What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Ham Green
Has the engine turned over since the AdBlue was put in? This single question settles nearly everything about what comes next. Out in Great Chalfield or right around Ham Green, an unstarted motor should stay unrun. Switch nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, then count on a proper flush plus a drain, done right where your vehicle sits around Ham Green. Where the motor has run, stop somewhere safe first, then turn the car off. Stage one remains unchanged, even though the work is bigger.
Match what happened to a situation from the ones below, wherever around Wiltshire you are.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Ham Green forecourt
Only at this point, nozzle yet in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you opened was the wrong one, there at the pump. It could be the Texaco, or perhaps the Murco, or a different station around Ham Green.
What it means: this is the best location to find out. Nothing has pulled it through, so the AdBlue stays just inside that tank.
What to do: don't get back in and crank it to clear the pump. Ask the attendants to help you push your car into a parking spot, keep the receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. The equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt, and so a car that cannot be pushed away gets drained where it is at the petrol pump.
At home around Ham Green with AdBlue in your diesel tank
For days the dash had been nagging you. Picked up a container, poured it in outside the house, recycled the empty — and at that point checked the cap a second time, after the fact. Just off Ham Green is not less likely from any other place.
The upshot: zero miles since makes this nearly equal to finding it at the pump. As it is reluctant to blend, AdBlue settles low in the tank and waits. A night parked alters nothing.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves your car in the morning. Then ring. Your drive is where it gets drained, whether in Ham Green or Holt. Late-night drains beside a house are fine: the pumps are quiet.
Drove off with AdBlue in a diesel around Ham Green?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your motor began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Maybe it was on Ham Close, perhaps on the way out towards Bath, under 10 miles away.
The upshot: the system has pulled AdBlue through already. Past the filter, through the lines, and — the more the mileage — on into the injection pump and every injector. Every restart, like each mile, pushes it on.
Stop somewhere safe — that's the next step — then switch it off. On the M4, under 15 miles from Ham Green, that means the next junction, not the services further on. Restarting it to check gets nothing — AdBlue never clears itself. Call, and say how far the vehicle went.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've just driven the vehicle for days. Your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere different, so nothing warned you the AdBlue inlet sits right beside your diesel. Any driver, anywhere across Wiltshire, could do the same.
Meaning? Whichever applies above applies here — run or not — and one further step. Any work on your car often needs the owner's approval under rental or fleet agreements.
Next: ring the rental company or your fleet manager first, then us — sorting it before our arrival is quicker. Hanging on for an answer at the car park at Bradford-On-Avon, or near St Katharine? Leave your engine off throughout.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Ham Green?
Now and then, "I think so" is all anyone can honestly say. Which cap was taken off, you can't recall; meanwhile the bottle feels less than expected, and a whiff of ammonia lingers by your filler. The gates of Holt Voluntary Controlled Primary School in a rush, say, or someone's driveway over in Hilperton Marsh.
The upshot: your engine isn't harmed by some AdBlue spilled around the filler. The diesel tank with AdBlue inside is another matter. Any AdBlue in your tank would be sucked in by turning on the car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Take it that it was put in, and don't start your key. Ring us and explain what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
The common ground in each Ham Green AdBlue drain
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Wherever the vehicle stands — The Old Ham Tree Inn's car park, a street beside The Courts Garden, a driveway, a filling station — our van gets there and we ask about the fluid, the quantity, plus if the engine has turned over. The price is given on the call, ahead of anyone setting off, and those answers set the work.
Then your tank is drained and the system purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel is put in after your filter is flushed or changed, and your car is then checked. If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Last, we start it. With clean diesel in, it runs while our engineers confirm it's running correctly, and then we leave. If it's spotted quickly, the vehicle very rarely has long-term damage, and the entire job happens where it is. For your insurer: the engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, nothing in advance. It is worth remembering: many insurers include misfuelling cover, so a check of your documents while we travel pays.
About Ham Green
Ham Green is a suburban area in Wiltshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of around 45 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Ham Green lies close to the city of Bath, approximately 7 miles away, and is near other local places such as Holt and Staverton. Ham Green is part of the wider residential area surrounding Bath, with easy access to the city's amenities. Ham Green has a population of around 1062 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains across Wiltshire, Ham Green included
Staverton and Forewoods Common get the identical vans as Ham Green, a residential suburb, along with further towns throughout BA postcodes. A postcode starting BA14 6 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Whether the car is on a lay-by on the way to The Courts Garden or in a car park in the middle of Ham Green, it does not need to shift. Our technicians drain the car where it stands. Guessing doesn't help beside United Reformed Church, close to a border or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
In one line: your scenario
Not run yet: keep it off and call. Already run: stop, switch off and call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there around Ham Green and anywhere around Wiltshire on 0333 366 0103.