AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Carharrack, and What to Do Next
Has your engine run since the AdBlue went in? That one point settles almost everything else from here. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the vehicle is around Carharrack itself or out in St Day. Switch nothing on, call 0333 366 0103, and expect a proper flush plus a drain, done just where your car sits in Carharrack. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. A bigger job, yes, yet the identical opening step.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever around Cornwall it happened.
Carharrack forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you just notice it while you are stood at the petrol pump, bottle or the nozzle in hand. Be it Shell, Texaco or somewhere else around Carharrack, the case is the same.
In short: there is no better spot to be to spot it. The AdBlue is in that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
What to do: don't get back in and crank it to clear the pump. Ring us from the forecourt after the car is in a bay — the attendants will help push it — then save the receipt. If it can't be moved, it can be drained at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
At home in Carharrack with AdBlue in the diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. Bought a container, tipped it in outside the house, recycled the empty — and at that point checked the cap a second time, after the fact. Just off Chapel Terrace is not different from any other place.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue keep separate: the AdBlue drops to the floor of the tank and remains put, however long the night.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so nobody moves your car in the morning. Then ring. Sparry Bottom or Carharrack: wherever your driveway sits, that is where it is cleared. Even at night, the pumps are quiet enough for a residential street.
Carharrack: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your motor began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Maybe it was on Fore Street, possibly on the way out towards Truro, under 10 miles away.
The upshot: your system has drawn AdBlue through already. Through the filter, along the lines, and — the further the distance — deeper into the high-pressure pump and each injector. It travels further with every mile covered and every restart.
What to do: pull over where it is safe then switch off. Service stations further along can wait: from the M5, over 50 miles out of Carharrack, take the first junction. It will not have cleared, and so there's no sense restarting to check. Tell us hear the mileage driven when you ring.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've only driven this car a week. Your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or puts it somewhere different, so nothing told you the AdBlue inlet was just beside the diesel. Across Cornwall, nobody is safe from it.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more stage. Plenty of hire and fleet contracts need the owner's approval for repairs.
Settling it before we arrives is faster, and so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, and then us. Keep the car switched off while the reply comes, even if you're parked outside Redruth or close to St Piran Mission Church.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Carharrack?
"I think so" is often as honest as it gets. Too light, that bottle; a hint of ammonia round the filler; a hazy memory of which cap. Sound familiar? Maybe at a friend's driveway in Vogue, or in a rush by St Day and Carharrack Community School at the school run.
The upshot: the engine is not harmed by a little AdBlue splashed around the filler. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. Any AdBlue in that tank will be pulled in by starting the vehicle, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Next: assume it went in, then keep the engine off. Phone and give what you saw: we would rather find a tank free of AdBlue than empty one after the engine has run.
Carharrack: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Each situation gets the same opening to the job. Forecourt, drive, St Day Inn's car park or a road beside Carharrack Methodist Chapel — our van comes to your vehicle, and three answers come next: which fluid, what amount, and whether it ran. On the phone, ahead of dispatch, you hear the quote, and those replies shape the work too.
AdBlue crystallises and eats at some metals used in fuel systems, and so it does not wash out unaided; that's why a full flush, after this drain, matters much more here than with petrol. Then comes the fuel filter — flushed, or swapped when needed — then fresh diesel, and a test of your vehicle. Where the motor has not run, expect about half an hour on site, for most jobs.
The final step is firing it up. With fresh diesel in, it runs while our technicians confirm it is running properly, and then we leave. If it's noticed quickly, the car very rarely has long-term damage, and the entire job happens where it is. Nothing is taken upfront, payment happens on the day, and you receive what the insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Carharrack, briefly
Carharrack is a village in Cornwall, situated inland at an elevation of 103 metres, approximately 6.3 miles from Truro. Carharrack has a population of around 1254 people, with a predominance of detached housing. Carharrack is close to nearby places such as Sparry Bottom, Tolcarne, and Trevarth, and is located in the South West region of England. Carharrack is about 237.4 miles from London, making it a relatively remote village in the south west of the country.
AdBlue drains around Carharrack, and across Cornwall too
Being a rural village, Carharrack shares its vans with the surrounding towns — Trevarth, Tolcarne — all the way through TR postcodes. Quickest of all: a TR16 5 postcode for your location.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to Carharrack Playing Field or in a car park in the middle of Carharrack, it does not need to move. Our van drains it in place. Guessing won't help beside St Day Old Church, on a county line or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
The one-line version
Engine not started: ring, and leave it alone. Already run: stop, switch off and ring. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there around Carharrack and anywhere around Cornwall on 0333 366 0103.