AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Britannia Square, and What to Do Next
One thing matters above all once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is whether the motor has been started afterwards. Anywhere the car stands — St Johns, Britannia Square — don't start an engine that hasn't run yet. Leave the engine and your ignition off then call 0333 366 0103; it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Britannia Square. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. It's a bigger job, though step one does not change.
Below: the situations we meet, anywhere around Worcestershire. Choose yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Britannia Square forecourt
You're at the petrol pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Somewhere in Britannia Square, then — Esso, Texaco, or anywhere else nearby.
Meaning? Spotting it on the forecourt is the best it can be. The AdBlue is in that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
What to do: don't get back in and start the car to clear the pump. Ring us from the forecourt after your car sits in a space — the attendants will help push it — and keep the receipt. Emptying it right at the petrol pump is possible if it cannot be shifted, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
Britannia Square, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
On the dash, a reminder had shown for days. Only at the recycling bin, the empty bottle in hand, did you glance back at the cap you'd used on the driveway. Driveways near Britannia Square get it as much as any other street.
In short: if the car has not been driven since, it's nearly as good as finding out at the pump. As it is reluctant to mix, AdBlue drops to the base in that tank and waits. One night standing changes none of that.
Next: keys indoors, so nobody drives the car anywhere first thing. Then, ring. In Worcester or right here in Britannia Square, the draining is done at your drive. Night-time clears beside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise.
Britannia Square: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power or a glowing dashboard arrived a mile or two after the fill. It might have been driving to Worcester, under a mile away, or simply down Albany Terrace.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been sucked through the system. Past the fuel filter, through the pipework, and — the more the distance — on into the injection pump and each injector. Every restart, like each mile, carries it deeper.
What to do: pull over where it's safe then switch off. On the M5, under 3 miles from Britannia Square, that means the next junction, not the services further on. No test starts: clearing isn't something AdBlue does. About what distance had it go? Tell us when you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
It's a motor you have had for a week. The AdBlue filler sits right alongside the diesel filler, which you did not know, because your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Anywhere you are around Worcestershire, any motorist can be caught.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more step. Plenty of rental and company contracts need the owner's sign-off before repairs.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is quicker settled before we arrive than after. Hanging on for a reply at the car park outside Worcester Foregate Street, or near Worcester United Reformed Church? Leave your car off meanwhile.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, in Britannia Square
Truthfully, the only answer might be that you think it did. A faint ammonia-like whiff hangs near the filler, the bottle seems too light, and which cap came off is hard to recall. Maybe on a friend's drive in Diglis, or in a rush outside St George's Catholic Primary School at the school run.
What it means: a little spilled round your filler does no damage to the motor. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Turning on the vehicle cannot tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in that tank it would suck it in.
Next: act as though it got in, and leave your engine off. Phone and give the details: we'd rather find a tank free of AdBlue than empty one after your motor has run.
Every AdBlue drain in Britannia Square shares these steps
Every situation has the same opening to the work. Anywhere the car is — The Feathers's car park, a street beside Barbourne Ex Services Club, a driveway, a forecourt — our van arrives and we ask about the liquid, the amount, and whether the motor has been run. Those replies settle the work, and you get the price by phone, before anyone heads out.
Then that tank is cleared and the fuel system rinsed 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 doesn't rinse out on its own. Finally come the fuel filter, flushed or replaced if necessary; clean diesel; and a check of your car. Most unrun vehicles are a half-hour visit from the moment our technicians get there.
Lastly, our engineers fire it up. Our check that it runs smoothly on clean diesel comes before our technicians leave. When it is noticed quickly, the car very seldom has lasting damage, and the whole job happens where it is. Nothing is taken upfront, payment is made on the day, and you get what your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Dig out your insurance while we arrive: misfuelling cover is built into many policies.
About Britannia Square, briefly
Britannia Square is a suburban area in Worcestershire, situated on the riverside near the city of Worcester. Britannia Square sits at a low elevation of around 22 metres, close to the River Severn and within walking distance of Worcester's city centre. Britannia Square is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock, reflecting the area's history of residential development. Britannia Square is also conveniently located near other local areas, including Barbourne and Rainbow Hill.
AdBlue drains about Britannia Square and across Worcestershire
Being a residential suburb, Britannia Square has the same vans as the nearby places — Rainbow Hill, Barbourne — all the way through WR postcodes. Telling us a WR1 3 postcode pins you quickest of all.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to Flagge Meadow or in a car park in the middle of Britannia Square, it doesn't need to move. We drain the vehicle where it sits. If you're somewhere hard to explain, near Swan Theatre Studio or close to a boundary, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Your scenario, summed up
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off then call. Already run: stop, switch off and ring. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Britannia Square and anywhere in Worcestershire on 0333 366 0103.