Braintree: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
One fact counts most when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is if the motor has run since. Not run so far? Then keep the vehicle like that, wherever the vehicle sits — Braintree or Bocking Churchstreet. Normally that means draining and thoroughly rinsing it right there in Braintree — and so leave your key and engine off and phone 0333 366 0103. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. A bigger job, yes, yet the identical opening step.
Below: the situations our engineers see, anywhere in Essex. Choose yours.
On a Braintree forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you just spot it while you are standing at the pump, bottle or nozzle in your hand. Whether Sainsbury's, BP or anywhere else in Braintree, the case is identical.
In short: no better place to be to spot it. Nothing has drawn it in, so the AdBlue sits only in the tank.
Clearing the pump is no reason to run it — and so don't get back in. A few jobs: a shove into a space with the attendants helping, the receipt saved, and a ring to us from where you stand. The equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt, so a vehicle that can't be pushed clear is drained right at the petrol pump.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Braintree drive?
The warning light had been on for days. A bottle bought at the shop, tipped in at the drive — and it's just by the bin that the cap got your eye. Drives close to Manor Street see it as much as anywhere.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. On the bottom of that tank sits exactly where AdBlue stays, because it will not mix with diesel — and a night passing makes no difference.
Keep your keys indoors overnight — otherwise someone might drive it away at breakfast — then call us. Your drive is where it is emptied, be it in Braintree or Bocking. Even at night, the pumps are quiet enough for a residential street.
Braintree: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Lumpy running, smoke, falling power or a lit dashboard arrived a short way beyond the top-up. Maybe heading to Chelmsford, under 15 miles away, or just along School Walk.
What it means: your fuel system has sucked the AdBlue in. It has been through the filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and the injectors. It goes deeper with every extra mile driven and each restart.
Stop safely — that is the first step — then switch it off. Exit by the next junction — not the services beyond — if you are on the M11, under 15 miles from Braintree. Starting it again to test achieves nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear itself. Call us and say how far you travelled.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
It's a car you have had for a week. On your own car, AdBlue is absent or somewhere else. On this one, the cap is just by your diesel cap — a surprise to you. Across Essex, nobody is immune.
The point: just as above, split by whether it ran, but with an added step. Many rental and fleet contracts require the owner's approval before work.
Do this: hire firm or fleet manager first, us next, because sorting it early cuts time. If you're stranded in the car park outside the nearest station, or by Braintee Town Hall, whilst you wait for an answer, leave your car off.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Braintree?
At times the honest answer is "I think so". Too light, the bottle; a hint of ammonia round the filler; no clear memory of the cap. Sound familiar? Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at St Francis Catholic Primary School, Braintree, or on a friend's drive in Row Green.
Put simply: spillage round your filler leaves your engine no harm. The diesel tank with AdBlue in it is another matter. Turning on the vehicle won't tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in the tank it would pull it in.
Next: act as though it got in, then leave your motor off. Ring us and describe what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
The common ground in each Braintree AdBlue drain
The job begins the same way, whatever the case. Filling station, driveway, The Nags Head's car park or a road by Braintree Library — the van comes to your car, and three answers follow: what liquid, what quantity, and if it has run. Over the phone, before dispatch, you are told our quote, and those replies shape the work too.
Then the tank is drained and the fuel system purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not rinse out on its own. Finally come the fuel filter, cleaned or renewed as needed; fresh diesel; and a check of the car. If the motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
We fire it up at the end. Before we head off, it is checked to make sure it runs correctly on fresh diesel. Our engineers do the entire job where your car is, and permanent damage is very uncommon when it has been noticed early. Nothing is taken upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you get what the insurer wants: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. It is worth knowing: lots of insurers offer misfuelling cover, so a quick look at your documents while you wait pays.
About Braintree, briefly
Braintree is a town situated in the eastern part of Essex, on the banks of the River Brain, with an elevation of around 68 metres. Braintree lies approximately 38.8 miles northeast of London and 10.3 miles northeast of Chelmsford, near the villages of Bocking and Great Notley. Braintree has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant in the area. Braintree is close to the Galleys Corner roundabout, a major local transport hub.
AdBlue drains round Braintree and across Essex
Braintree is a riverside town, and the same vans that cover it work the places near it too, Galleys Corner and Great Notley among them, across the CM postcode area. Your location comes clearest from a postcode beginning CM7 3.
No towing is required, be it stopped centrally in Braintree or on a lay-by en route to Weavers Field, and so keep it where it is. Where it sits, that's where it is emptied. Guessing won't help near John Ray, on a county line or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
In one line: your situation
Motor not started: ring, and leave it alone. Run already? Stop, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest whatever it is, across Braintree and Essex, on 0333 366 0103.