Drayton: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if the engine has been run since it was put in. If it hasn't, keep it that way, whether your car is around Drayton itself or out in Costessey Park. Switch nothing on, call 0333 366 0103, and expect a thorough flush plus a drain, carried out right where your car sits in Drayton. Pull over the moment you safely can and switch off, if it has been run. A bigger job, yes, yet the identical first step.
Below: the situations we see, wherever in Norfolk. Pick the one that fits.
On a Drayton forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Just at this point, bottle yet in hand, you realise that the cap you opened was the wrong one, there at the petrol pump. Perhaps you are at the Applegreen, perhaps at the Shell, possibly somewhere else around Drayton.
The upshot: of all places to find out, this is the best. Still in the tank, with no fuel drawn onwards: that is where the AdBlue sits.
Clearing the pump is no reason to start it — so don't get back in. Phone us from the forecourt after the car sits in a bay — the staff will help roll it — then keep the receipt. Can't move the vehicle beside the pump? Our explosion-proof equipment makes a busy forecourt safe, so it can be drained where it is.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Drayton
For days the dash had been warning you. Only by the recycling, the empty bottle in hand, did you glance back at the cap you'd opened on the driveway. Homes just off School Road are caught out as often as everywhere else.
In short: if the vehicle hasn't moved since, it's almost equal to finding out at the forecourt. Being unable to mix, AdBlue settles low in the tank and waits. One night standing changes none of that.
Next: keys indoors, and so nobody takes the car anywhere first thing. After that, ring. Our engineers drain the vehicle on your drive, whether that is in Drayton or out in Thorpe Marriott. The equipment works quiet enough not to disturb the street at night.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel around Drayton?
A short way beyond filling up, the motor began misbehaving: roughness, smoke, less power, warnings on the dash. Costessey Lane, perhaps, or the way towards Norwich — a trip of under 5 miles.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked through your fuel system. It has been through the fuel filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors. Every restart, like each mile, pushes it deeper.
Do this: stop anywhere safe, then turn your engine off. Drayton lies over 50 miles from the M11; on it, come off at the first junction instead of pressing on for the services. Do not restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Call, and say what distance your vehicle went.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've had this car hardly a week. On your own car, AdBlue is missing or somewhere else. On this one, its inlet is right by the diesel inlet — a surprise to you. Wherever you are in Norfolk, any motorist could be caught.
The upshot: just as above, split by if it ran, but with an added step. Plenty of rental and company contracts need the owner's approval before repairs.
Settling it before we arrives is quicker, and so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. Hanging on for an answer in the car park outside Norwich, or beside Drayton Village Sign? Leave the engine off throughout.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Drayton?
Now and then, "I think so" is all anyone can honestly say. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia around your filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. A rushed top-up by the gates of Drayton CofE Junior School, or a call to a friend in New Costessey: both fit.
Put simply: a spill round your filler leaves the engine no harm. If it's inside the diesel tank, though, it does. You can't tell which by turning the key, and doing so will draw in any AdBlue that is in your tank.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Don't start the car. Ring us and describe what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
Drayton: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. We come to the car, whether it is on a forecourt, a driveway, the car park outside The Red Lion or a side street close to Drayton Village Hall, and ask three things: what went in, about how much, and whether your motor has run. Answers set the job; the price comes on the call whilst nobody has left yet.
Then that tank is cleared and the system flushed 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 doesn't rinse out on its own. Then comes the fuel filter — cleaned, or swapped when necessary — then clean diesel, and a test of your vehicle. Not started? In that case roughly half an hour once we are there is most jobs.
We fire it up last. Before we leave, it's tested to be sure it runs smoothly on new diesel. Permanent damage is very uncommon when it's noticed soon, and the entire job is done where the car is. Payment comes on the day, never upfront. For your insurer, you get a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer. Worth knowing: many insurers include misfuelling cover, so a check of your policy while you wait pays.
About Drayton and where it is
Drayton is a village in Norfolk, situated on the River Wensum, with a low elevation of around 10 metres above sea level. Drayton lies close to the city of Norwich, approximately 4 miles to the west, and is surrounded by other nearby villages such as Thorpe Marriott and Taverham. Drayton has a population of around 1300 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Drayton is located near the midpoint between the Norfolk coast and the Breckland region, making it a part of the wider Eastern England landscape.
AdBlue drains in Drayton, and across Norfolk too
As a village, Drayton shares its vans with the surrounding places — Costessey, Taverham — all the way through NR postcodes. Your location comes clearest from a postcode beginning NR8 6.
Stopped heading to Ghosthill Wood, or right in the heart of Drayton, the car remains where it is — there is no need to shift it anywhere. Wherever it sits, that is where it gets emptied. Tricky to pin down? By Saint Margaret or a border? Checking is better than guessing, and so phone.
Your situation, in one line
Not run yet: keep the car off then ring. Run already: stop, power down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, within Drayton or anywhere in Norfolk.