What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Court Barton
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if the motor has run since it went in. Wherever your vehicle stands — Lower Ashton, Court Barton — never start an engine that has not run yet. Switch nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, and expect a proper flush after a drain, done just where your vehicle stands around Court Barton. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The job is bigger, but the first stage is the same.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever in Devon it happened.
Court Barton forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Only at this point, nozzle still in your hand, you realise that the cap you opened was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. Be it Moor Park Garage, Texaco or anywhere else in Court Barton, the situation is the same.
What it means: this is the best location to find out. Just your tank has 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. Ask the staff to help you roll your car into a parking space, keep your receipt or the bottle, and phone us from the forecourt. Draining it there at the pump is fine when it cannot be moved, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Court Barton drive?
The warning light had been on for days. Only by the recycling, the empty container in hand, did you look back at the cap you had opened on the drive. Just off Foxhole Hill is no different from any other place.
The point: zero driving since leaves it nearly equal to finding it at the petrol pump. On the bottom of that tank sits exactly where AdBlue waits, because it will not blend with diesel — and a night going by changes nothing of the difference.
Keep your keys in the house overnight — or someone might take it off first thing — then call us. Your drive is where it gets drained, be it in Court Barton or Christow. Even at night, our pumps are quiet enough for a driveway.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel around Court Barton?
Lumpy running, smoke, falling power or a glowing dashboard arrived a mile or two beyond the top-up. It might have been driving to Exeter, under 10 miles away, or simply along Wet Lane.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been sucked through your fuel system. Distance decides how deep it goes: filter and lines first, then the high-pressure pump and every injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: find a safe place, pull in, then switch the engine off. On the M5, under 10 miles from Court Barton, that means the next exit, not the services further on. Restarting it to test achieves nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear on its own. Phone, saying how far the car was driven.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've just had the car a week. Your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere, and so no one warned you the AdBlue cap sits right next to the diesel. Throughout Devon, nobody is immune.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it's run, with one more step. Many rental and company contracts need the owner's sign-off for repairs.
Next: phone the rental company or your fleet manager first, and then us — settling it before our arrival is faster. If you are stuck in the car park outside Exeter St Thomas, or by St James', Christow, whilst you wait for an answer, leave your car off.
Court Barton: unsure whether it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
"I think so" is sometimes as honest as it gets. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia about the filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Christow Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Bridfordmills.
Meaning? Spills outside the filler never reach the motor at all. The diesel tank with AdBlue inside is another matter. Any AdBlue in that tank would be sucked in by starting your car, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
Your move: behave as though it got in, and never start your motor. Call us and describe what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
Court Barton: what every AdBlue drain has in common
Every situation gets the same opening to the job. Three questions come when we arrive — at a filling station, a drive, a road by Wheal Augusta (Teign Valley Barytes Mine) or the car park outside Artichoke Inn: the fluid, the quantity, and whether the motor has been started. Over the phone, before dispatch, you hear the quote, and those answers decide the work too.
AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to certain metals used in fuel systems, and so it won't rinse out unaided; that is why the flush, after this drain, matters much more here than with petrol. Next comes the filter — flushed, or replaced when needed — followed by fresh diesel, and a test of your car. The majority of unstarted cars are a half-hour visit after the moment our engineers arrive.
The last step is starting the engine. Our engineers make sure it runs correctly on new diesel before we leave. If it is caught quickly, the car very seldom has long-term damage, and the entire job takes place where it is. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, nothing in advance. Dig out your insurance before we're en route: misfuelling cover comes included in plenty of policies.
About Court Barton itself
Court Barton is a locality in Devon, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 112 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Court Barton lies approximately 6.8 miles from Exeter and 163.7 miles from London, placing it in a rural yet accessible setting. Court Barton is surrounded by nearby places such as Christow, Bennah, and Coombe, which share similar characteristics of the South West region. Court Barton has a population of around 681 residents, who enjoy the scenic views of the surrounding countryside.
Court Barton and Devon: AdBlue drains across the area
Bennah and Coombe get the identical teams as Court Barton, a small village, plus further places over EX postcodes. The whereabouts comes quickest from a postcode that starts EX6 7.
Parked heading to Christow Playing Fields and Showground, or right in the centre of Court Barton, the car stays where it is — there's no need to shift it at all. Draining is done right there. Awkward to explain? Close to Mine (dis) or a county line? Asking is better than guessing, and so phone.
Your scenario, summed up
Unstarted? Keep the car off and phone. Whichever case fits, Petrol in Diesel takes over from there on 0333 366 0103, across Devon and in Court Barton — once you stop, switch off then ring, if it's run.