What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Darby End
All of that hinges on a single detail: if the engine has started since the AdBlue went in — more than anything else. Anywhere your car stands — Netherton, Darby End — never start an engine that hasn't run yet. Keep nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, then expect a proper flush after a drain, done right where the vehicle stands around Darby End. When the engine has been run, pull in somewhere safe first, then switch the car off. The job is bigger, but the first step is the same.
Compare your case to a situation from the list below, wherever around West Midlands you are.
On a Darby End forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Only now, bottle still in your hand, you realise that the cap you took off was the wrong one, right at the pump. It might be the BP, or the Tesco, or a different station around Darby End.
What it means: this is the ideal spot to find out. The AdBlue is in your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Do this: keep out of the driver's seat, however much the queue needs clearing. Ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle into a parking spot, keep your receipt or the bottle, and phone us from the forecourt. If it can't be shifted, it can be cleared at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
Darby End, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
On your dash, a reminder had been lit for days. Only by the recycling, the empty bottle in hand, did you look back at the cap you'd used on the drive. It takes place on drives just off Bourne Hill Close as frequently as anywhere.
Meaning? Provided the vehicle has not moved since, it is close to the pump case. At the floor of that tank sits where AdBlue waits, since it will not blend with diesel — and a night going by changes no difference.
Next: prevent an early move by putting your keys indoors, then ring us. In Windmill End or right here around Darby End, the drain is done at your driveway. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Darby End: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
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. Perhaps it was on Oak Street, possibly on the way out towards Birmingham, under 10 miles away.
The point: the system has drawn AdBlue in already. It has been through the filter and the lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and your injectors. More miles, more starts: deeper it goes.
Next: find a sensible spot, pull in, then switch the engine off. Darby End lies under 3 miles from the M5; there, pull off at the first junction instead of pushing on for the services. Don't restart the vehicle to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Phone, and say what distance the car was driven.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've had the car hardly a week. The AdBlue filler sits right next to the diesel filler, which you did not know, because your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Across West Midlands, nobody is safe from it.
Put simply: an extra step on top of the situations above, and those depend on if it's run. Work on the vehicle frequently requires the owner's approval under hire or company agreements.
Settling it before the van turn up is quicker, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. Stranded near Wesley Bible Institute Church or at Old Hill until someone replies, the vehicle stays switched off throughout.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, in Darby End
At times, "I think so" is all anyone can truthfully say. Too light, the bottle; a trace of ammonia near your filler; a hazy recollection of which cap. Sound familiar? A rushed stop by the gates of Netherbrook Primary School, or a visit to a friend in Bowling Green: either fits.
The point: the motor is not harmed by a little AdBlue spilled on the filler. The diesel tank with AdBlue inside is a different story. You can't tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so would draw in any AdBlue that is in that tank.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Don't crank it. Ring us and explain what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
Darby End: what every AdBlue drain has in common
No matter the situation, one opening applies. Our engineers come to your car, whether it is at a forecourt, a driveway, the car park outside Gate Hangs Well or a side street near Cole Street Methodist Church, and ask three things: what got in, roughly how much, and if the engine has been run. Answers set the work; the quote comes on the call while no one has set off yet.
AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some metals in fuel systems, and so it won't rinse out on its own; that's why the flush, after the drain, counts far more with AdBlue than with petrol. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The majority of unrun cars are a half-hour visit from the moment our technicians get there.
Starting the engine comes at the end. With fresh diesel in, it runs while our engineers confirm it's running properly, and then we head off. If it is noticed quickly, the car very seldom has lasting damage, and the whole job takes place where it is. Payment is that day, never in advance. For your insurer, you get a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer. It is worth knowing: lots of insurers include misfuelling cover, and so a check of your policy as you wait pays.
About Darby End itself
Darby End is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated near the River Rea and close to the city of Birmingham. Darby End has a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities, with nearby places including Windmill End and Primrose Hill. Darby End is located at an elevation of around 130 metres, and is approximately 7 miles from Birmingham city centre. Darby End is also within commuting distance of London, which is around 107 miles to the southeast.
AdBlue drains round Darby End and across West Midlands
Primrose Hill and Brickhouse Farm have the identical vans as Darby End, a residential suburb, along with further places over DY postcodes. A postcode starting DY2 9 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Stopped en route to Purlin Wharf Pocket Park, or bang in the heart of Darby End, the car stays where it is — there is no need to shift it anywhere. Our technicians drain the vehicle where it sits. If you're somewhere hard to explain, close to Central House Fitness centre or close to a border, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The one-line version
Still unrun? Keep it off then ring. Run already? Stop, turn off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest whatever it is, across Darby End and West Midlands, on 0333 366 0103.