AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Fordham: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if your engine has run since it went in. Anywhere the car is — Little London, Fordham — never run an engine that has not been started yet. Call 0333 366 0103 with your key and motor still off. In Fordham, that is generally drained and flushed on the spot. Already run? Stop when you safely can, then switch everything off. The job is bigger, but the first step is the same.
Wherever in Cambridgeshire it took place, one of the situations below fits yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Fordham forecourt
Only now, nozzle still in your hand, you realise that the cap you opened was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. It could be the Pace, or perhaps the Esso, or another forecourt in Fordham.
Meaning? Finding out on the forecourt is as good as it can be. No pump has pulled it in, and so the AdBlue stays only inside that tank.
Do this: keep out of the driver's seat, even if the pump wants freeing. Have the attendants to help pushing it to a bay, hold on to the receipt, then phone us right there. Stuck beside the pump? Our explosion-proof equipment makes a busy forecourt safe, so we can drain the vehicle where it is.
At home around Fordham with AdBlue in your diesel tank
For days the dash had been warning you. 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. Drives close to Mill Lane see it as much as anywhere.
The upshot: no miles since makes it almost as good to finding it at the pump. Being unable to mix, AdBlue settles to the base in your tank and waits. A night parked changes nothing.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves your car in the morning. Then ring. In Down Field or here in Fordham, the draining is done at your drive. The equipment runs quietly enough that it won't wake the street at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Fordham?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your engine began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. It might have been driving for Ely, under 10 miles away, or just along Church Street.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been pulled through the fuel system. The injection pump and every injector get it as well on a longer trip, once the filter and lines have had it. Each restart, like each mile, pushes it deeper.
Your move: stop somewhere safe, then switch the motor off. Leave by the next junction — not the services beyond — if you are on the M11, under 15 miles from Fordham. Restarting it to test gets nothing — AdBlue never clears itself. Ring us and say how far you went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
A week ago, it was new to you. The AdBlue filler sits right alongside the diesel filler, which you didn't know, since your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. It can happen to anyone, anywhere around Cambridgeshire.
Meaning? Whatever applies above counts here — run or not — and one further stage. Many hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's faster settled before our engineers turn up than after. If you are stranded in the car park outside Soham, or by war memorial, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, around Fordham
Honestly, the best answer may be that you think so. Lighter, the bottle; a trace of ammonia near the filler; a hazy memory of which cap. Look familiar? A rushed top-up by the gates of Fordham CofE Primary School, or a visit to a friend in Snailwell: either fit.
Meaning? Drips outside the filler don't reach your engine at all. If it is inside the diesel tank, though, that changes. Starting the vehicle will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in your tank it will suck it in.
What to do: treat it as if it went in. Don't crank it. Inspecting a tank that turns out clean beats draining one after it's been run — so phone and tell us what you noticed.
Fordham: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Every case gets the same start to the work. Forecourt, drive, The Crown's car park or a street by Victoria Hall and Hayward Institute — our van reaches the car, and three questions come next: what liquid, which amount, and if it ran. Your price is given on the call, before a van leaves, and those replies set the work.
Then your tank is emptied and your system purged thoroughly, which counts 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 is your filter — flushed, or replaced when necessary — then clean diesel, and a test of the car. Where the motor hasn't run, expect roughly half an hour once we arrive, for most cases.
Lastly, we fire it up. With fresh diesel in, it runs while our engineers make sure it is running properly, and then we leave. Our technicians do the whole job where the car is, and lasting damage is very uncommon if it has been caught early. Nothing is taken upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you receive what the insurer wants: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. It is worth knowing: many insurers include misfuelling cover, and so a quick look at your documents as we travel is worthwhile.
About Fordham and where it is
Fordham is a village in Cambridgeshire, situated on the riverside in the Eastern region of England. Fordham sits at a low elevation of around 12 metres, close to the city of Ely and near other small settlements like Down Field and Landwade. Fordham has a population of approximately 884 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Fordham is located about 59.8 miles from London, making it a rural community within commuting distance of the capital.
Fordham and Cambridgeshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a village, Fordham has the same vans as the surrounding towns — Chippenham, Landwade — right through CB postcodes. Telling us your CB7 5 postcode pins you quickest of all.
No moving is needed, whether stopped centrally in Fordham or on a layby en route to Fordham 2000 Memorial Garden, and so keep it where it is. Wherever it stands, that is where it gets cleared. Ring and ask rather than guess if you're close to Congregational Church, on a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down.
Your situation, in one line
Not run yet: keep it off and ring. Already run: stop, switch off then ring. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Fordham and anywhere across Cambridgeshire on 0333 366 0103.