AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Cupid Green, and What to Do Next
One thing matters most once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is whether the engine has been started since. Not started yet? Then leave the vehicle like that, whether the car sits — Cupid Green or Adeyfield. Leave the engine and your ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103; it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Cupid Green. Where your motor has run, stop safely first, then turn the car off. The job is bigger, but the first step is the same.
Match what happened to one of the ones below, wherever in Hertfordshire you are.
Cupid Green forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Only now, nozzle yet in your hand, you realise that the cap you opened was the wrong one, there at the petrol pump. Somewhere in Cupid Green, then — Asda Express, Esso, or somewhere else close by.
In short: no better spot exists to discover it. Only the tank has AdBlue; not one component past it has taken any in.
Next: avoid the urge to fire it up just to move away from the pump. Get the staff to lend a hand pushing it into a bay, save the bottle, then phone us from there. Stuck beside the pump? Our explosion-proof equipment keeps a busy forecourt safe, and so we can drain the vehicle where it is.
At home in Cupid Green with AdBlue in the diesel tank
On your dash, a reminder had been lit for days. Only at the recycling bin, the empty container in your hand, did you glance back at the cap you'd opened at the drive. Homes just off Redbourn Road get caught out as much as everywhere else.
Meaning? Provided the vehicle hasn't moved since, it is second to the pump case. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of that tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so no one moves the car in the morning. Then ring. Grovehill or Cupid Green: wherever your driveway sits, that is where it is emptied. The pumping kit works quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Cupid Green?
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power or a lit dashboard started a mile or two after the fill. Somewhere on Saint Agnells Lane or else on the road towards St Albans — under 5 miles away.
Meaning? Your pump has taken the AdBlue in. It's been through the fuel filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors. More miles, more restarts: deeper it goes.
Your move: pull up somewhere safe, then turn the motor off. Service stations farther on are too far: on the M1, under 3 miles out of Cupid Green, take the first junction. No trial restarts: clearing itself isn't something AdBlue will do. Tell us know the mileage covered when you ring.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
You have had this car hardly a week. On your own car, AdBlue is missing or somewhere else. On this one, the inlet is right next to your diesel cap — news to you. Throughout Hertfordshire, nobody is immune.
The upshot: exactly as above, divided by if it ran, only with one added step. Many rental and company agreements require the owner's sign-off for work.
Settling it before we turn up is faster, and so ring the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. Leave the vehicle off as the answer comes, even if you are parked at Hemel Hempstead or near The Dacorum Hub.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Cupid Green?
"I think so" is sometimes the most honest as it gets. Too light, that bottle; a trace of ammonia near the filler; no clear memory of which cap. Look familiar? Maybe it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Maple Grove Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Piccotts End.
Meaning? Drips around the inlet never reach your motor at all. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. You cannot tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so would draw in any AdBlue that is in that tank.
Do this: act as if it did, and never start your motor. Tell us what you noticed on your phone. A clear tank checked counts as a better result than an already-run one drained.
The common ground in every Cupid Green AdBlue drain
The work begins the same way, whatever the case. Forecourt, driveway, the pub in the village's car park or a road beside Church of the Resurrection — our van reaches the car, and three questions come next: what liquid, what amount, and whether it ran. On the phone, ahead of dispatch, you hear the quote, and those answers shape the work too.
Draining the tank comes first, followed by a full flush — more important after urea than with petrol, because crystals and corrosion will not go on their own, however long it sits. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Where your engine has not been started, allow about half an hour once we arrive, for most cases.
Firing it up comes last. With new diesel in, it runs while our technicians check it's running correctly, and then we head off. Long-term damage is very unusual when it's noticed early, and the whole job is done where the car is. Paying is that day, never in advance. For your insurer, there is a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer. Dig out your insurance while we arrive: cover for misfuelling comes built into plenty of policies.
About Cupid Green itself
Cupid Green is a suburban area in Hertfordshire, situated approximately 4.8 miles from St Albans and 22.8 miles from London. Cupid Green sits at an elevation of around 134 metres, in a gently sloping inland area surrounded by other residential neighbourhoods such as Grovehill and Highfield. Cupid Green is predominantly composed of flat-type housing, accommodating a population of around 5232 residents. Cupid Green forms part of the wider St Albans urban area, with nearby amenities and services.
AdBlue drains around Cupid Green, and across Hertfordshire too
Cupid Green is a residential suburb, and the same teams that cover it work the places near it too, Highfield and Holtsmere End among them, across the HP postcode area. Telling us your HP2 7 postcode finds you quickest of all.
Parked heading to Woodhall Wood, or right in the centre of Cupid Green, your car stays put — there is no need to shift it at all. Wherever it sits, that is where it is drained. If you are somewhere hard to describe, near Grovehill Community Centre or close to a border, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Your scenario, in one line
Still unrun? Leave the car off then phone. Run by now: stop, power down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, within Cupid Green or wherever in Hertfordshire.