AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Fordmoor: What Now?
One thing counts most once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is whether your engine has been started afterwards. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the car is in Fordmoor itself or out in Lower Tale. Leave the motor and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103; it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Fordmoor. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. It is a bigger job, yet stage one does not change.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever across Devon it happened.
Fordmoor forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you only spot it while you're stood at the pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. Be it Gulf, Tesco or anywhere else around Fordmoor, the case is identical.
Meaning? Spotting it here is the best it can be. The AdBlue is in the tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Next: resist the urge to fire it up just to free up the petrol pump. Ask the attendants to help you push your car into a parking spot, keep the till receipt or the bottle, then ring us from the forecourt. Can't move it by the pump? Explosion-proof kit keeps a live forecourt safe, so we can drain the vehicle in place.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home in Fordmoor
The warning light had been on for days. A bottle bought at the garage, emptied in at the drive — and it was just at the bin that the cap got your eye. Homes just off Old Bridge Road are hit as much as anywhere else.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue stay apart: the AdBlue settles to the base of the tank and stays there, however long it waits.
Next: the keys in the house, and so nobody takes the vehicle anywhere at breakfast. After that, ring. Normans Green or Fordmoor: whichever your drive is, that is where it gets emptied. Late-night clears outside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise.
On the road in Fordmoor with AdBlue in a diesel
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. Somewhere along Pencepool Orchard or on the road towards Exeter — under 15 miles away.
The upshot: your system has drawn AdBlue through already. Mileage sets how far it gets: filter and pipework first, then the injection pump and each injector. Every restart, like every mile, pushes it deeper.
Pull in safely — that is the first job — then switch it off. Fordmoor lies under 3 miles from the M5; there, pull off at the first junction instead of pressing on to the services. No test restarts: clearing itself is not something AdBlue will do. Roughly how far had it go? Tell us when you call.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
A week ago, the car was unknown to you. Your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere, so no one warned you the AdBlue cap sits right beside the diesel. Any driver, anywhere in Devon, could make the same.
The upshot: just as above, split by if it ran, but with an added stage. Any work on the car often requires the owner's go-ahead under hire or fleet terms.
Next: ring the hire company or the fleet manager first, then us — sorting it before we arrive is quicker. If you are stranded in the car park at Feniton, or by Plymtree Parish Hall, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
Fordmoor: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Honestly, the only answer may be that you think it did. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia about the filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Plymtree Church of England Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Higher Weaver.
What it means: a little spilled around your filler does no damage to the motor. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. If there is AdBlue in your tank, turning on the vehicle will pull it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Do this: behave as if it got in, and don't start your engine. Checking a tank that turns out free of AdBlue is better than draining one after it's been run — so phone and tell us what you saw.
Fordmoor: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Whatever the situation, one start is used. Filling station, drive, The Blacksmiths Arms's car park or a street by Plymtree United Reform Church — the van comes to the vehicle, and three questions follow: what liquid, which amount, and if it has run. Those answers decide the work, and you hear the quote by phone, before anybody sets off.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not rinse out on its own. Then comes the filter — flushed, or swapped where necessary — followed by clean diesel, and a test of your car. Where the motor has not been started, expect roughly half an hour once we arrive, in most jobs.
Finally, our technicians start the engine. Our check that it runs properly on new diesel comes before our technicians head off. We do the entire job where your car is, and lasting damage is very uncommon if it has been spotted quickly. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, no money upfront. Plenty of policies include misfuelling, and so look at yours as we head over.
About Fordmoor, briefly
Fordmoor is a small hamlet in Devon, situated inland at an elevation of 73 metres, approximately 10.8 miles from Exeter. Fordmoor lies near other rural settlements such as Normans Green and Plymtree, and is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock. Fordmoor is part of a wider network of small communities in the South West region, with easy access to the city of Exeter and the surrounding countryside.
AdBlue drains across Devon, Fordmoor included
Throughout EX postcodes, the vans covering Fordmoor — a rural hamlet — work nearby towns too, Plymtree and Clyst William among them. A postcode starting EX15 2 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Centre of Fordmoor or a layby towards Blackpark Wood: wherever it sits, the vehicle never needs to shift an inch for this drain. Wherever it sits, that is where it gets drained. Guessing won't help near St John the Baptist, close to a border or somewhere hard to describe; phone and check.
The one-line version
Still unrun? Leave it that way and ring. Run already: pull over, power down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, within Fordmoor or wherever in Devon.