What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Apsley
One fact counts most once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if the motor has run since. Not started yet? Then leave the vehicle that way, wherever the vehicle sits — Apsley or Rucklers Lane. Keep nothing on, call 0333 366 0103, and count on a thorough flush after a drain, done just where the vehicle stands in Apsley. When the motor has run, pull in somewhere safe first, then switch the vehicle off. A larger job, then, but the same first step.
Compare your case to a situation from the list below, anywhere in Hertfordshire you are.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Apsley forecourt
You're at the pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Maybe you are at the Sainsbury's, perhaps at the Esso, maybe somewhere else in Apsley.
Meaning? Finding out here is the best it gets. Only that tank has AdBlue; not one part beyond it has drawn it in.
What to do: don't get back in and start the vehicle to clear the pump. Ask the staff to help you roll the car into a parking space, keep the till receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. Stuck by the pump? Explosion-proof equipment makes a busy forecourt sensible, so it can be drained in place.
Apsley, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
On your dash, a reminder had been lit all week. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look once more at the cap. Driveways near Holly Bank get it as much as any other street.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. On the bottom of that tank is where AdBlue waits, because it won't blend with diesel — and a night passing changes nothing of the difference.
Keep your keys indoors overnight — otherwise a person may drive it away first thing — then phone us. Frogmore End or Apsley: whichever your drive is, that is where it is cleared. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel in Apsley?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your engine began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Somewhere on Minoan Drive or else heading towards St Albans — under 10 miles away.
The point: the system has drawn AdBlue in by now. The injection pump and each injector get it as well on a bigger trip, once the filter and lines have had it. Every restart, like each mile, pushes it on.
Your move: pull up somewhere sensible, then switch your motor off. Exit at the first junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M25, under 3 miles from Apsley. No trial starts: clearing itself isn't something AdBlue will do. Call, saying what distance the vehicle was driven.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have had the car barely a week. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is missing or elsewhere. On this one, the inlet is just next to your diesel inlet — news to you. It can happen to anyone, anywhere in Hertfordshire.
In short: one extra step on top of the cases above, which turn on whether it's run. Many hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
Your move: rental firm or fleet manager first, us second, because settling it early saves time. Waiting for a reply in the car park at the nearest station, or near Saint Mary's? Leave the engine off meanwhile.
Apsley: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Truthfully, the best answer may be that you think it did. A slight ammonia-like whiff hangs around your filler, the bottle seems too light, and the cap you took off is hard to recall. A hurried stop by the gates of Two Waters Primary School, or a visit to a friend in Nash Mills: both fits.
Meaning? Spills around the inlet don't touch the motor at all. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Firing up your car will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in that tank it would draw it in.
Next: assume it got in, then keep the motor off. Describe what you saw on your phone. A clean tank checked counts as a better result than an already-run one emptied.
Apsley: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Each case has the same start to the job. Forecourt, driveway, The Paper Mill's car park or a road by Dickenson's War Memorial — our van reaches the vehicle, and three questions follow: what liquid, what quantity, and if it has run. Your price comes over the phone, before a van leaves, and those replies set the job.
AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some metals used in fuel systems, and so it does not rinse out on its own; that is why the flush, after this drain, matters far more here than with petrol. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Starting the car comes at the end. With fresh diesel in, it runs while our technicians check it's running properly, and then we head off. Our technicians do the entire job where the car is, and long-term damage is very uncommon when it has been noticed quickly. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Dig out your insurance before we're en route: misfuelling cover is included in plenty of policies.
About Apsley itself
Apsley is a suburban area in Hertfordshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of around 80 metres. Apsley lies approximately 21 miles northwest of London and 5 miles southeast of St Albans, with nearby places including Frogmore End and Two Waters. Apsley has a population of around 6853 people, predominantly residing in flat-type housing. Apsley is close to the Grand Union Canal, which runs along the River Gade.
Apsley and Hertfordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Apsley is a residential suburb, and the same vans that cover it work the places near it too, Two Waters and Corner Hall among them, across the HP postcode area. Fastest of all: a HP3 9 postcode for your location.
No towing is required, be it stopped in the centre of Apsley or in a layby en route to Cock's Head Wood, and so keep it put. Draining is done on the spot. Phone and check rather than guess when you're by The Paper Trail - The Paper Mill Museum, on a border, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
The one-line version
Unstarted? Keep it that way and phone. Whatever line applies, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, across Hertfordshire and in Apsley — once you pull over, switch off and ring, if it has run.