Fakenham: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
One thing counts above all once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is whether the motor has run afterwards. If it hasn't, keep it that way, whether the vehicle is around Fakenham itself or out in Shereford. Switch nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, and count on a proper flush plus a drain, done right where the car stands around Fakenham. Pull over the minute it is safe then switch off, if it has already run. A bigger job, then, yet the identical opening step.
Below: the cases we meet, anywhere in Norfolk. Pick the one that fits.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Fakenham forecourt
You are at the pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Perhaps you are at the Shell, perhaps at the Morrisons, perhaps somewhere else around Fakenham.
Put simply: no better place exists to spot it. The AdBlue is inside the tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Next: resist the urge to fire it up only to move away from the petrol pump. Ask the staff to help you roll your car into a parking spot, keep the till receipt or the bottle, and phone us from the forecourt. Draining it there at the pump is possible if it cannot be shifted, since the equipment is explosion-proof.
At home in Fakenham with AdBlue in the diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look once more at the cap. Just off Market Place is no less likely from anywhere.
Meaning? Provided the vehicle hasn't moved since, it's second to the forecourt case. AdBlue does not 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 vehicle in the morning. Then ring. Hempton or Fakenham: wherever your drive is, that is where it is drained. The equipment works quietly enough that it won't wake the neighbours at night.
Fakenham: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Topped up, pulled away, and before long your motor was turning unevenly, blowing smoke, down on power, or lighting up the dash. Maybe it was on Upper Market, perhaps on the way out towards Norwich, under 25 miles away.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been pulled into the fuel system. It's been through the fuel filter and your lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Stop somewhere safe — that's the first job — then turn everything off. Leave by the first junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M11, over 50 miles from Fakenham. Restarting it to test gets nothing — AdBlue never clears itself. Roughly how far did it go? Say so when you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
You've just driven this car for days. On your own car, AdBlue is absent or elsewhere. On this one, the cap is just next to your diesel cap — news to you. It can happen to anyone, anywhere around Norfolk.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more step. Any work on your car frequently requires the owner's approval under hire or company agreements.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is faster settled before our engineers arrive than after. Hanging on for a reply at the car park at the nearest station, or beside The Corn Exchange? Leave your car off throughout.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Fakenham?
Sometimes the fair answer is "I think so". The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia around your filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Fakenham Junior School, or on a friend's drive in Toftrees.
Meaning? Drips around the filler never reach your engine at all. The diesel tank with AdBlue in it is another matter. Any AdBlue in the tank would be sucked in by turning on your car, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
Do this: act as if it got in, and never start the engine. Ring and give what you saw: we would sooner confirm a tank free of AdBlue than empty one once the engine has run.
Fakenham: what every AdBlue drain has in common
Every situation gets the same start to the work. Filling station, driveway, The Crown Fakenham's car park or a street by Central Cinema — the van reaches your vehicle, and three questions come next: which liquid, which quantity, and whether it has run. Those answers determine this work, and you get the price by phone, before anybody heads out.
Then that tank is drained and your system rinsed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't rinse out on its own. Then comes your filter — flushed, or replaced when needed — followed by fresh diesel, and a test of your vehicle. Not started? In that case roughly half an hour once we are there covers most jobs.
Our engineers start the engine at the end. Our check that it runs smoothly on fresh diesel comes before our technicians leave. We do the whole job where your car is, and lasting damage is very unusual when it has been noticed early. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Dig out your insurance before we arrive: misfuelling cover comes included in plenty of policies.
About Fakenham itself
Fakenham is a town situated in northwest Norfolk, on the River Wensum, with a relatively low elevation of 41 metres above sea level. Fakenham lies near several smaller settlements, including Hempton, Pudding Norton, and Sculthorpe, and is approximately 23 miles from Norwich. Fakenham has a population of around 7510 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Fakenham is also about 100 miles from London, making it a rural town with some commuter links.
Fakenham and Norfolk: AdBlue drains across the area
Pudding Norton and Sculthorpe get the same vans as Fakenham, a riverside town, along with other places throughout NR postcodes. Telling us a NR21 9 postcode finds you fastest of all.
No moving is required, be it stopped in the centre of Fakenham or on a layby en route to St Peter's Garden, and so leave it where it is. The van drains it in place. If you're somewhere hard to explain, near Banks or close to a boundary, ring and ask rather than guessing.
The one-line version
Unstarted? Keep the car off and phone. Already run: stop, switch off and call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Fakenham and anywhere around Norfolk on 0333 366 0103.