Blean: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
Has your motor turned over since the AdBlue got in? This single point settles almost everything about what comes next. Anywhere the vehicle stands — Denstroude, Blean — never run an engine that has not been started yet. Leave the motor and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103; it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Blean. Stop the moment it is safe then turn off, if it has already run. A larger job, then, but the identical first step.
Match your case to a situation from the ones below, wherever around Kent you are.
Blean forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Only at this point, nozzle yet in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. Maybe you're at the BP, maybe at the Esso, possibly somewhere else around Blean.
What it means: this is the ideal place to find out. No pump has pulled it in, so the AdBlue sits just in that tank.
What to do: do not get back in and start it to clear the petrol pump. Three things: a push into a space with the attendants assisting, the bottle saved, and a ring to us from where you stand. Our equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt, and so a car that cannot be pushed away gets emptied where it is at the petrol pump.
At home in Blean with AdBlue in the diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. Only at the recycling bin, the empty container in your hand, did you look back at the cap you had opened at the drive. Homes just off Tyler Hill Road are hit as often as anywhere else.
Put simply: if your vehicle has not been driven since, it is nearly equal to finding out at the pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of that tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
Your move: keys indoors, and so no one takes the car anywhere first thing. Then, ring. Your driveway is where it gets emptied, whether in Blean or Honey Hill. Even at night, our pumps stay quiet enough for a residential street.
Blean: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Filled up, pulled away, and soon the engine was turning unevenly, smoking, losing power, or flashing up the dash. Maybe it was on Westfield, perhaps on the way out towards Canterbury, under 3 miles away.
What it means: the fuel system has drawn the AdBlue in. Through the fuel filter, through the pipework, and — the more the mileage — deeper into the injection pump and every injector. It travels further with every mile covered and each restart.
Stop somewhere safe — that is the next job — then switch everything off. Exit by the next junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M2, under 5 miles from Blean. It will not have cleared, so there is no sense starting it again to check. About what distance did it gone? Say so when you call.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've had the car barely a week. The AdBlue filler is right beside the diesel one, which you did not know, since your own car either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. It can happen to anyone, anywhere around Kent.
Meaning? Whichever applies above counts here — run or unrun — and one extra step. The owner often has to sign off any work, under plenty of rental and fleet contracts.
Do this: hire firm or your fleet manager first, us next, because sorting it early saves time. If you are stranded in the car park outside Canterbury West, or by Blean Village Hall, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Blean?
"I think so" is sometimes the most honest as it gets. A slight ammonia-like smell hangs near the filler, the bottle seems too light, and which cap came off is a blur. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Blean Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Pean Hill.
What it means: a little spilled about the filler does no damage to your engine. If it's inside your diesel tank, though, it does. You cannot tell which by turning the key, and doing so would suck in any AdBlue that is in the tank.
What to do: treat it as if it went in. Do not fire it up. Call us and describe what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
The common ground in each Blean AdBlue drain
No matter the situation, a single start applies. Three questions are asked once our technicians arrive — at a filling station, a drive, a street by St. Cosmus and St. Damian in the Blean or the car park outside The Hare at Blean: the liquid, the quantity, and whether it has been started. Your price comes on the call, before a van leaves, and those answers shape the job.
Draining the tank comes first, followed by a careful flush — more vital with urea than after petrol, because crystals and corrosion will not go by themselves, no matter how long you wait. Fresh diesel is put in once the filter is flushed or changed, and your car is finally checked. If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Starting the engine comes at the end. Our technicians check it runs smoothly on new diesel before we leave. Long-term damage is very uncommon when it is noticed quickly, and the whole job is done where your car is. For your insurer: the engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Blean and where it is
Blean is a small village situated on the River Stour in Kent, with a population of around 700 people. Blean sits near the city of Canterbury, approximately 2.4 miles away, and is characterized by its detached housing stock. Blean is located in a riverside setting, with an elevation of around 80 metres, and is close to nearby places such as Honey Hill and Rough Common. Blean is also within commuting distance to London, being around 52.3 miles away.
AdBlue drains about Blean and across Kent
Blean is a village, and the same teams that cover it work the towns near it too, Rough Common and Tyler Hill among them, across the CT postcode area. Quickest of all: a CT2 9 postcode for your location.
Central Blean or a lay-by near Keir's Meadow: either way it is, your car never needs to move at all for the drain. Our van empties it where it stands. Ring and ask rather than guess when you're close to Church of St. Gabriel, on a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down.
Your situation, summed up
Motor never started: phone, and leave it alone. Run by now? Stop, turn off, phone. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder whatever case, across Blean and Kent, on 0333 366 0103.