Fleet-Downs: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
Everything turns on one detail: whether the motor has started since the AdBlue was added — more than anything else. Wherever your car stands — Horns Cross, Fleet-Downs — never run an engine that has not run yet. Keep nothing on, call 0333 366 0103, and expect a thorough flush after a drain, done right where your car stands around Fleet-Downs. Where the engine has been run, stop somewhere safe first, then switch the car off. A bigger job, then, but the same opening move.
Below: the situations our engineers see, anywhere across Kent. Pick yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Fleet-Downs forecourt
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you only notice it while you are standing at the petrol pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. Maybe you're at the BP, maybe at the Shell, maybe somewhere else in Fleet-Downs.
Meaning? Finding out on the forecourt is the best it can be. Still in the tank, and nothing drawn onwards: that's where the AdBlue sits.
Your move: keep out of the driver's seat, even if the queue wants clearing. Phone us from the forecourt after the vehicle is in a space — the attendants will lend a hand to roll it — and keep the bottle. Draining it there at the petrol pump is fine if it cannot be shifted, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Fleet-Downs drive?
On the dash, a warning had been lit 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 again at the cap. Right off Fleet Road is not different from any other place.
In short: if your car has not moved since, it's nearly as good as spotting it at the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue stay separate: the AdBlue settles to the base of your tank and remains there, no matter how long it waits.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves the car in the morning. Then ring. Your driveway is where it is emptied, be it in Fleet-Downs or Darenth Valley. Our equipment works quiet enough that it won't wake the street at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Fleet-Downs?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the motor began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Anywhere along Maybury Avenue or on the road towards London — under 25 miles away.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been pulled through the system. Mileage decides how far it goes: filter and pipework first, then the high-pressure pump and each injector. Every restart, like each mile, carries it deeper.
What to do: pull over where it is safe to do so then switch off. Leave at the first junction — not the services beyond — if you're on the M25, under a mile from Fleet-Downs. No test starts: clearing is not something AdBlue will do. Call, saying what distance the car was driven.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've had the car hardly a week. Unknown to you, the two fillers sit side by side here — unlike your own vehicle, which has none or stores it elsewhere. Wherever you are in Kent, every motorist could be caught.
The upshot: exactly as above, divided by whether it ran, but with an added stage. Plenty of hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on your car.
Sorting it before we arrives is faster, and so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, then us. If you're stuck in the car park at Dartford, or by Fleetdown Community Centre, while you wait for an answer, leave your car off.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Fleet-Downs?
"I think so" is sometimes as honest answer there is. What cap was taken off, you cannot say; but the bottle weighs lighter than it ought to, and a whiff of ammonia hangs by the filler. Maybe at a friend's drive in Stone, or in a rush outside Fleetdown Primary Academy on the school run.
What it means: a little spilled about the filler does no damage to the motor. Once it's inside the diesel tank, though, it does. Any AdBlue in the tank will be sucked in by firing up the car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Don't fire it up. Checking a tank that proves free of AdBlue beats emptying one once it's been run — so ring then describe to us what you noticed.
What each AdBlue drain in Fleet-Downs has in common
No matter the case, a single start is used. We come to the vehicle, whether it is on a forecourt, a drive, the car park at Champions Bar or a side street close to Fleetdown Library, and ask three things: what went in, about how much, and if the motor has been run. Answers shape the work; the quote follows by phone whilst nobody has set off yet.
Emptying that tank comes first, followed by a careful flush — more important with urea than after petrol, since crystals and corrosion won't go on their own, no matter how long you wait. Next comes your filter — flushed, or replaced where needed — followed by clean diesel, and a test of your car. If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
The last step is firing it up. With fresh diesel in, it runs while we check it is running smoothly, and then we leave. Our technicians do the whole job where your car is, and permanent damage is very unusual if it has been spotted soon. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Worth remembering: lots of insurers offer misfuelling cover, so a check of your policy as you wait is worthwhile.
About Fleet-Downs and where it is
Fleet-Downs is a suburban area in Kent, situated inland at an elevation of 48 metres, and is located approximately 16.6 miles from London. Fleet-Downs forms part of the wider commuter belt around London, with nearby places including Darenth Valley, New Town, and Brooklands. Fleet-Downs has a population of around 6268 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing.
AdBlue drains across Kent, Fleet-Downs included
Throughout DA postcodes, the teams serving Fleet-Downs — a residential suburb — work nearby towns as well, New Town and Brooklands among them. Telling us your DA2 6 postcode pins you quickest of all.
No moving is required, be it stopped in the centre of Fleet-Downs or on a layby heading to Garden of Remembrance, and so leave it where it is. Where it stands, that is where it gets cleared. Guessing doesn't help beside Goals Soccer Centre, close to a border or anywhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
The one-line version
Not run yet: keep the car off and ring. Whichever line fits, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, across Kent and in Fleet-Downs — once you stop, turn off and phone, if it has run.