AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Hadleigh: What Now?
One thing matters above all when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if the motor has run afterwards. Not started yet? Then leave the car that way, whether the vehicle is — Hadleigh or Sunken Marsh. Leave the motor and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103; it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Hadleigh. Stop the minute it is safe and switch off, if it has already run. It's a bigger job, yet stage one does not change.
Anywhere in Essex it happened, one of the situations below fits yours.
At the petrol pump in Hadleigh: AdBlue in a diesel
You are at the pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Maybe you're at the BP Petrol Station, possibly at the Shell, maybe somewhere else around Hadleigh.
What it means: this is the ideal place to find out. Still in your tank, with nothing pulled through: that is where the AdBlue is.
Your move: stay out of the car, however much the pump wants freeing. Ask the staff to help you roll the vehicle into a parking spot, keep the till receipt or the bottle, and phone us from the forecourt. If it can't be moved, it can be drained at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Hadleigh
Several days had passed with the warning light on. A bottle from the shop, tipped in at the drive — and it was just at the bin that the cap caught your eye. Right off London Road is no less likely from anywhere.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. On the floor of that tank sits where AdBlue waits, since it won't mix with diesel — and a night going by changes nothing of the difference.
Put the keys indoors tonight — otherwise someone might drive it away at breakfast — then phone us. Daws Heath or Hadleigh: wherever your driveway sits, that is where it is emptied. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Hadleigh?
Filled up, drove away, and soon your engine was running unevenly, blowing smoke, losing power, or flashing up your dash. Maybe it was on The Saltings, possibly on the way out towards Southend-on-Sea, under 5 miles away.
What it means: the fuel system has drawn the AdBlue in. The high-pressure pump and every injector see it too on a longer run, after the fuel filter and pipework have it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: find a safe place, pull in, then switch the motor off. Hadleigh lies under 15 miles from the M2; on it, pull off at the first junction rather than pressing on for the services. Starting it again to check achieves nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear on its own. Call, and say what distance your vehicle was driven.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
It is a motor you have had for a week. Unknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel inlets sit side by side here — not like your own vehicle, which has none or stores it elsewhere. Anyone, wherever around Essex, might make the same.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it has run, with one more stage. Work on the vehicle often needs the owner's go-ahead under hire or company agreements.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is faster settled before our engineers turn up than after. Hanging on for a reply at the car park outside Leigh-on-Sea, or beside Hadleigh Old Fire Station, Arts and Community Centre? Keep your engine off meanwhile.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, in Hadleigh
Truthfully, the best answer might be that you think so. A faint ammonia-like whiff hangs around the filler, the bottle feels too light, and which cap came off is hard to recall. It might have been at a friend's driveway in South Benfleet, or rushing outside Hadleigh Junior School at the school run.
Meaning? Drips around the filler don't touch your engine at all. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. If there is AdBlue in your tank, turning on the car would draw it in, and it would not tell you which either.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Don't start the car. Checking a tank that proves free of AdBlue is better than emptying one after it has been run — so ring then tell us what you noticed.
What every AdBlue drain around Hadleigh has in common
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. Three things are asked once we arrive — at a forecourt, a driveway, a road beside Hadleigh Library or the car park outside the pub in the village: the liquid, the quantity, and whether the motor has run. Those replies decide this work, and you hear our quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some metals in fuel systems, so it won't wash out on its own; that is why a full flush, after the drain, matters much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Then comes the fuel filter — flushed, or swapped when necessary — followed by fresh diesel, and a test of your car. Where your engine hasn't run, allow roughly half an hour on site, in most jobs.
Last, our engineers start it. Our test that it runs correctly on fresh diesel comes before our engineers leave. We do the whole job where the car is, and long-term damage is very rare if it has been noticed quickly. Paying comes that day, never in advance. For the insurer, you get a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer. Worth remembering: many insurers include misfuelling cover, so a check of your documents while you wait pays.
About Hadleigh
Hadleigh is a village in Essex, situated on the coast near the mouth of the Thames Estuary, with an elevation of around 77 metres. Hadleigh lies close to the nearby settlements of Daws Heath, The Birches, and Thundersley, and is approximately 4.6 miles from Southend-on-Sea. Hadleigh has a population of around 2886 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Hadleigh is also within commuting distance of London, being around 31.7 miles from the city.
AdBlue drains about Hadleigh and across Essex
Hadleigh is a coastal village, and the same teams that cover it work the places around it too, The Birches and Thundersley among them, across the SS postcode area. A postcode starting SS7 2 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Stopped en route to West Wood, or right in the centre of Hadleigh, your car remains where it is — there's no need to move it at all. Where it stands, that is where it gets cleared. Phone and check rather than guess when you are by St James the Less, Hadleigh, near a border, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
The one-line version
If it has not run, ring and keep it that way. Whichever case applies, Petrol in Diesel takes over from there on 0333 366 0103, throughout Essex and within Hadleigh — after you stop, switch off then phone, if it has run.