What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Cowpen
One thing matters most once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if your motor has been started since. Not started so far? Then keep the vehicle like that, wherever your vehicle sits — Cowpen or New Delaval. Leave the engine and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103; it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Cowpen. Stop the minute it is safe and turn off, if it has been run. A larger job, then, but the same first step.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever in Northumberland it happened.
On a Cowpen forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you only notice it while you are stood at the pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. Anywhere in Cowpen, then — Asda, Blyth Service Station, or somewhere else close by.
What it means: this is the ideal place to find out. Just that tank holds AdBlue; no component past it has taken it in.
Next: resist the temptation to start it just to free up the petrol pump. Have the staff to help pushing it into a space, hold on to the bottle, then ring us from there. Draining it right at the pump is possible if it cannot be moved, since the equipment is explosion-proof.
Cowpen, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
For days the dash had been nagging you. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look once more at the cap. Right off Ravensdale Grove is not different from anywhere.
Put simply: if your vehicle hasn't moved since, it is nearly as good as finding out at the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue keep separate: the AdBlue drops to the floor of the tank and stays put, no matter how long it waits.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves the vehicle in the morning. Then ring. Your drive is where it gets drained, whether around Cowpen or Malvins Close. Even at night, the pumps are quiet enough for a driveway.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Cowpen?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the engine began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Maybe driving to Newcastle upon Tyne, under 15 miles away, or just down Weardale Avenue.
Meaning? Your fuel pump has sucked the AdBlue up. It's been through the filter and your lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors. More miles, more starts: further it goes.
Do this: stop anywhere safe, then switch the motor off. On the A167(M), under 15 miles from Cowpen, that means the next junction, not the services further on. Do not restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Call us and say how far you drove.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You have only driven the car a week. On your own car, AdBlue is absent or elsewhere. On this one, the cap is right next to the diesel inlet — news to you. Anyone, anywhere across Northumberland, could do the same.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more stage. Many hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on your car.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is faster settled before our technicians arrive than after. Leave it switched off while the answer arrives, whether you are waiting at Bedlington or near Cowpen Methodist Church.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, in Cowpen
At times, "I think so" is the most anyone can honestly say. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia round your filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. The gates of Horton Grange Primary School in a hurry, perhaps, or someone's drive over in Bedlington Station.
What it means: a little spilled round your filler does no damage to your engine. If it's inside your diesel tank, though, that changes. If there is AdBlue in the tank, starting your car would draw it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Your move: act as if it did, and don't start the engine. Ring us and explain what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
What every AdBlue drain around Cowpen has in common
Whichever situation you are in, this job starts the same way. Three questions are asked once we arrive — at a forecourt, a driveway, a street by Blyth Family Church or the car park outside Percy Arms: the liquid, the amount, and if the motor has run. The price is given over the phone, before a van leaves, and those answers set the job.
Then that tank is cleared and your system purged thoroughly, which matters 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 the car is tested. Not started? In that case about half an hour once we are there is most jobs.
Finally, our engineers start the engine. Our check that it runs smoothly on fresh diesel comes before our technicians leave. Our engineers do the entire job where your car is, and lasting damage is very rare when it has been noticed quickly. Payment is that day, never in advance. For your insurer, there is a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer. Dig out your insurance while we're en route: misfuelling cover is built into many policies.
About Cowpen
Cowpen is a suburban area located on the coast of Northumberland, with an elevation of 11 metres above sea level. Cowpen sits near the cities of Newcastle upon Tyne and is close to other nearby places such as Malvins Close, Bebside, and Newsham. Cowpen has a population of approximately 6143 residents and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Cowpen is situated in the North East region of England, around 256.8 miles from London.
AdBlue drains around Cowpen and across Northumberland
Cowpen is a residential suburb, and the same vans that cover it work the places around it too, Bebside and Newsham among them, across the NE postcode area. The whereabouts comes quickest from a postcode beginning NE24 5.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to Briardale Play Area or in a car park in the middle of Cowpen, it doesn't need to shift. Wherever it stands, that is where it gets cleared. Tricky to pin down? By Saint Benedicts Church or a county line? Asking beats guessing, so ring.
In one line: your scenario
If it has not run, ring then keep it off. Already run: stop, switch off then ring. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Cowpen and anywhere across Northumberland on 0333 366 0103.