What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Great Paxton
Has the motor run since the AdBlue went in? That one point settles nearly everything about what comes next. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the vehicle is around Great Paxton itself or out in Southoe. Call 0333 366 0103 with the ignition and motor both off. In Great Paxton, such a case is typically emptied and cleaned where it stands. Stop the minute you safely can then turn off, if it has been run. The job is bigger, yet the first step is the same.
Anywhere around Cambridgeshire it happened, one of the situations below fits yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Great Paxton forecourt
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you only spot it while you're standing at the pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. It might be the Shell, or the Total, or another forecourt around Great Paxton.
Meaning? Finding out here is the best it can be. The AdBlue is inside your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Next: avoid the temptation to start it only to move away from the petrol pump. Ask the staff to help you roll the vehicle into a parking bay, keep the receipt or the bottle, then ring us from the forecourt. If it cannot be moved, it can be cleared at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
At home around Great Paxton with AdBlue in your diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. A bottle from the garage, emptied in at the drive — and it's just at the bin that the cap got a second look. Driveways close to Church Lane get it as much as anywhere.
Put simply: if the car has not been driven since, it is nearly equal to spotting it at the pump. On the floor of your tank sits exactly where AdBlue waits, since it will not mix with diesel — and a night passing makes nothing of the difference.
Next: prevent any early-morning drive by putting the keys in the house, then ring us. Our technicians drain it on your driveway, whether that's around Great Paxton or out in Little Paxton. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Great Paxton?
A short way after filling up, the engine started misbehaving: rough running, smoke, lost power, lights on the dash. Perhaps it was on High Street, possibly on the way out towards Cambridge, under 25 miles away.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked into the system. Mileage sets how deep it gets: filter and lines to begin with, then the high-pressure pump and each injector. It travels further with each mile covered and each restart.
What to do: pull over where it's safe and switch off. Services further along can wait: on the A1(M), under 10 miles out of Great Paxton, use the next junction. Don't restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. About how far did it go? Tell us when you call.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've only driven this car for days. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is absent or elsewhere. On this one, the cap is right next to your diesel cap — a surprise to you. Across Cambridgeshire, nobody is safe from it.
Put simply: an extra stage on top of the cases above, which turn on whether it's run. The owner frequently needs to sign off any work, under many rental and fleet agreements.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's quicker settled before our technicians turn up than after. Leave it switched off as the answer comes, whether you're parked at St Neots or close to Holy Trinity Minster (Great Paxton Parish Church).
Great Paxton: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Sometimes the honest answer is "I think so". Lighter, that bottle; a hint of ammonia round your filler; a hazy memory of the cap. Sound familiar? A hurried top-up by the gates of Great Paxton CofE Primary School, or a visit to a friend in Toseland: both fits.
Put simply: a spill round the filler leaves your motor no harm. If it's inside the diesel tank, though, it does. Firing up the car won't tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in that tank it would suck it in.
Take it that it was put in, and never turn your engine. Phone with the details: we'd sooner find a tank free of AdBlue than empty one once the engine has been run.
What every AdBlue drain in Great Paxton has in common
The work begins the same way, whatever the situation. Anywhere your vehicle is — The Bell's car park, a street by Mediaeval Village, a drive, a filling station — the van arrives and we ask for the liquid, the amount, and if the engine has turned over. Those replies decide the work, and you get the price on the phone, before anyone heads out.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to certain metals used in fuel systems, and so it does not wash out unaided; that is why the flush, after this drain, matters far more with AdBlue than with petrol. Last are your filter, cleaned or renewed if necessary; clean diesel; and a test of the car. If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
Firing it up comes at the end. Our check that it runs properly on new diesel comes before our technicians go. The entire job is done where the car is, and when it's spotted early, long-term damage is very unusual. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies cover misfuelling, so look at yours while the van travels.
About Great Paxton
Great Paxton is a village situated on the banks of the Great Ouse River in Cambridgeshire, with a low elevation of around 30 metres. Great Paxton lies approximately 15 miles west of Cambridge and 52 miles north of London, making it a rural community within commuting distance of the city. Great Paxton has a mix of old and new housing, but detached homes are the predominant type, reflecting its rural character. Great Paxton is surrounded by other small villages, including Little Paxton, Diddington, and Offord D'Arcy.
AdBlue drains in Great Paxton, and across Cambridgeshire too
Great Paxton is a village, and the same vans that cover it work the places near it too, Diddington and Offord DArcy among them, across the PE postcode area. Your location comes clearest from a postcode that starts PE19 6.
Stopped en route to Paxton Pits, or bang in the centre of Great Paxton, the car remains where it is — there's no need to shift it anywhere. The van drains it where it stands. Phone and ask rather than guess if you are by Primitive Village Baptist Church, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down.
In one line: your scenario
Not run yet: keep the car off then call. Started by now? Stop, turn off, phone. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder whatever case, in Great Paxton and Cambridgeshire, on 0333 366 0103.