AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Ecton Brook, and What to Do Next
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether your engine has run since it went in. Out in Overstone Lodge or here in Ecton Brook, an unstarted engine must remain that way. Switch nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, and expect a thorough flush after a drain, carried out right where your car sits around Ecton Brook. When the motor has run, pull in somewhere safe first, then switch it off. It's a bigger job, yet step one does not change.
Anywhere in Northamptonshire it took place, one of the situations below fits yours.
At the pump in Ecton Brook: AdBlue in a diesel
Picture it: stood by the petrol pump, gripping the bottle, you realise the cap you opened wasn't the correct one. It could be the Esso, or perhaps the BP, or a different station around Ecton Brook.
Meaning? Finding out on the forecourt is the best it gets. Only your tank holds AdBlue; not one component beyond it has drawn it in.
Clearing the petrol pump is no excuse to run it — so don't get back in. Three jobs: a push into a bay with the attendants assisting, the bottle kept, and a ring to us from the forecourt. Can't move it beside the petrol pump? Explosion-proof equipment makes a busy forecourt sensible, so we can drain it where it is.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home around Ecton Brook
For days the dashboard had been warning you. A bottle bought at the shop, tipped in on the drive — and it was just at the bin that the cap caught a second look. It occurs on drives just off A4500 as often as anywhere.
Put simply: if your car has not moved since, it's almost equal to finding out at the pump. Diesel and AdBlue stay separate: the AdBlue settles to the floor of your tank and remains there, no matter how long it waits.
Keep your keys indoors tonight — or a person may take it off first thing — and phone us. Out in Great Billing or here in Ecton Brook, the draining is done on your drive. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Drove off with AdBlue in a diesel in Ecton Brook?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your motor began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Maybe heading to Milton Keynes, under 25 miles away, or simply down Lakeside Drive.
What it means: the system has pulled the AdBlue in. It's been through your filter and the lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors. Every restart, like each mile, carries it on.
Next: pick a safe place, stop, then turn the engine off. Leave by the first junction — not the services beyond — if you're on the M1, under 10 miles from Ecton Brook. It won't have cleared, so there is no point restarting to check. Roughly what distance had it go? Say so as you phone.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You have just had the vehicle a week. Your own car either has no AdBlue or puts it somewhere different, and so no one told you the AdBlue inlet was just next to the diesel. Throughout Northamptonshire, no one is safe from it.
The upshot: just as above, split by whether it ran, but with one added step. Work on the vehicle often requires the owner's approval under hire or company terms.
Settling it before the van turn up is quicker, so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, then us. Keep the car switched off as the reply comes, whether you are parked at Northampton or close to Rectory Farm Community Centre.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, around Ecton Brook
"I think so" is often the most honest answer there is. Too light, that bottle; a hint of ammonia near your filler; a hazy memory of the cap. Sound familiar? A hurried top-up by the gates of St Andrew's Ceva Primary School, or a call to a friend in Ecton: both fits.
Put simply: spillage near your filler does your motor no harm. The diesel tank with AdBlue in it is a different story. Firing up the vehicle cannot tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in your tank it would suck it in.
Take it that it was put in, and don't start your engine. Checking a tank that turns out clean is better than emptying one once it's been run — so phone and tell us what you noticed.
Every AdBlue drain around Ecton Brook shares these steps
Whatever the situation, one opening is used. Our engineers come to the car, whether it is on a forecourt, a driveway, the car park outside The Elwes Arms or a side street near Great Billing Methodist Chapel, and ask three things: what got in, about how much, and whether your engine has run. On the phone, ahead of dispatch, you hear our quote, and those replies decide the job too.
AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to certain metals used in fuel systems, so it won't wash out unaided; that is why a full flush, after this drain, counts much more here than with petrol. Fresh diesel goes in after the filter has been flushed or changed, and the car is then checked. Where your motor hasn't run, allow roughly half an hour once we arrive, for most cases.
Last, our engineers fire it up. Our technicians confirm it runs smoothly on fresh diesel before we leave. The entire job is done where your car is, and when it is spotted soon, long-term damage is very unusual. Payment comes that day, never in advance. For your insurer, you get a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling, so look at yours while the van travels.
About Ecton Brook
Ecton Brook is a suburban area in Northamptonshire, situated inland at an elevation of 81 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Ecton Brook lies approximately 59.6 miles northwest of London and 15.3 miles southeast of Milton Keynes, near other local places such as Great Billing and Rectory Farm. Ecton Brook has a population of around 5605 residents, living in a mix of old and new properties. Ecton Brook is characterized by its quiet, residential atmosphere, with nearby Blackthorn providing additional local amenities.
Ecton Brook and Northamptonshire: AdBlue drains across the area
As a residential suburb, Ecton Brook shares its vans with the surrounding places — Blackthorn, Rectory Farm — all the way through NN postcodes. The whereabouts is clearest from a postcode beginning NN3 5.
No towing is required, be it parked centrally in Ecton Brook or on a lay-by heading to Ecton Park Road Open Space, and so leave it where it is. The van drains it where it stands. If you're somewhere hard to describe, close to Saint Andrew's Church or close to a boundary, ring and ask instead of assuming.
The one-line version
Unstarted? Keep the vehicle that way then phone. Whichever line applies, Petrol in Diesel takes over from there on 0333 366 0103, across Northamptonshire and within Ecton Brook — after you stop, turn off then ring, if it has run.