What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Four Marks
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if the motor has been run since it got in. Wherever the vehicle is — Kitwood, Four Marks — don't run an engine that has not run yet. Keep nothing on, call 0333 366 0103, then expect a thorough flush plus a drain, carried out just where the car sits around Four Marks. Already run? Pull over when you safely can, then turn it off. Stage one stays the same, even if the job grows.
Wherever in Hampshire it happened, one of the cases below fits yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Four Marks forecourt
Picture it: stood by the petrol pump, holding the bottle, you realise the filler you opened wasn't the correct one. Somewhere around Four Marks, then — BP, Shell, or somewhere else close by.
Put simply: there is no better place exists to spot it. Just your tank holds AdBlue; no component past it has taken any in.
Your move: stay out of the driver's seat, even if the pump needs clearing. A few jobs: a push into a space with the attendants helping, the bottle saved, and a ring to us from where you stand. If it cannot be shifted, it can be cleared at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt.
Four Marks, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. A bottle bought at the garage, emptied in at the driveway — and it's just at the bin that the cap caught your eye. It happens on driveways just off Winchester Road as regularly as anywhere.
Put simply: if your vehicle hasn't moved since, it is nearly as good as spotting it at the pump. On the bottom of your tank sits exactly where AdBlue waits, since it won't mix with diesel — and a night passing makes nothing of the difference.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so no one moves the car in the morning. Then ring. Your drive is where it gets drained, whether around Four Marks or Hawthorn. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Four Marks?
A mile or two after topping up, your engine began playing up: roughness, smoke, less power, warnings on your dash. Windmill Fields, perhaps, or the way to Winchester — a run of under 15 miles.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been sucked into your fuel system. Distance decides how far it goes: filter and lines to begin with, then the high-pressure pump and every injector. Every restart, like each mile, carries it on.
What to do: pull over where it is safe to do so and switch off. Four Marks sits under 10 miles from the M3; on it, come off at the first junction instead of pressing on for the services. Do not restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Phone, and say how far the vehicle went.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You have had the vehicle hardly a week. Your own car either does without AdBlue or puts it somewhere different, and so no one warned you the AdBlue inlet sits just beside the diesel. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Hampshire.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it has run, with one more stage. Plenty of rental and company agreements require the owner's sign-off for work.
Next: ring the hire company or the fleet manager first, then us — settling it before we arrive is faster. Stranded near Four Marks Village Hall or outside Alton till the firm answers, the vehicle stays turned off the whole time.
Unsure about AdBlue in the diesel tank around Four Marks?
Honestly, the only answer may be that you think so. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia about the filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. Maybe it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Four Marks Church of England Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Ropley Soke.
In short: spillage round the filler does the motor unharmed. If it's inside the diesel tank, though, that changes. Firing up the car cannot tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in your tank it will pull it in.
Assume it got in, and don't start your engine. Call us and explain what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
Four Marks: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Whatever the situation, a single opening is used. Wherever the vehicle stands — Triple fff Brewery Shop's car park, a street beside Church of the Good Shepherd, a drive, a filling station — the van arrives and we ask for the liquid, the quantity, and whether your motor has turned over. The price comes over the phone, before a van leaves, and those answers shape the work.
Draining that tank comes first, then a full flush — more vital with urea than after petrol, because crystals and corrosion will not go by themselves, no matter how long it sits. Clean diesel goes in after your filter has been flushed or replaced, and your car is then tested. Never started? In that case about half an hour once we are there covers most jobs.
Firing it up comes at the end. Before our engineers head off, it's checked to be sure it runs correctly on new diesel. Long-term damage is very rare when it is caught quickly, and the whole job is done where the car is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many policies include misfuelling, and so look at yours while the van travels.
About Four Marks and where it is
Four Marks is a locality in Hampshire, situated inland at an elevation of 207 metres, approximately 12 miles from Winchester and 48 miles from London. Four Marks is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its development as a residential area. Four Marks sits near other small places such as Hawthorn, South Town, and Soldridge, and has a population of around 1590 residents.
AdBlue drains across Hampshire, Four Marks included
Being a small village, Four Marks has the same vans as the nearby places — Soldridge, South Town — all the way across GU postcodes. Telling us a GU34 5 postcode pins you quickest of all.
Parked en route to Gipsies Piece, or right in the centre of Four Marks, the car stays put — there is no need to move it at all. Wherever it sits, that is where it is drained. Phone and ask instead of guessing when you are close to Medstead United Reformed Church, on a border, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
In one line: your situation
Not run yet: keep it off then ring. Whatever line fits, Petrol in Diesel takes over from there on 0333 366 0103, throughout Hampshire and in Four Marks — after you stop, turn off then phone, if it has run.