AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Grendon, and What to Do Next
Everything turns on a single fact: whether the engine has started since the AdBlue was added — more than anything else. Not run yet? Then leave it that way, wherever the car sits — Grendon or St Helena. Ring 0333 366 0103 with the key and engine still off. In Grendon, that is typically emptied and cleaned where it stands. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. It is a bigger job, yet step one doesn't change.
Wherever in Warwickshire it happened, one of the cases below matches yours.
On a Grendon forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you only notice it while you are stood at the petrol pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. It might be the Asda Express, or the another forecourt nearby, or a different forecourt in Grendon.
Meaning? Finding out here is as good as it gets. The AdBlue is inside that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Next: avoid the temptation to fire it up just to free up the petrol pump. Ring us from the forecourt after the vehicle is in a bay — the attendants will lend a hand to push it — and keep the receipt. Can't move it beside the pump? Our explosion-proof equipment makes a live forecourt sensible, and so it can be drained in place.
Grendon, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
On your dash, a reminder had been lit all week. A bottle bought at the garage, tipped in on the drive — and it's just by the recycling that the cap got your eye. It occurs on driveways just off Spon Lane as often as anywhere.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue stay apart: the AdBlue drops to the base of that tank and stays there, however long the night.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so no one moves the car in the morning. Then call. We drain it on your drive, whether that is in Grendon or out in Grendon Common. Night-time drains beside a house are no problem: the pumps are low-noise.
On the road in Grendon with AdBlue in a diesel
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the motor began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Anker Close, perhaps, or the route towards Lichfield — a run of under 15 miles.
The upshot: the system has drawn AdBlue in by now. The injection pump and every injector get it too on a bigger run, once the filter and pipework have it. It goes further with each mile driven and every restart.
Next: pick a sensible place, pull in, and turn your engine off. On the M42, under 3 miles from Grendon, that means the next exit, not the services further on. It will not have cleared, and so there is no point starting it again to find out. Roughly how far had it gone? Tell us as you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have had this vehicle barely a week. Your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, so nothing warned you the AdBlue cap was just beside your diesel. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Warwickshire.
The point: exactly as above, divided by whether it ran, only with an added stage. The owner often needs to approve any work, under plenty of hire and fleet contracts.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's quicker settled before our engineers arrive than after. Hanging on for a reply in the car park outside Atherstone, or beside Grendon Methodist Church? Keep your engine off throughout.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, around Grendon
Sometimes the honest answer is "I think so". Lighter, the bottle; a trace of ammonia near the filler; no clear recollection of which cap. Sound familiar? Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Woodside CofE Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Merevale.
What it means: a little spilled round your filler does no harm to the engine. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Starting the vehicle will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in your tank it will draw it in.
Do this: behave as if it did, and don't start the motor. Inspecting a tank that proves clean beats emptying one after it's been run — so ring then tell us what you noticed.
The common ground in each Grendon AdBlue drain
Whichever situation you are in, this job starts the same way. Anywhere the vehicle stands — The Red Lion Inn's car park, a street beside Grendon Community Centre, a drive, a filling station — our van gets there and we ask for the fluid, the quantity, and if the engine has been run. Answers set the job; the price comes by phone while nobody has set off yet.
Then that tank is emptied and the system purged thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not rinse out on its own. Then comes the filter — cleaned, or replaced when needed — then fresh diesel, and a test of the car. Where your engine hasn't been started, expect about half an hour once we arrive, for most cases.
Firing it up comes last. With fresh diesel in, it runs while our technicians make sure it is running properly, and then we leave. Our engineers do the whole job where the car is, and lasting damage is very uncommon when it has been spotted early. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Check your insurance before we arrive: misfuelling cover is built into plenty of policies.
About Grendon, briefly
Grendon is a village in Warwickshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of around 75 metres, with Grendon Common nearby. Grendon lies approximately 11.5 miles from Lichfield and 97.5 miles northwest of London, in a rural area that includes nearby Baddesley Ensor and Dordon. Grendon has a population of around 906 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Grendon is characterized by its quiet, rural setting and residential community.
Grendon and Warwickshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a village, Grendon shares its vans with the surrounding towns — Dordon, Baddesley Ensor — right through CV postcodes. Your location is clearest from a postcode beginning CV9 2.
Central Grendon or a lay-by towards Black Riding: either way it sits, your vehicle never needs to shift an inch for us. The drain happens on the spot. Guessing doesn't help beside The Parish Church of St Nicholas - Baddesley Ensor, close to a county line or anywhere awkward to describe; phone and check.
In one line: your situation
Not run yet: keep it off then call. Run already: stop, power down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Grendon or anywhere across Warwickshire.