Bells Close: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if the motor has run since it was put in. Over in Blaydon Haughs or here in Bells Close, an unrun motor should stay unrun. Leave the engine and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103; it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Bells Close. Stop the minute it is safe then turn off, if it has been run. The job is bigger, yet the first step is the same.
Match your case to a situation from the ones below, wherever around Tyne and Wear you happen to be.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Bells Close forecourt
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you just spot it while you're stood at the pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. Possibly you're at the Gulf, possibly at the BP, possibly somewhere else around Bells Close.
What it means: this is the best spot to find out. Still inside that tank, and no fuel drawn through: that's where the AdBlue is.
What to do: don't get back in and fire it up to clear the petrol pump. Phone us from the forecourt after your car sits in a space — the staff will help roll it — and keep the receipt. If it can't be moved, it can be cleared at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
At home around Bells Close with AdBlue in the diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. Only at the recycling bin, the empty bottle in your hand, did you glance back at the cap you'd opened at the drive. Just off A1 is not less likely from any other place.
Put simply: if the car hasn't moved since, it is nearly equal to finding out at the forecourt. As it is reluctant to mix, AdBlue settles to the base inside your tank and waits. One night standing alters nothing.
Next: the keys indoors, so nobody drives the vehicle anywhere at breakfast. After that, ring. In Benwell or here around Bells Close, the draining happens on your drive. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
On the road around Bells Close 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. Bells Close, say, or the way towards Newcastle upon Tyne — a trip of under 5 miles.
Meaning? The fuel pump has taken the AdBlue up. Past the filter, through the lines, and — the further the distance — deeper into the injection pump and every injector. More miles, more starts: deeper it goes.
Next: find a safe place, stop, and switch your motor off. Bells Close lies under 5 miles from the Central Motorway East; on it, come off at the next junction instead of pressing on for the services. It won't have cleared, so there's no sense starting it again to check. About how far had it gone? Say so as you phone.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You've just driven this car for days. Unbeknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel inlets are next to each other here — unlike your own car, which has no AdBlue or stores it in another spot. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Tyne and Wear.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it has run, with one more step. Many rental and fleet contracts require the owner's sign-off before repairs.
Settling it before we turn up is faster, so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, and then us. If you're stuck in the car park at Blaydon, or by St Margaret's Church and Parish Centre, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, in Bells Close
At times, "I think so" is the most anyone can honestly say. A slight ammonia-like smell hangs around the filler, the bottle seems too light, and which cap came off is a blur. A hurried stop by the gates of Waverley Primary School, or a visit to a friend in Lemington: both fit.
What it means: a little spilled about the filler does no harm to your engine. A diesel tank with AdBlue inside is another story. If there is AdBlue in the tank, turning on your car will pull it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Do this: behave as though it got in, and don't start your engine. Describe what you saw on your phone. A clean tank looked at is a happier outcome than a run one emptied.
The common ground in each Bells Close AdBlue drain
Whichever scenario you are in, this job starts the same way. Anywhere the vehicle stands — The Vallum's car park, a street by St George's RC Church, a driveway, a forecourt — our van gets there and we ask for the liquid, the quantity, plus whether your motor has been run. On the phone, before dispatch, you hear our price, and those answers shape the job too.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to some metals used in fuel systems, so it won't rinse out on its own; that is why the flush, after the drain, matters much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Next comes the fuel filter — cleaned, or swapped when necessary — then clean diesel, and a test of the car. Most unrun cars are a half-hour visit from the moment our technicians get there.
Starting the car comes at the end. Before our engineers head off, it's tested to be sure it runs smoothly on fresh diesel. Our technicians do the whole job where your car is, and permanent damage is very uncommon if it has been noticed quickly. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, no money in advance. Dig out your insurance while we're en route: cover for misfuelling comes built into many policies.
About Bells Close
Bells Close is a locality situated on the riverside in Tyne and Wear, with an elevation of 34 metres above sea level. Bells Close lies approximately 3.4 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne, and is near other places such as Benwell, Scotswood, and Denton Burn. Bells Close has a population of around 618 people, and its predominant housing stock consists of semi-detached homes.
AdBlue drains around Bells Close, and across Tyne and Wear too
Being a small village, Bells Close shares its vans with the nearby towns — Denton Burn, Scotswood — right through NE postcodes. The location comes clearest from a postcode beginning NE15 6.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to Denton Dene or in a car park in the middle of Bells Close, it doesn't need to shift. Our engineers drain the car where it stands. Tricky to explain? Close to Holy Saviour or a border? Checking is better than assuming, and so phone.
Your scenario, in one line
Motor never started: phone, leaving it alone. Run by now? Stop, turn off, phone. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest whichever case, in Bells Close and Tyne and Wear, on 0333 366 0103.