AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Brockwell Park: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if your engine has run since it went in. Not started yet? Then leave the car that way, whether your vehicle is — Brockwell Park or Dulwich Village. Phone 0333 366 0103 with your key and engine still off. Across Brockwell Park, that is generally drained and flushed on the spot. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. It's a bigger job, though step one doesn't change.
Match what happened to a situation from the ones below, anywhere across Greater London you happen to be.
On a Brockwell Park forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Picture it: standing by the petrol pump, gripping the bottle, you realise the filler you took off wasn't the correct one. Anywhere in Brockwell Park, then — Texaco, Esso, or anywhere else nearby.
Put simply: no better spot exists to spot it. Still in your tank, with no fuel pulled through: that is where the AdBlue is.
What to do: don't get back in and fire it up to clear the pump. Ask the attendants to help you roll the car into a parking bay, keep the receipt or the bottle, then call us from the forecourt. Can't move it beside the petrol pump? Explosion-proof kit makes a live forecourt safe, and so it can be drained where it is.
At home in Brockwell Park with AdBlue in the diesel tank
On your dash, a warning had shown all week. Bought a container, poured it in at home, binned the empty — and at that point looked at the cap a second time, after the fact. Houses just off A2214 get hit as much as everywhere else.
In short: if the car has not been driven since, it's almost as good as spotting it at the forecourt. Being unable to mix, AdBlue settles to the base inside the tank and stays. One night parked alters none of that.
Next: the keys in the house, and so no one drives the vehicle off first thing. Then, ring. Your driveway is where it is drained, be it in Brockwell Park or Herne Hill. Even at night, our pumps stay quiet enough for a residential street.
On the road in Brockwell Park with AdBlue in a diesel
Filled up, pulled away, and before long your motor was running unevenly, blowing smoke, losing power, or flashing up the dash. Perhaps it was on Dulwich Road, possibly on the way out towards Westminster, under 5 miles away.
Meaning? The fuel pump has taken the AdBlue up. Mileage decides how deep it gets: filter and pipework first, then the high-pressure pump and each injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
What to do: pull over where it is safe to do so and switch off. Exit by the next junction — not the services beyond — if you are on the M4, under 10 miles from Brockwell Park. It won't have cleared, so there is no point restarting to check. Let us hear the mileage driven as you ring.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
Seven days back, it was unknown to you. The AdBlue filler is right next to the diesel one, which you did not know, since your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Wherever you are across Greater London, every driver can slip up.
Meaning? Whatever case above applies here — run or not — plus one further step. Plenty of hire and fleet agreements need the owner's sign-off for repairs.
Next: ring the rental company or your fleet manager first, then us — sorting it before our arrival is faster. Stuck near Bond of Union or at Herne Hill until someone replies, your car stays switched off throughout.
Brockwell Park: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Now and then, "I think so" is the most you can truthfully say. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia round your filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. Maybe at a friend's drive in Tulse Hill, or in a rush outside St Jude's Church of England Primary School at the school run.
In short: spillage near the filler does the engine no harm. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Any AdBlue in the tank would be drawn in by firing up the vehicle, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Next: act as though it went in, then leave the motor off. Inspecting a tank that proves free of AdBlue is better than emptying one once it's been run — so ring then tell us what you noticed.
The common ground in every Brockwell Park AdBlue drain
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. Wherever the car is — The Half Moon's car park, a road by The Radical histories of Railton Road, a driveway, a filling station — our van gets there and we ask about the liquid, the amount, plus if your engine has turned over. Answers set the job; the quote comes by phone while no one has set off yet.
Then the tank is drained and the fuel system purged 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 does not rinse out on its own. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Most unrun cars are a half-hour job from the moment we turn up.
Firing it up comes last. Our test that it runs smoothly on clean diesel comes before our engineers go. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, and if it's noticed quickly, permanent damage is very rare. Paying comes that day, never in advance. For your insurer, you get a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling, so look at yours as we head over.
About Brockwell Park and where it is
Brockwell Park is a suburban area in south London, situated near the boundaries of Herne Hill, Knights Hill, and Brixton. Brockwell Park sits at an elevation of around 26 metres, approximately 4 miles from central London and 3.5 miles from Westminster. Brockwell Park is characterised by its predominantly terraced housing stock, which reflects the typical residential architecture of the surrounding area. Brockwell Park has a population of around 9986 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains in Brockwell Park, and across Greater London too
Knights Hill and Brixton get the identical teams as Brockwell Park, a residential suburb, along with further towns throughout SE postcodes. A postcode starting SE24 0 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to the green space at the edge of the village or in a car park in the middle of Brockwell Park, it does not need to shift. Wherever it sits, that is where it is emptied. Guessing won't help near Herne Hill Baptist Church, on a county line or somewhere awkward to describe; phone and check.
The one-line version
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off then ring. Whichever case fits, Petrol in Diesel takes over from there on 0333 366 0103, across Greater London and in Brockwell Park — after you pull over, switch off then ring, if it has run.