--- title: What Now? AdBlue in a Diesel Tank Colney Hatch canonical: https://www.petrolinadieselcar.co.uk/adblue-in-diesel/colney-hatch-greater-london/ location: Colney Hatch county: Greater London latitude: 51.607910 longitude: -0.160190 service: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank updated: 2026-10-04 --- # What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Colney Hatch Has your motor run since the AdBlue went in? That single question decides almost everything about what comes next. Out in New Southgate or right in Colney Hatch, an unstarted engine should stay unrun. Keep nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, and count on a proper flush after a drain, carried out right where your vehicle sits in Colney Hatch. Already run? Stop once you safely can, then switch everything off. A bigger job, yes, yet the same first step. Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever around Greater London it happened. ## At the petrol pump around Colney Hatch: AdBlue in a diesel The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you just spot it as you're standing at the pump, bottle or the nozzle in your hand. Perhaps you're at the the nearest petrol station, maybe at the BP, maybe somewhere else in Colney Hatch. What it means: this is the best location to find out. The AdBlue is in your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has sucked it in. Next: avoid the temptation to start it only to free up the pump. Ring us from the forecourt after your car is in a space — the staff will lend a hand to roll it — then keep the receipt. Stuck beside the petrol pump? Our explosion-proof equipment keeps a busy forecourt sensible, so we can drain the vehicle where it is. ## Colney Hatch, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank The warning light had been on for days. A bottle bought at the shop, emptied in on the drive — and it's just at the recycling that the cap got a second look. It takes place on driveways just off Pond Close as commonly as anywhere. Put simply: if your vehicle has not been driven since, it's nearly as good as spotting it at the pump. As it is unable to mix, AdBlue settles low in that tank and stays. One night parked changes nothing. Next: stop an early move by putting your keys in the house, then ring us. Out in Friern Barnet or right here around Colney Hatch, the draining happens at your drive. Late-night drains outside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet. ## Colney Hatch: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel? Rough running, smoke, falling power or a glowing dashboard arrived a short way beyond the fill. Somewhere along Coppetts Close or heading to London — under 10 miles away. In short: the AdBlue has been pulled through the system. It's been through the filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors. It travels further with every mile driven and every restart. Next: find a sensible place, pull in, and switch your motor off. Service stations farther on can wait: from the M1, under 3 miles out of Colney Hatch, use the first junction. It won't have cleared, so there is no sense restarting to check. Phone, and say how far the vehicle went. ## A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank? You have had the car hardly a week. On your own car, AdBlue is absent or somewhere else. On this one, its cap is right by your diesel cap — news to you. Throughout Greater London, no one is immune. The upshot: exactly as above, split by whether it ran, only with an added step. Many hire and fleet contracts need the owner's approval before work. Settling it before the van arrives is quicker, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. If you are stuck in the car park at New Southgate, or by Tank Traps, whilst you wait for an answer, leave your car off. ## Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Colney Hatch? "I think so" is often the most honest answer there is. What cap was taken off, you cannot say; but the bottle weighs lighter than expected, and ammonia hangs by the filler. The gates of Summerside Primary Academy in a rush, say, or a friend's driveway over in Muswell Hill. The upshot: your motor isn't harmed by some AdBlue splashed around the filler. Inside your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue harms it. You can't tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so will draw in any AdBlue that is in your tank. Your move: behave as if it did, and don't start the engine. Phone with what you saw: we would rather confirm a clean tank than empty one after the engine has run. ## Each AdBlue drain around Colney Hatch shares these steps Every situation gets the same opening to the job. Wherever the vehicle stands — Woodhouse Free House's car park, a street by Powerleague Finchley, a driveway, a filling station — the van gets there and we ask about the fluid, the quantity, plus if the engine has been run. Replies shape the work; the quote comes by phone whilst nobody has left yet. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some metals in fuel systems, so it does not rinse out on its own; that's why a full flush, after the drain, matters much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there. Our engineers fire it up at the end. With clean diesel in, it runs while we make sure it's running smoothly, and then we leave. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, and if it is noticed quickly, lasting damage is very uncommon. Payment is that day, never upfront. For the insurer, there is a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer. It is worth remembering: many insurers include misfuelling cover, so a check of your documents while we travel pays. ## About Colney Hatch itself Colney Hatch is a locality in the London Borough of Barnet, situated near the banks of the Dollis Brook and the Northern Heights. Colney Hatch has a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties, with nearby amenities in Friern Barnet and North Finchley. Colney Hatch is located about 7 miles north of central London, at an elevation of around 75 metres above sea level. Colney Hatch remains a suburban area with a population of approximately 2553 residents. ## AdBlue drains around Colney Hatch, and across Greater London too Colney Hatch is a small village, and the same teams that cover it work the towns around it too, North Finchley and Coldfall among them, across the N postcode area. Giving us your N12 0 postcode pins you fastest of all. Whether the car is on a lay-by on the way to Coppetts Wood Local Nature Reserve or in a car park in the middle of Colney Hatch, it doesn't need to move. Wherever it sits, that is where it is drained. Phone and check rather than guess when you are by Navagraha Sri Kathirgaama Yogi Yogishwara Yoga Dhandayuthapaani Swami Temple, near a boundary, or anywhere tricky to pin down. ## The one-line version Unstarted? Leave the car off then phone. Run already: stop, power down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, in Colney Hatch or wherever in Greater London.