AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Guildford: What Now?
One thing matters above all once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if the motor has been started since. Over in Bellfields or right in Guildford, an unstarted motor should stay unrun. Usually that is draining and properly flushing it right there around Guildford — and so leave the ignition and engine off then phone 0333 366 0103. When the engine has run, pull in somewhere safe straight away, then switch the car off. The job is bigger, but the first step is the same.
Match what happened to a situation from the list below, wherever across Surrey you happen to be.
At the petrol pump around Guildford: AdBlue in a diesel
Picture it: stood by the petrol pump, gripping the nozzle, you realise the cap you took off wasn't the correct one. Maybe you are at the BP, maybe at the Shell, possibly somewhere else around Guildford.
The point: of all places to notice, this is the best. No pump has pulled it through, so the AdBlue stays just in that tank.
Next: resist the temptation to fire it up just to free up the petrol pump. A few jobs: a shove into a space with the attendants helping, the bottle kept, and a ring to us from where you stand. The equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt, so a vehicle that cannot be pushed away is cleared where it is at the pump.
Guildford, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. Only at the recycling bin, the empty container in your hand, did you look back at the cap you'd used at the drive. Homes just off Woodbridge Road get hit as often as anywhere else.
The point: no miles since leaves it almost as good to finding it at the pump. Diesel and AdBlue keep separate: the AdBlue drops to the floor of the tank and stays put, however long it waits.
Next: prevent any early drive by keeping the keys in the house, then ring us. In Guildford Park or here in Guildford, the drain is done on your driveway. Night-time drains beside a house are no problem: the pumps are low-noise.
Guildford: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
A mile or two beyond topping up, your motor began playing up: roughness, smoke, less power, lights on the dash. Maybe driving for Westminster, under 50 miles away, or just down York Road.
Meaning? The pump has taken the AdBlue up. It has been through your filter and the lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Pull in safely — that is the first step — then switch everything off. Leave at the next junction — not the services beyond — if you're on the M25, under 10 miles from Guildford. Restarting it to check achieves nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear on its own. Phone us and say how far you travelled.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
It's a vehicle you have had for a week. Your own motor either has no AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, so no one told you the AdBlue inlet sits right next to the diesel. Anywhere you are across Surrey, every driver could be caught.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more stage. Plenty of hire and company contracts need the owner's sign-off before work.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is quicker settled before our technicians get there than after. If you're stranded in the car park at the nearest station, or by Guildford Magistrates' Court, while you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Guildford?
Truthfully, the only answer may be that you think it did. A slight ammonia smell lingers around the filler, the bottle feels too light, and the cap you took off is hard to recall. It might have been on a friend's driveway in Westborough, or rushing outside Sandfield Primary School on the school run.
What it means: a little spilled about your filler does no harm to your engine. If it is inside your diesel tank, though, that changes. If there is AdBlue in that tank, starting the vehicle would draw it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
Do this: act as if it did, and never start the motor. Ring and give the details: we would sooner confirm a tank free of AdBlue than empty one once your engine has been run.
Each AdBlue drain around Guildford shares these stages
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Forecourt, driveway, The Drummond's car park or a street by St Saviour's Church — the van comes to the vehicle, and three answers follow: which fluid, what quantity, and if it has run. Answers shape the job; the quote comes on the call whilst nobody has set off yet.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a full flush — more important after urea than after petrol, because crystals and corrosion won't go on their own, no matter how long you wait. Then comes your filter — cleaned, or swapped when needed — then clean diesel, and a test of the vehicle. Never started? In that case roughly half an hour on site covers most jobs.
The final step is firing it up. Our check that it runs properly on new diesel comes before our engineers head off. The entire job is done where the car is, and when it's spotted soon, long-term damage is very unusual. Payment is that day, never in advance. For the insurer, there is a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer. It is worth knowing: lots of insurers offer misfuelling cover, and so a quick look at your documents as you wait pays.
About Guildford, briefly
Guildford is a town in Surrey, situated on the River Wey and surrounded by the North Downs. Guildford sits at an elevation of 36 metres, with Guildford Park and other green spaces nearby. Guildford is a significant residential centre, with a high proportion of flat dwellings and a population of around 26,554 people. Guildford is located approximately 27 miles southwest of central London, near the neighbouring areas of Woodbridge Hill and Dennisville.
AdBlue drains around Guildford, and across Surrey too
As a riverside town, Guildford shares its vans with the surrounding towns — Dennisville, Woodbridge Hill — all the way through GU postcodes. Telling us a GU1 4 postcode pins you quickest of all.
No moving is required, be it stopped in the centre of Guildford or in a layby heading to Jellico Roof Garden, so leave it where it is. Our van empties it where it stands. If you're somewhere hard to describe, close to Salvation Army or close to a border, ring and ask instead of assuming.
In one line: your scenario
Where it hasn't run, phone and leave it that way. Started already? Pull over, turn off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder whatever it is, in Guildford and Surrey, on 0333 366 0103.