What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Copperhouse
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether your engine has run since it got in. Not started so far? Then leave it that way, whether your car is — Copperhouse or Foundry. Ring 0333 366 0103 with your key and motor both off. In Copperhouse, that is generally emptied and flushed where it stands. Already run? Pull over when safe, then switch it off. It's a larger job, though step one doesn't change.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever across Cornwall it happened.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Copperhouse forecourt
Imagine it: standing by the pump, gripping the bottle, you realise the filler you took off was not the correct one. Anywhere around Copperhouse, then — Texaco, another forecourt nearby, or anywhere else nearby.
What it means: this is the best location to find out. The AdBlue is inside your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Clearing the pump is no reason to run it — so do not get back in. A few things: a shove into a bay with the attendants assisting, the bottle saved, and a ring to us from where you stand. Can't move the vehicle by the petrol pump? Explosion-proof kit keeps a busy forecourt sensible, so it can be drained in place.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Copperhouse drive?
Several days had passed with the dash light on. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look a second time at the cap. It occurs on driveways just off Chapel Lane as often as anywhere.
The upshot: zero driving since makes this nearly as good to spotting it at the pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of that tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
Your move: keys indoors, and so no one drives the car anywhere at breakfast. Then, ring. In Phillack or right here around Copperhouse, the drain is done at your driveway. Even at night, the pumps stay quiet enough for a residential street.
On the road in Copperhouse with AdBlue in a diesel
Rough running, smoke, falling power or a lit dashboard arrived a mile or two beyond the fill. It might have been heading to Truro, under 25 miles away, or simply down Copper Terrace.
Meaning? Your pump has taken the AdBlue in. It has been through your filter and the lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors. More miles, more starts: further it goes.
Stop somewhere safe — that is the first step — then switch it off. Exit at the next junction — not the services beyond — if you are on the M5, over 50 miles from Copperhouse. No test restarts: clearing isn't something AdBlue will do. Call us and say how far you went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company cars
You have had the vehicle barely a week. The AdBlue filler sits right alongside the diesel filler, which you didn't know, since your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. It can happen to anyone, anywhere around Cornwall.
The upshot: just as above, split by whether it ran, only with one added step. Plenty of hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the car.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is quicker settled before we turn up than after. Leave it switched off while the reply comes, even if you are waiting at Hayle or close to Hayle Library.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Copperhouse?
"I think so" is sometimes the most honest answer there is. What cap came off, you can't recall; meanwhile the bottle weighs lighter than expected, and a whiff of ammonia lingers by your filler. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Bodriggy Academy, or on a friend's drive in Hayle.
What it means: a little spilled round your filler does no damage to your motor. In the diesel tank, however, AdBlue damages it. Any AdBlue in your tank would be drawn in by starting your car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Take it that it went in, and don't start the engine. Describe what you saw on your phone. A clear tank looked at counts as a happier outcome than a run one emptied.
What each AdBlue drain around Copperhouse has in common
The work opens identically, whatever the case. Filling station, driveway, Copperhouse Inn's car park or a road beside St Felicitas and St Piala, Phillack Parish Church — our van comes to the car, and three answers follow: what liquid, which quantity, and if it ran. On the phone, before dispatch, you are told our quote, and those answers shape the job too.
Draining the tank comes first, followed by a full flush — more important after urea than with petrol, since crystals and corrosion will not go by themselves, no matter how long you wait. Next comes the filter — flushed, or swapped when needed — then fresh diesel, and a test of your vehicle. If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Our technicians start it at the end. Our technicians confirm it runs correctly on fresh diesel before we leave. Our technicians do the whole job where the vehicle is, and lasting damage is very unusual if it has been noticed soon. Payment is on the day, never upfront. For the insurer, you get a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Copperhouse, for a moment
Copperhouse is a coastal suburban area in Cornwall, situated near the coast at a low elevation of around 5 metres. Copperhouse is located close to the nearby places of Phillack and Ventonleague, and is approximately 16.6 miles from the city of Truro. Copperhouse has a population of around 4809 people, predominantly living in terraced housing.
Copperhouse and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
Ventonleague and Guildford get the identical teams as Copperhouse, a residential suburb, along with other towns throughout TR postcodes. Telling us your TR27 4 postcode finds you quickest of all.
No towing is required, whether parked in the centre of Copperhouse or in a layby en route to Hayle Recreation Ground, and so keep it put. Our van drains it in place. Assuming doesn't help beside Hayle Town Council, on a county line or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
Your scenario, summed up
If it hasn't run, phone then leave it off. Started already? Stop, switch off, phone. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest whichever it is, in Copperhouse and Cornwall, on 0333 366 0103.