AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Brookmans Park, and What to Do Next
Has the motor run since the AdBlue got in? This single point decides nearly everything about what comes next. Not started so far? Then leave the car that way, whether your car sits — Brookmans Park or Welham Green. Leave the engine and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103; it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Brookmans Park. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. A bigger job, yes, yet the identical first move.
Wherever across Hertfordshire it took place, one of the situations below fits yours.
At the pump around Brookmans Park: AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you just notice it while you are stood at the petrol pump, bottle or nozzle in your hand. It could be the Esso, or perhaps the Welham Green Service Station, or another station in Brookmans Park.
Put simply: no better place to be to discover it. The AdBlue is in that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Clearing the pump is no excuse to start it — so don't get back in. Three jobs: a shove into a space with the attendants assisting, the bottle saved, and a ring to us from where you stand. The equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt, and so a vehicle that cannot be pushed away gets cleared right at the pump.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Brookmans Park drive?
On your dash, a reminder had been lit all week. A bottle from the shop, tipped in at the driveway — and it was only by the bin that the cap got your eye. Houses just off Bradmore Green get hit as often as everywhere else.
In short: if the vehicle hasn't been driven since, it's nearly as good as spotting it at the forecourt. Being unable to blend, AdBlue settles to the base in your tank and waits. One night standing changes nothing.
Next: keys indoors, so nobody drives the car off at breakfast. After that, ring. Water End or Brookmans Park: wherever your drive sits, that is where it gets emptied. Even at night, our pumps stay quiet enough for a residential street.
Drove off with AdBlue in a diesel around Brookmans Park?
Rough running, smoke, falling power or a glowing dashboard arrived a short way beyond the top-up. Brookmans Avenue, say, or the way to St Albans — a trip of under 10 miles.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked through the system. The high-pressure pump and each injector get it as well on a bigger run, after the filter and pipework have it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: find a safe spot, stop, then switch your engine off. Brookmans Park lies under a mile from the A1(M); there, come off at the first junction instead of pressing on for the services. Starting it again to test gets nothing — AdBlue never clears itself. Ring us and say how far you travelled.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
A week back, the car was unknown to you. Unbeknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel inlets are next to each other here — not like your own vehicle, which has none or keeps it in another spot. Anywhere you happen to be in Hertfordshire, any motorist can slip up.
The upshot: just as above, split by if it ran, only with an added stage. Work on your vehicle frequently needs the owner's go-ahead under hire or fleet terms.
Your move: hire firm or your fleet manager first, us second, because sorting it early saves time. Keep the car off as the answer arrives, even if you are waiting outside the nearest station or close to Brookmans Park Library.
Brookmans Park: unsure whether it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
At times, "I think so" is all you can honestly say. A faint ammonia whiff hangs near the filler, the bottle seems too light, and which cap came off is a blur. Maybe on a friend's driveway in North Mymms, or rushing by Brookmans Park Primary School at the school run.
What it means: a little spilled about your filler does no damage to the motor. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Any AdBlue in that tank would be drawn in by turning on the vehicle, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Do not crank it. Tell us what you noticed on the phone. A clean tank looked at is a happier result than a run one emptied.
The common ground in each Brookmans Park AdBlue drain
No matter the situation, a single start applies. Three things are asked once we reach the car — on a filling station, a drive, a street by Brookmans Park United Reformed Church or the car park outside The Brookmans: the fluid, the quantity, and if the motor has run. Those replies decide this work, and you hear the quote on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Then the tank is emptied and the system flushed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't rinse out on its own. Last are your filter, cleaned or replaced as needed; fresh diesel; and a check of the vehicle. If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
We fire it up last. With fresh diesel in, it runs while our technicians make sure it's running properly, and then we head off. Long-term damage is very rare if it is caught early, and the entire job is done where the car is. For your insurer: the engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, no money upfront. It is worth remembering: lots of insurers include misfuelling cover, and so a quick look at your documents as you wait pays.
About Brookmans Park and where it is
Brookmans Park is a village in Hertfordshire, situated approximately 15 miles north of London and 6 miles south of St Albans. Brookmans Park sits in a relatively low-lying area at around 97 metres above sea level, near the villages of Water End, Bell Bar, and Swanley Bar. Brookmans Park has a population of around 1735 people, predominantly living in semi-detached houses.
AdBlue drains in Brookmans Park, and across Hertfordshire too
Bell Bar and Swanley Bar get the same vans as Brookmans Park, a rural village, along with other places over AL postcodes. Fastest of all: a AL9 7 postcode to show your location.
No towing is required, be it stopped in the centre of Brookmans Park or on a layby heading to Flinter's Wood, and so keep it where it is. Our technicians drain the car where it sits. Tricky to explain? Close to St. Thomas More or a county line? Checking is better than guessing, and so ring.
The one-line version
Where it hasn't run, phone and leave it that way. Already run: stop, switch off and ring. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there around Brookmans Park and anywhere around Hertfordshire on 0333 366 0103.