What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Chagford
Has your engine turned over since the AdBlue was put in? That single point settles nearly everything else from here. Not run yet? Then keep it like that, wherever your vehicle sits — Chagford or Batworthy. Switch nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, then count on a proper flush plus a drain, done right where the car stands in Chagford. Pull over the minute it is safe then turn off, if it has already run. The job is bigger, yet the first step is the same.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever across Devon it happened.
On a Chagford forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Imagine it: stood by the petrol pump, holding the nozzle, you realise the cap you opened was not the right one. Whether Esso, another forecourt nearby or anywhere else in Chagford, the case is the same.
Meaning? Spotting it here is as good as it gets. Only your tank has AdBlue; not one component beyond it has taken any in.
Next: resist the temptation to fire it up just to free up the petrol pump. Ring us from the forecourt after the car is in a space — the attendants will help roll it — and save the receipt. If it cannot be shifted, it can be drained at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home around Chagford
The warning light had been on for days. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look once more at the cap. Driveways near The Square see it as much as any other street.
The upshot: no miles since leaves it nearly equal to finding it at the petrol pump. On the floor of your tank is where AdBlue stays, because it will not blend with diesel — and a night passing makes nothing of the difference.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so no one moves your car in the morning. Then ring. Your driveway is where it gets emptied, whether in Chagford or Great Weeke. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Chagford: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
A short way beyond filling up, your motor started playing up: roughness, smoke, less power, lights on the dash. High Street, say, or the way towards Exeter — a run of under 15 miles.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been pulled through the fuel system. The high-pressure pump and each injector see it too on a bigger run, once your filter and pipework have had it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
What to do: pull over where it's safe to do so and switch off. Services further along can wait: from the M5, under 15 miles out of Chagford, use the first junction. Don't restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Tell us know the distance driven when you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company vehicles
It is a car you have had for a week. Your own motor either has no AdBlue or puts it somewhere different, so nothing warned you the AdBlue cap was just beside your diesel. Anyone, anywhere around Devon, might do the same.
Put simply: an extra step on top of the cases above, which turn on whether it has run. Any work on your car often requires the owner's go-ahead under hire or company agreements.
Next: phone the rental company or the fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before we arrive is faster. If you are stuck in the car park at Okehampton, or by St Michael's Church, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Chagford?
"I think so" is sometimes as honest answer there is. What cap was taken off, you cannot recall; meanwhile the bottle weighs lighter than expected, and a whiff of ammonia lingers by the filler. Maybe at a friend's driveway in Teigncombe, or in a rush outside Chagford Church of England Primary School on the school run.
Meaning? Drips outside the filler never touch the motor at all. If it's inside the diesel tank, though, it does. Any AdBlue in your tank would be pulled in by firing up your car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
What to do: treat it as if it went in. Do not fire it up. Inspecting a tank that proves free of AdBlue is better than emptying one once it's been run — so ring and describe to us what you saw.
What each AdBlue drain around Chagford has in common
The work begins identically, whatever the situation. Forecourt, drive, Ring O' Bells's car park or a street by Jubilee Hall — our van comes to the car, and three questions come next: what fluid, which quantity, and whether it ran. Those replies determine the work, and you get the price on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Then the tank is cleared and your 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, and so it doesn't rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel is put in once the filter has been flushed or changed, and the car is then checked. If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Firing it up comes last. We check it runs properly on fresh diesel before we go. When it is noticed quickly, the car very seldom has lasting damage, and the whole job happens where it is. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, nothing in advance. Worth remembering: many insurers include misfuelling cover, so a check of your documents while you wait is worthwhile.
About Chagford and where it is
Chagford is a small town situated on the banks of the River Teign in Devon, with a population of around 1540 people. Chagford sits at an elevation of 195 metres, surrounded by rolling hills and countryside, and is located near the villages of Great Weeke, Murchington, and Easton. Chagford is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its history of growth and development as a rural town. Chagford is also close to the city of Exeter, which is approximately 13.9 miles away.
Chagford and Devon: AdBlue drains across the area
Chagford is a riverside town, and the same teams that cover it work the towns around it too, Murchington and Easton among them, across the TQ postcode area. The location comes quickest from a postcode that starts TQ13 8.
Centre of Chagford or a layby towards Memorial Playing Fields: wherever it sits, your car never needs to shift at all for us. Where it stands, that's where it is drained. If you are somewhere hard to explain, near Chagford Library or close to a border, ring and ask rather than assuming.
The one-line version
If it has not run, ring and keep it that way. Whichever case applies, Petrol in Diesel handles from there on 0333 366 0103, throughout Devon and in Chagford — once you stop, switch off then phone, if it has run.