What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Bolham Water
One fact counts most when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is if the motor has run afterwards. Out in Stapley or right around Bolham Water, an unstarted engine must stay unrun. Leave your motor and your ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103; it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Bolham Water. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The job is bigger, but the first step is the same.
Match your case to a situation from the list below, anywhere around Devon you happen to be.
On a Bolham Water forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you only spot it while you're standing at the petrol pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. Anywhere in Bolham Water, then — Regent, Harvest Energy, or anywhere else close by.
In short: no better spot to be to spot it. Nothing has drawn it in, and so the AdBlue stays just inside that tank.
What to do: do not get back in and fire it up to clear the pump. Ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle into a parking bay, keep your receipt or the bottle, and call us from the forecourt. Draining it there at the pump is fine when it cannot be moved, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Bolham Water drive?
Several days had gone by with the warning light on. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look a second time at the cap. Just off Broad Street is not less likely from anywhere.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of your tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves the car in the morning. Then call. Your driveway is where it is emptied, be it in Bolham Water or Carlingwark. Our pumping kit runs quietly enough not to disturb the street at night.
Bolham Water: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
A mile or two beyond topping up, your engine began misbehaving: rough running, smoke, less power, warnings on your dash. Lillycombe Lane, perhaps, or the way towards Exeter — a trip of under 25 miles.
What it means: your fuel system has sucked the AdBlue in. Past the filter, along the lines, and — the further the distance — on into the injection pump and every injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: pick a sensible spot, stop, and switch the engine off. Services further along can wait: on the M5, under 5 miles out of Bolham Water, take the first junction. Do not restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Call us and say how far you drove.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You've only had the car for days. Your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, and so no one warned you the AdBlue inlet was right next to your diesel. It can happen to anyone, anywhere in Devon.
The point: just as above, divided by whether it ran, but with one added stage. Plenty of hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on your car.
Do this: rental firm or fleet manager to begin with, us second, because sorting it beforehand saves time. Leave the car off while the reply arrives, even if you are waiting outside Honiton or close to Clayhidon Village Hall.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Bolham Water?
At times, "I think so" is all you can honestly say. Which cap came off, you can't recall; meanwhile the bottle weighs less than expected, and ammonia hangs by the filler. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Churchstanton Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Rosemary Lane.
In short: spillage near the filler leaves the engine no harm. The diesel tank with AdBlue in it is a different story. Any AdBlue in your tank would be drawn in by turning on the car, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Don't fire it up. Phone with what you saw: we'd rather confirm a clean tank than drain one after your engine has run.
The common ground in every Bolham Water AdBlue drain
The work opens the same way, whichever the situation. Filling station, driveway, the pub in the village's car park or a street by Holy Trinity — our van comes to the car, and three answers follow: which fluid, which quantity, and whether it has run. The price is given on the call, before a van leaves, and the replies set the work.
Then your tank is drained and the fuel system cleaned 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. Clean diesel is put in once the fuel filter has been flushed or replaced, and the car is then tested. If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
Our engineers fire it up at the end. Our test that it runs correctly on new diesel comes before we head off. Lasting damage is very unusual if it is noticed soon, and the whole job is done where the car is. Paying comes on the day, never in advance. For the insurer, there is a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer. Plenty of insurance policies cover misfuelling, so look at yours while the van travels.
About Bolham Water
Bolham Water is a small hamlet situated on the riverside in Devon, with a mix of detached homes and a rural landscape. Bolham Water sits at an elevation of 172 metres, near the villages of Carlingwark and Biscombe. Bolham Water is located approximately 19 miles from Exeter, making it a relatively rural community within the wider region. Bolham Water has a population of around 508 people, living in predominantly detached houses.
Bolham Water and Devon: AdBlue drains across the area
Biscombe and Madford get the same teams as Bolham Water, a rural hamlet, plus other towns over EX postcodes. Your whereabouts comes clearest from a postcode that starts EX15 3.
Whether the vehicle is on a lay-by on the way to Ridge Wood or in a car park in the middle of Bolham Water, it does not need to shift. Our van empties it where it stands. Tricky to explain? By Hemyock Village Hall or a border? Checking beats assuming, and so phone.
Your scenario, in one line
Still unrun? Keep the vehicle off and ring. Already run: stop, switch off then call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Bolham Water and anywhere across Devon on 0333 366 0103.