What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Harbury
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether your motor has run since it was put in. Over in Gross Green or here in Harbury, an unrun motor must stay that way. Phone 0333 366 0103 with the ignition and motor still off. In Harbury, that is typically drained and flushed where it stands. When the motor has been run, stop somewhere safe straight away, then turn the car off. A larger job, yes, but the same first move.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever across Warwickshire it happened.
On a Harbury forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
You are 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. Possibly you're at the Gulf, perhaps at the BP, possibly somewhere else in Harbury.
Meaning? Spotting it here is the best it gets. The AdBlue is in the tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
Next: resist the urge to fire it up just to free up the petrol pump. Ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle into a parking spot, keep the till receipt or the bottle, then ring us from the forecourt. If it cannot be moved, it can be emptied at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
Harbury, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. Picked up a bottle, tipped it in outside the house, recycled the empty — and at that point checked the cap a second time, after the fact. It occurs on driveways just off High Street as frequently as anywhere.
Meaning? Provided your car has not moved since, it's second to the pump case. At the bottom of that tank sits exactly where AdBlue stays, because it won't mix with diesel — and a night passing makes no difference.
Next: prevent any early-morning drive by putting the keys in the house, then phone us. Your driveway is where it gets drained, be it in Harbury or Ufton. Our pumping kit works quietly enough not to disturb the street at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Harbury?
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power or a lit dashboard started a mile or two beyond the fill. Perhaps it was on Mill Street, perhaps on the way out towards Coventry, under 15 miles away.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked through the fuel system. Mileage sets how deep it gets: filter and pipework to begin with, then the injection pump and every injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
What to do: pull over where it is safe to do so then switch off. Harbury sits under 3 miles from the M40; there, come off at the first junction rather than pushing on to the services. No test restarts: clearing itself isn't something AdBlue does. Call, and say how far the car was driven.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
A week ago, the car was unknown to you. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is absent or elsewhere. On this one, the cap is just next to the diesel inlet — news to you. It can happen to anyone, anywhere in Warwickshire.
The upshot: exactly as above, split by whether it ran, but with one added step. Plenty of hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on your car.
Sorting it before we arrives is faster, and so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, and then us. Leave it off as the reply arrives, even if you're waiting at Leamington Spa or close to Harbury Library.
Harbury: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Truthfully, the best answer may be that you think it did. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia about the filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. The gates of Harbury CofE Primary School in a hurry, say, or a friend's driveway out in Chesterton Green.
The upshot: your engine isn't hurt by some AdBlue spilled around the outside. Once it's inside your diesel tank, though, that changes. Any AdBlue in your tank will be pulled in by turning on your car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Assume it went in, and never turn the key. Describe what you noticed on your phone. A clean tank checked is a happier result than an already-run one emptied.
The common ground in every Harbury AdBlue drain
Each case has the same opening to the job. Anywhere the car stands — The Gamecock's car park, a road by All Saints Church, a driveway, a filling station — our van gets there and we ask about the fluid, the quantity, plus if the engine has turned over. Those replies determine this work, and you hear the quote by phone, before anyone sets off.
Emptying that tank comes first, followed by a careful flush — more important with urea than after petrol, because crystals and corrosion won't go by themselves, no matter how long you wait. Fresh diesel goes in after the filter has been cleaned or replaced, and your car is finally tested. Where the engine hasn't been started, expect about half an hour on site, in most jobs.
The final step is firing it up. Our test that it runs correctly on new diesel comes before our engineers leave. The whole job is done where the car is, and if it is noticed quickly, lasting damage is very unusual. Nothing is paid upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you receive what the insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Dig out your insurance while we arrive: misfuelling cover comes built into plenty of policies.
About Harbury and where it is
Harbury is a village in Warwickshire, situated in the West Midlands region of England, approximately 12 miles south of Coventry and 75 miles northwest of London. Harbury sits at an elevation of around 122 metres, surrounded by nearby places such as Ufton, Deppers Bridge, and Chesterton. Harbury has a population of around 1488 people, predominantly living in detached houses.
AdBlue drains around Harbury, and across Warwickshire too
Harbury is a rural village, and the same vans that cover it work the places near it too, Deppers Bridge and Chesterton among them, across the CV postcode area. The location comes quickest from a postcode beginning CV33 9.
Stopped en route to Playing Field, or bang in the heart of Harbury, the car remains where it is — there's no need to move it at all. The drain happens on the spot. Awkward to pin down? By Harbury Village Hall or a border? Asking beats guessing, so ring.
Your situation, in one line
Engine not started: phone, leaving it switched off. Whichever case applies, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, across Warwickshire and in Harbury — once you pull over, switch off and phone, if it has run.