AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Elsenham: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether your motor has run since it went in. Over in Ugley Green or right around Elsenham, an unrun engine must stay unrun. Ring 0333 366 0103 with your key and motor both off. Across Elsenham, that is generally drained and cleaned on the spot. When your engine has run, stop somewhere safe first, then turn the vehicle off. It is a larger job, though step one does not change.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever across Essex it happened.
At the petrol pump around Elsenham: AdBlue in a diesel
Only at this point, nozzle still in your hand, you realise that the cap you took off was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. Somewhere around Elsenham, then — JET, Esso, or somewhere else nearby.
In short: there is no better place exists to spot it. Still inside that tank, and no fuel pulled through: that's where the AdBlue is.
Clearing the pump is no reason to run it — so don't get back in. Three jobs: a shove into a bay with the attendants helping, the receipt saved, and a call to us from the forecourt. If it cannot be moved, it can be drained at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home around Elsenham
On the dash, a reminder had shown for days. A bottle bought at the garage, emptied in at the driveway — and it's just at the recycling that the cap caught your eye. Driveways close to High Street get it as much as any other street.
Meaning? As long as the car hasn't been driven since, it is second to the pump case. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of the tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
Next: stop any early drive by putting the keys indoors, then phone us. In Fullers End or here in Elsenham, the draining is done at your drive. The pumping kit works quiet enough that it won't wake the street at night.
Elsenham: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Filled up, drove away, and soon the engine was running unevenly, smoking, down on power, or flashing up the dash. It might have been heading to Chelmsford, under 25 miles away, or just along Stansted Road.
The point: your system has pulled AdBlue through already. It has been through the fuel filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and your injectors. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
What to do: pull over where it's safe to do so and switch off. Elsenham sits under a mile from the M11; there, come off at the next junction rather than pushing on for the services. It won't have cleared, so there is no point restarting to check. Roughly what distance did it gone? Say so when you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company cars
You have had this car hardly a week. Unknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel inlets are side by side here — unlike your own vehicle, which has none or stores it elsewhere. Any driver, wherever in Essex, could make the same.
In short: one extra step on top of the cases above, which depend on if it's run. The owner often needs to approve any work, under plenty of rental and company contracts.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is faster settled before our engineers arrive than after. Stranded by St Mary the Virgin, Elsenham or outside the nearest station till the firm replies, your vehicle remains switched off the whole time.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Elsenham?
"I think so" is often as honest answer there is. A slight ammonia-like smell hangs around the filler, the bottle seems too light, and which cap came off is hard to recall. Maybe it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Elsenham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Gaunts End.
The point: your motor is not harmed by a little AdBlue spilled on the filler. Once it's inside the diesel tank, though, it does. If there is AdBlue in the tank, turning on your car will pull it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Next: act as though it got in, and leave the motor off. Ring and give what you saw: we'd sooner find a tank free of AdBlue than empty one after the motor has been run.
What every AdBlue drain in Elsenham has in common
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Wherever the vehicle is — The Crown's car park, a street beside St Theresa, a driveway, a forecourt — our van arrives and we ask for the fluid, the amount, and whether your motor has been run. On the phone, ahead of anything else, you hear the quote, and those answers shape the work too.
Then that tank is drained 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 does not rinse out on its own. Next is the filter — cleaned, or replaced when needed — then fresh diesel, and a test of the vehicle. Where the engine has not run, expect about half an hour on site, in most jobs.
Our engineers start the car at the end. Our test that it runs properly on fresh diesel comes before our engineers go. We do the whole job where your car is, and lasting damage is very rare if it has been caught early. Paying is on the day, never upfront. For the insurer, you get a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer. Many policies include misfuelling, so look at yours while the van travels.
About Elsenham itself
Elsenham is a village in Essex, situated on the riverside with an elevation of 94 metres, and is located 32 miles from London. Elsenham has a mix of housing types, but detached homes are the most predominant. Elsenham sits near the cities of Chelmsford and London, with nearby places including Fullers End and Old Mead. Elsenham is home to approximately 2627 residents.
AdBlue drains around Elsenham and across Essex
Over CM postcodes, the vans serving Elsenham — a village — work surrounding places as well, Old Mead and Elsenham Sta included. A postcode starting CM22 6 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Stopped en route to Elsenham Playing Field, or right in the heart of Elsenham, your car stays put — there is no need to shift it anywhere. Draining happens on the spot. If you are somewhere hard to describe, close to Ugley Village Hall or close to a boundary, ring and ask rather than guessing.
The one-line version
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off then call. Run already: pull over, power down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, within Elsenham or anywhere across Essex.