AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Church End, and What to Do Next
Has the motor run since the AdBlue got in? This one point settles nearly everything else from here. Out in Puckeridge or here in Church End, an unstarted engine must remain that way. Normally this means draining and properly cleaning it on the spot around Church End — and so keep the ignition and motor off and call 0333 366 0103. Already run? Stop once you safely can, then turn everything off. A larger job, then, but the same first move.
Below: the situations we meet, wherever in Hertfordshire. Choose yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Church End forecourt
You're at the pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Somewhere around Church End, then — Amco, BP, or somewhere else nearby.
The point: of every spot to find out, this is the best. Still inside that tank, with no fuel pulled onwards: that is where the AdBlue sits.
Do this: stay out of the car, however much the queue needs freeing. Ask the attendants to help you push the car into a parking bay, keep the till receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. Our equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a live forecourt, and so a car that can't be pushed clear is emptied where it is at the pump.
Church End, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Several days had passed with the warning light on. 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. Houses just off Church End are caught out as often as everywhere else.
Meaning? As long as your car hasn't been driven since, it is close to the pump case. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of your tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves your car in the morning. Then ring. Your drive is where it is emptied, whether around Church End or Braughing. Our pumping kit works quietly enough not to disturb the street at night.
On the road in Church End with AdBlue in a diesel
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the motor began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Maybe heading to St Albans, under 25 miles away, or simply along Pentlows.
Meaning? Your pump has taken the AdBlue in. It's been through the filter and your lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors. Every restart, like each mile, carries it on.
Next: pick a sensible spot, stop, and switch your engine off. Services further along can wait: from the M11, under 10 miles out of Church End, use the next junction. No trial starts: clearing isn't something AdBlue will do. Call, saying how far the car went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've just had this car a week. The AdBlue filler is right next to the diesel one, which you did not know, since your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Across Hertfordshire, nobody is safe from it.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it's run, with one more step. The owner frequently needs to approve any work, under plenty of rental and fleet contracts.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is faster settled before our technicians turn up than after. Hanging on for a reply at the car park outside Bishops Stortford, or beside St. Mary the Virgin? Keep the engine off throughout.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Church End?
"I think so" is often the most honest answer there is. Which cap came off, you cannot recall; meanwhile the bottle weighs less than it ought to, and ammonia hangs by your filler. The gates of Jenyns First School and Nursery in a rush, perhaps, or a friend's drive over in Dassels.
Meaning? Spills outside the filler don't reach the engine at all. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. You cannot tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so would draw in any AdBlue that is in your tank.
Do this: act as if it got in, and never start the motor. Tell us what you saw on the phone. A clear tank looked at is a happier outcome than an already-run one drained.
The common ground in each Church End AdBlue drain
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. Three things come when our technicians reach the car — on a filling station, a drive, a road by Braughing Community Centre or the car park outside The Brown Bear: the liquid, the quantity, and whether it has been started. The price is given over the phone, before a van leaves, and the answers set the work.
AdBlue crystallises and eats at certain metals in fuel systems, so it does not rinse out unaided; that is why a full flush, after the drain, counts much more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. If your motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Our technicians start the engine last. We check it runs properly on clean diesel before leaving. Long-term damage is very unusual if it's spotted soon, and the whole job is done where your car is. Paying comes on the day, never in advance. For the insurer, there is a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer. Plenty of insurance policies cover misfuelling, so look at yours as we head over.
About Church End itself
Church End is a suburban area in Hertfordshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 79 metres. Church End lies approximately 28.5 miles from London and 19 miles from the city of St Albans, with nearby places including Braughing, Green End, and Hay Street. Church End has a population of around 1350 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing.
AdBlue drains in Church End, and across Hertfordshire too
Being a residential suburb, Church End shares its vans with the surrounding places — Hay Street, Green End — right through SG postcodes. Telling us a SG11 2 postcode pins you quickest of all.
Stopped en route to Green Hill, or bang in the heart of Church End, your car remains where it is — there is no need to move it at all. Draining is done on the spot. Assuming doesn't help near Saint Thomas of Canterbury, on a border or anywhere hard to describe; ring and check.
In one line: your scenario
Unstarted? Leave the vehicle that way then ring. Already run: stop, switch off and ring. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Church End and anywhere across Hertfordshire on 0333 366 0103.