconbury and where it is
Alconbury is a village in Cambridgeshire, situated near the River Great Ouse and close to the villages of Alconbury Weston and Little Stukeley. Alconbury sits at a low elevation of around 19 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Alconbury is located near the A1 and A14 roads, providing links to Peterborough and other nearby towns. Alconbury remains a small rural community with a population of around 827 people.
AdBlue drains about Alconbury and across Cambridgeshire
Being a village, Alconbury has the same vans as the surrounding places — Alconbury Weald, Little Stukeley — all the way through PE postcodes. Giving us your PE28 4 postcode pins you quickest of all.
Stopped en route to Football Fields, or right in the heart of Alconbury, your car stays put — there is no need to move it at all. Our technicians drain it where it is. If you are somewhere hard to describe, near Alconbury Memorial Hall or close to a boundary, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Your situation, summed up
Motor not started: ring, leaving it alone. Already run: stop, switch off then ring. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Alconbury and anywhere in Cambridgeshire on 0333 366 0103.