What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Copnor
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if the engine has run since it got in. Not started so far? Then keep the car like that, whether the car is — Copnor or Kingston. Leave your engine and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103; it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Copnor. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. It's a bigger job, yet step one does not change.
Wherever across Hampshire it took place, one of the cases below fits yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Copnor forecourt
Only at this point, nozzle still in hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, right at the pump. Possibly you're at the Esso, perhaps at the BP, possibly somewhere else in Copnor.
Meaning? Finding out on the forecourt is as good as it gets. Just the tank holds AdBlue; no component past it has taken it in.
What to do: do not get back in and fire it up to clear the petrol pump. Get the staff to help pushing it to a space, save the bottle, then ring us right there. Draining it there at the petrol pump is fine when it cannot be shifted, since the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Copnor drive?
For days the dash had been nagging you. A bottle from the garage, emptied in on the driveway — and it was only by the recycling that the cap caught a second look. Homes just off Burrfields Road get hit as often as everywhere else.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. Being reluctant to mix, AdBlue drops low in your tank and waits. One night parked alters nothing.
Keep the keys in the house tonight — or a person may drive it away at breakfast — and phone us. In North End or right here in Copnor, the drain is done on your drive. Even at night, our pumps are quiet enough for a residential street.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Copnor?
Topped up, drove away, and before long the motor was turning unevenly, smoking, down on power, or flashing up your dash. Maybe driving for Portsmouth, under 3 miles away, or just down Dartmouth Road.
What it means: the system has pulled the AdBlue in. The high-pressure pump and every injector get it too on a bigger run, once the filter and pipework have it. It goes deeper with every mile driven and each restart.
Stop safely — that is the next job — then switch it off. Copnor sits under 3 miles from the M275; on it, come off at the next junction rather than pressing on to the services. Starting it again to check gets nothing — AdBlue never clears on its own. Tell us hear the distance covered when you call.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've had this vehicle barely a week. On your own car, AdBlue is absent or somewhere else. On this one, the inlet is right by your diesel inlet — a surprise to you. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Hampshire.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it has run, with one more step. Plenty of hire and company agreements require the owner's approval before repairs.
Sorting it before the van arrives is faster, and so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, and then us. If you're stranded in the car park outside Hilsea, or by Winners Chapel International, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Copnor?
At times, "I think so" is the most you can truthfully say. Which cap was taken off, you can't say; but the bottle weighs less than expected, and ammonia hangs by your filler. A hurried stop by the gates of Copnor Primary School, or a call to a friend in Baffins: either fit.
What it means: a little spilled about the filler does no harm to the motor. In your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue harms it. You cannot tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so will draw in any AdBlue that is in the tank.
What to do: treat it as if it went in. Don't fire it up. Ring us and describe what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
The common ground in each Copnor AdBlue drain
Whichever situation you are in, this job starts the same way. Forecourt, driveway, The Star and Garter's car park or a street by Moneyfields — our van reaches your vehicle, and three questions follow: which fluid, what quantity, and if it has run. Those replies determine the work, and you get the quote on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Then that tank is drained and your system flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not rinse out on its own. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Where the engine has not run, allow about half an hour on site, for most jobs.
Lastly, our technicians start the engine. Our test that it runs smoothly on clean diesel comes before our engineers go. If it's spotted soon, the car very seldom has long-term damage, and the entire job happens where it is. Nothing is paid upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you receive what your insurer asks for: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling, so look at yours while the van travels.
About Copnor itself
Copnor is a suburban area located on the southern coast of England, near the city of Portsmouth in Hampshire. Copnor sits at a low elevation of around 5 metres, close to the shores of the Solent Strait. Copnor is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock and is situated near other residential areas such as North End and Buckland. Copnor is part of the larger Portsmouth urban area, with the city centre just 1.8 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Hampshire, Copnor included
Being a residential suburb, Copnor shares its vans with the nearby places — Portsea Island, Buckland — right across PO postcodes. A postcode starting PO3 5 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Stopped heading to College Park, or bang in the heart of Copnor, the car remains where it is — there's no need to shift it anywhere. Where it sits, that is where it is drained. If you are somewhere hard to describe, near The Parish Church of St Alban or close to a border, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Your situation, in one line
Still unrun? Leave it that way and ring. Whatever line fits, Petrol in Diesel handles from there on 0333 366 0103, across Hampshire and in Copnor — once you pull over, switch off then phone, if it has run.