Brompton: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
One thing counts most once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is whether your motor has run afterwards. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the vehicle is in Brompton itself or out in West Brompton. Ring 0333 366 0103 with your ignition and engine still off. Across Brompton, that is generally drained and cleaned where it stands. Pull over the minute you safely can then turn off, if it has been run. It's a bigger job, yet stage one does not change.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever around Greater London it happened.
Brompton forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Just now, nozzle still in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, there at the pump. Anywhere in Brompton, then — Gulf, Shell, or somewhere else close by.
What it means: this is the ideal place to find out. The AdBlue is in your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has sucked it in.
What to do: don't get back in and fire it up to clear the pump. Get the attendants to help rolling it to a space, hold on to the receipt, then phone us right there. If it cannot be shifted, it can be drained at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
Brompton, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Several days had gone by with the dash light on. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look a second time at the cap. Driveways close to Pelham Place get it as much as any other street.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue keep separate: the AdBlue settles to the floor of that tank and stays put, however long it waits.
Your move: keys in the house, so nobody drives your car off at breakfast. After that, phone. Our engineers drain the car on your driveway, whether that's around Brompton or out in South Kensington. Our equipment runs quietly enough that it won't wake the neighbours at night.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel in Brompton?
A mile or two beyond filling up, your motor began misbehaving: roughness, smoke, lost power, lights on the dash. It might have been driving for Westminster, under 3 miles away, or just along Thurloe Square.
What it means: the system has sucked the AdBlue in. Distance decides how deep it goes: filter and pipework first, then the injection pump and each injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
What to do: pull over where it's safe to do so then switch off. Leave by the next junction — not the services further along — if you are on the M4, under 5 miles from Brompton. It won't have cleared, and so there is no point starting it again to check. Call, saying what distance your vehicle was driven.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
You have had the car hardly a week. On your own car, AdBlue is absent or elsewhere. On this one, the inlet is right by your diesel cap — news to you. Anywhere you happen to be across Greater London, every motorist can slip up.
Meaning? Whichever applies above counts here — run or unrun — plus one further step. The owner frequently needs to approve any work, under plenty of rental and fleet agreements.
Next: ring the hire company or the fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before we arrive is quicker. Waiting for a reply at the car park outside West Brompton, or beside The Thin House? Keep the engine off meanwhile.
Unsure about AdBlue in your diesel tank in Brompton?
At times the honest answer is "I think so". The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia round the filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. A hurried stop by the gates of Oratory Roman Catholic Primary School, or a visit to a friend in Belgravia: both fit.
What it means: a little spilled about the filler does no damage to the engine. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. Any AdBlue in your tank would be pulled in by starting the car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Next: assume it got in, and keep your motor off. Ring with the details: we would rather confirm a tank free of AdBlue than drain one after your motor has run.
The common ground in each Brompton AdBlue drain
Each situation has the same opening to the work. Three things are asked when we reach the car — on a filling station, a driveway, a road by François Guizot or the car park at Hoop & Toy: the fluid, the quantity, and whether it has run. The price comes over the phone, ahead of anyone setting off, and the answers set the work.
Draining that tank comes next, then a careful flush — more important with urea than with petrol, since crystals and corrosion will not go on their own, however long it sits. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
Last, our technicians start the engine. Before our technicians leave, it is checked to make sure it runs correctly on fresh diesel. Long-term damage is very rare if it's noticed quickly, and the entire job is done where your car is. For your insurer: the engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Brompton
Brompton is a densely populated suburban area in central London, situated near the Thames and close to notable neighbourhoods such as South Kensington, Chelsea, and Knightsbridge. Brompton sits at a low elevation of around 9 metres above sea level, reflecting its proximity to the river. Brompton is characterized by its predominantly flat-based residential accommodation, housing a population of approximately 14246 people. Brompton is also remarkably close to the city centre, being just 2.1 miles from London and 2.0 miles from Westminster.
Brompton and Greater London: AdBlue drains across the area
Over SW postcodes, the vans serving Brompton — a residential suburb — work surrounding towns as well, Chelsea and Knightsbridge among them. Fastest of all: a SW7 2 postcode to show where you stand.
Centre of Brompton or a lay-by near Pelham Crescent Gardens: either way it sits, the vehicle doesn't need to move an inch for us. Where it stands, that's where it gets emptied. Phone and check instead of guessing if you are by Béla Bartók, near a boundary, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
Your scenario, summed up
Unstarted? Leave the car that way and phone. Run already: pull over, power down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, within Brompton or anywhere in Greater London.