Boxgrove: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
All of it hinges on one detail: whether the engine has started after the AdBlue was added — far more than anything else. Out in East Hampnett or here in Boxgrove, an unrun engine must remain unrun. Normally that means emptying and properly flushing it right there around Boxgrove — so leave your ignition and motor off and ring 0333 366 0103. Where your engine has run, pull in safely first, then turn the car off. It is a larger job, yet step one doesn't change.
Further down: the cases our engineers meet, anywhere in West Sussex. Choose the one that fits.
Boxgrove forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you just notice it as you're stood at the pump, bottle or the nozzle in hand. It could be the Esso, or the Sainsbury's, or a different station around Boxgrove.
What it means: this is the best place to find out. Nothing has pulled it in, so the AdBlue stays only inside the tank.
Clearing the pump is no reason to start it — and so do not get back in. Have the staff to lend a hand rolling it to a bay, hold on to the receipt, then ring us from there. The equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a live forecourt, and so a car that can't be pushed away is drained right at the petrol pump.
Boxgrove, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Days had passed with the dash light on. Only at the recycling bin, the empty bottle in hand, did you look back at the cap you had used on the drive. Driveways near Church Lane see it as much as any other street.
Meaning? As long as your vehicle has not moved since, it is second to the forecourt case. On the bottom of the tank sits where AdBlue waits, because it will not blend with diesel — and a night going by changes no difference.
Put the keys indoors tonight — otherwise a person may take it away at breakfast — and phone us. Out in Halnaker or here around Boxgrove, the draining is done at your drive. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
On the road in Boxgrove with AdBlue in a diesel
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the engine began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Crouch Cross Lane, say, or the route towards Chichester — a trip of under 5 miles.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been pulled into the fuel system. It's been through the filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors. Every restart, like every mile, carries it deeper.
Next: pick a sensible place, pull in, and switch your motor off. On the Waterlooville Bypass, under 15 miles from Boxgrove, that means the next junction, not the services further on. Starting it again to check gets nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear itself. About how far had it go? Tell us when you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company cars
It is a car you have had for a week. The AdBlue filler sits right next to the diesel one, which you did not know, because your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Any driver, anywhere in West Sussex, might do it.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more step. The owner often needs to sign off the work, under plenty of hire and company agreements.
Next: phone the rental company or the fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before we arrive is faster. Hanging on for a reply at the car park outside Chichester, or beside Boxgrove Priory? Leave your car off throughout.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, around Boxgrove
Honestly, the only answer might be that you think it did. Which cap came off, you cannot say; meanwhile the bottle feels less than it ought to, and ammonia hangs by the filler. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Boxgrove CofE Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Crockerhill.
Meaning? Drips outside the inlet don't touch your engine at all. If it is inside your diesel tank, though, it does. Any AdBlue in your tank will be pulled in by turning on the car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Next: assume it went in, then keep the motor off. Call us and describe what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
The common ground in every Boxgrove AdBlue drain
Each case gets the same opening to the job. Three things are asked once our engineers reach the car — on a filling station, a driveway, a street by Boxgrove Priory. or the car park at Anglesey Arms: the liquid, the amount, and if the motor has run. Answers shape the job; the quote follows by phone whilst no one has set off yet.
AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some metals used in fuel systems, so it does not rinse out on its own; that is why the flush, after this drain, matters much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Clean diesel is put in after the filter has been cleaned or replaced, and your car is finally checked. If the motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
We fire it up at the end. Before our engineers head off, it's tested to be sure it runs properly on clean diesel. Permanent damage is very rare when it is noticed quickly, and the entire job is done where the vehicle is. Nothing is paid upfront, payment is made on the day, and you get what your insurer asks for: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Plenty of policies cover misfuelling, and so check yours as we head over.
About Boxgrove, briefly
Boxgrove is a small village in West Sussex, situated near the city of Chichester and close to the villages of Halnaker and Tangmere. Boxgrove sits in a low-lying area at an elevation of around 26 metres, with a mix of agricultural land and residential areas. Boxgrove has a population of approximately 667 people, with a predominance of detached housing. Boxgrove is located about 51 miles from London, making it a commuter village with easy access to the capital.
Boxgrove and West Sussex: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a rural village, Boxgrove has the same vans as the nearby places — Strettington, Tangmere — right through PO postcodes. Fastest of all: a PO18 0 postcode to show your location.
No moving is required, whether stopped in the centre of Boxgrove or in a lay-by heading to Stone Dell, so leave it put. We drain the vehicle where it sits. Ring and ask instead of guessing when you are by Boxgrove Village Hall., on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down.
Your situation, in one line
Where it has not started, phone and leave it that way. Run by now: pull over, power down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, within Boxgrove or wherever in West Sussex.