What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Great Tey
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether your engine has run since it got in. Wherever your vehicle is — Little Tey, Great Tey — never run a motor that has not run yet. Leave the motor and your ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103; it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Great Tey. Already run? Pull over once you safely can, then switch everything off. It is a larger job, though stage one does not change.
Match your case to one of the list below, wherever across Essex you are.
At the pump around Great Tey: AdBlue in a diesel
You're at the petrol pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Somewhere in Great Tey, then — Shell, Esso, or somewhere else nearby.
The upshot: of every spot to notice, this is the best. Nothing has drawn it in, and so the AdBlue stays just inside that tank.
What to do: do not get back in and crank it to clear the pump. Three things: a push into a space with the attendants helping, the bottle saved, and a ring to us from the forecourt. If it cannot be shifted, it can be drained at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Great Tey drive?
For days the dash had been nagging you. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look again at the cap. Right off Moor Road is not less likely from anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue keep separate: the AdBlue drops to the floor of your tank and stays put, however long it waits.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so nobody moves the car in the morning. Then ring. Swan Street or Great Tey: whichever your driveway is, that's where it is drained. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Great Tey: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power or a glowing dashboard arrived a mile or two after the fill. Possibly it was on Greenfield Drive, possibly on the way out towards Colchester, under 10 miles away.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been sucked into your fuel system. Past your filter, through the lines, and — the further the distance — on into the injection pump and each injector. It travels further with every mile covered and each restart.
Next: pick a sensible place, pull in, and turn the motor off. Great Tey sits under 25 miles from the M11; there, pull off at the next junction instead of pushing on for the services. No trial restarts: clearing is not something AdBlue does. Phone, and say what distance your vehicle was driven.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
Seven days ago, it was unknown to you. The AdBlue filler sits right next to the diesel one, which you did not know, because your own car either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Across Essex, no one is safe from it.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it has run, with one more stage. Plenty of hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
Next: ring the hire company or your fleet manager first, then us — sorting it before our arrival is faster. Leave it off as the reply comes, whether you're parked outside Chappel & Wakes Colne or near Great Tey Village Hall.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, in Great Tey
Now and then, "I think so" is the most anyone can honestly say. Too light, that bottle; a trace of ammonia near the filler; no clear memory of which cap. Sound familiar? It might have been at a friend's drive in Rose Green, or rushing outside Great Tey Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School on the school run.
What it means: a little spilled around the filler does no damage to your engine. If it's inside your diesel tank, though, that changes. Any AdBlue in that tank would be drawn in by firing up the vehicle, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Next: assume it got in, and leave the engine off. Phone and give what you saw: we'd rather find a clean tank than drain one after your motor has been run.
What every AdBlue drain around Great Tey has in common
The job opens identically, whichever the case. Three questions are asked when we reach the car — at a filling station, a driveway, a street beside Saint Barnabas or the car park outside The Chequers: the fluid, the amount, and if the motor has run. On the phone, before anything else, you hear our quote, and those answers shape the work too.
Draining the tank comes next, then a careful flush — more vital after urea than with petrol, since crystals and corrosion will not go on their own, no matter how long you wait. Last are the filter, flushed or replaced as needed; fresh diesel; and a check of the car. Most unrun cars are a half-hour job after the moment we turn up.
The last step is firing it up. With fresh diesel in, it runs while our engineers check it is running properly, and then we leave. We do the whole job where your car is, and long-term damage is very unusual if it has been spotted soon. Nothing is taken upfront, payment is made on the day, and you receive what your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of policies cover misfuelling, and so check yours while the van travels.
About Great Tey itself
Great Tey is a small village in Essex, situated approximately 6.5 miles from Colchester and 46.3 miles from London. Great Tey sits in a rural area at an elevation of around 62 metres, with nearby places including Swan Street, Chappel, and East Gores. Great Tey has a population of around 608 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing.
AdBlue drains across Essex, Great Tey included
Chappel and East Gores get the same teams as Great Tey, a rural village, plus other towns over CO postcodes. Quickest of all: a CO6 1 postcode for where you stand.
Centre of Great Tey or a layby towards Hoe Wood: either way it sits, the vehicle doesn't need to move an inch for the drain. Where it stands, that is where it is cleared. Assuming doesn't help beside St James the Less, Little Tey, on a border or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
In one line: your situation
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off and call. Run by now? Pull over, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest whichever case, across Great Tey and Essex, on 0333 366 0103.