AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Grain, and What to Do Next
One fact counts above all once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if your motor has run afterwards. Not run yet? Then leave the car that way, whether your car is — Grain or West Minster. Leave the engine and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103; it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Grain. Already run? Stop when safe, then switch it off. A bigger job, then, but the identical opening step.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever across Kent it happened.
At the pump around Grain: AdBlue in a diesel
Imagine it: standing by the pump, gripping the bottle, you spot the cap you opened wasn't the right one. Anywhere around Grain, then — Tesco, Shell, or somewhere else nearby.
Meaning? Finding out here is as good as it gets. The AdBlue is inside that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has sucked it in.
What to do: don't get back in and start the vehicle to clear the petrol pump. Have the attendants to help pushing it into a bay, hold on to the receipt, then phone us from there. If it cannot be moved, it can be cleared at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a working forecourt.
Grain, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
For days the dashboard 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. Driveways close to Pannell Road see it as much as any other street.
Meaning? As long as the vehicle hasn't been driven since, it is close to the forecourt case. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of that tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves the car in the morning. Then call. Out in Wallend or right here in Grain, the drain happens at your driveway. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Grain: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
A short way after filling up, your motor started misbehaving: rough running, smoke, less power, warnings on the dash. Chapel Road, say, or the route towards Southend-on-Sea — a trip of under 10 miles.
The upshot: the system has drawn AdBlue in already. It has been through your filter and the lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors. It travels further with each extra mile driven and every restart.
What to do: pull over where it's safe to do so then switch off. Services further on are too far: on the M2, under 10 miles out of Grain, take the first junction. No trial starts: clearing itself isn't something AdBlue does. Call us and say how far you drove.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
A week ago, it was unknown to you. Your own vehicle either does without AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere, and so no one told you the AdBlue inlet sits right beside the diesel. Wherever you are across Kent, any motorist could be caught.
The upshot: exactly as above, divided by if it ran, but with one added step. Plenty of rental and fleet agreements require the owner's approval for work.
Next: phone the rental company or the fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before we arrive is faster. Stuck by Grain Library, Community and Learning Centre or outside Sheerness-On-Sea till the firm replies, the car stays turned off throughout.
Grain: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Now and then, "I think so" is the most anyone can truthfully say. Too light, that bottle; a hint of ammonia round the filler; no clear memory of the cap. Sound familiar? Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at St James Church of England Primary Academy, or on a friend's drive in Mile Town.
The upshot: the engine is not hurt by a little AdBlue splashed around the outside. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. If there is AdBlue in the tank, starting your car would suck it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Your move: behave as though it did, and don't start the motor. Inspecting a tank that turns out clean beats emptying one once it's been run — so ring then tell us what you noticed.
The common ground in every Grain AdBlue drain
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Anywhere the vehicle is — The Hogarth Inn's car park, a street by St James, a driveway, a filling station — our van gets there and we ask for the fluid, the amount, plus if your engine has been run. Over the phone, ahead of anything else, you are told our quote, and those answers shape the job too.
A thorough flush comes after this drain. With petrol it is routine; with AdBlue it is essential, since crystals form and certain metals corrode, and none of it washes away unaided. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Never started? In that case about half an hour once we are there covers most jobs.
Starting the car comes last. Before we go, it's tested to be sure it runs correctly on fresh diesel. Permanent damage is very rare when it is caught soon, and the entire 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 insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Grain itself
Grain is a small village on the coast of Kent, situated near the mouth of the Thames Estuary at an elevation of around 11 metres. Grain sits close to the nearby settlements of Wallend and Blue Town, and is within commuting distance of Southend-on-Sea. Grain has a population of approximately 1387 residents, living predominantly in semi-detached housing.
Grain and Kent: AdBlue drains across the area
Grain is a coastal village, and the same vans that cover it work the places around it too, Blue Town and Sheerness among them, across the ME postcode area. A postcode starting ME3 0 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Parked en route to Vincent Gardens, or bang in the heart of Grain, the car remains put — there is no need to move it anywhere. Where it stands, that's where it gets emptied. Guessing won't help near Grain Fort, on a county line or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
Your situation, summed up
Not run yet: keep the car off then call. Run by now: pull over, switch down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, in Grain or wherever in Kent.