What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Hatherleigh
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if the motor has been run since it was put in. Not started so far? Then keep the vehicle like that, whether your car is — Hatherleigh or Meeth. Switch nothing on, call 0333 366 0103, then count on a thorough flush after a drain, done just where the vehicle sits in Hatherleigh. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. A larger job, then, but the identical opening move.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever in Devon it happened.
On a Hatherleigh 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. It might be the Texaco, or perhaps the another forecourt nearby, or another station in Hatherleigh.
What it means: this is the best spot to find out. No pump has pulled it in, and so the AdBlue stays just in that tank.
Clearing the petrol pump is no reason to start it — and so don't get back in. Ask the staff to help you push the car into a parking space, keep your receipt or the bottle, and call us from the forecourt. If it cannot be moved, it can be cleared at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Hatherleigh drive?
For days the dashboard had been warning you. A bottle bought at the garage, tipped in on the drive — and it was only at the recycling that the cap got your eye. Driveways near Hole Court get it as much as anywhere.
In short: if the car has not been driven since, it's almost equal to spotting it at the pump. Diesel and AdBlue stay separate: the AdBlue drops to the base of the tank and stays put, however long it waits.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves the vehicle in the morning. Then call. Your drive is where it is emptied, be it in Hatherleigh or Fishleigh. The equipment works quiet enough that it won't wake the neighbours at night.
Hatherleigh: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power or a glowing dashboard started a short way beyond the fill. Maybe heading to Exeter, under 25 miles away, or just down High Street.
What it means: the fuel system has pulled the AdBlue in. It's been through the fuel filter and the lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors. More miles, more starts: deeper it travels.
Next: pick a sensible place, stop, then turn your motor off. Exit by the next junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M5, under 50 miles from Hatherleigh. Restarting it to test achieves nothing — AdBlue never clears itself. Roughly what distance did it gone? Say so when you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company cars
It is a car you have had for a week. The AdBlue filler sits right beside the diesel filler, which you did not know, since your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Any driver, wherever across Devon, could make it.
The point: exactly as above, divided by if it ran, but with an added stage. Any work on your car frequently requires the owner's go-ahead under rental or company agreements.
Next: ring the hire company or your fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before our arrival is faster. Hanging on for an answer at the car park at Okehampton, or near St John the Baptist? Leave the car off meanwhile.
Hatherleigh: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Truthfully, the best answer may be that you think so. A slight ammonia-like smell hangs around your filler, the bottle seems too light, and which cap came off is hard to recall. Maybe on a friend's driveway in Monkokehampton, or rushing by Hatherleigh Community Primary School at the school run.
Put simply: a spill round the filler does your motor no harm. If it is inside your diesel tank, though, it does. You can't tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so will pull in any AdBlue that is in the tank.
Next: assume it went in, and keep the engine off. Phone and give what you saw: we would rather find a tank free of AdBlue than drain one once the motor has been run.
What each AdBlue drain in Hatherleigh has in common
Whatever the case, one opening is used. Filling station, driveway, The George's car park or a street beside Sheep Farmers sculpture — our van reaches the car, and three answers come next: what fluid, what quantity, and whether it ran. Answers set the work; the quote comes by phone while no one has set off yet.
Emptying the tank comes first, then a full flush — more important with urea than after petrol, since crystals and corrosion won't go by themselves, no matter how long you wait. Then is the fuel filter — cleaned, or swapped when necessary — followed by clean diesel, and a test of the vehicle. If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
The last step is firing it up. With fresh diesel in, it runs while our engineers make sure it is running properly, and then we leave. Permanent damage is very rare when it is caught quickly, and the whole job is done where your car is. Nothing is taken upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you get what the insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Dig out your insurance while we're en route: misfuelling cover is built into plenty of policies.
About Hatherleigh, for a moment
Hatherleigh is a small village in Devon, situated on the banks of a river at an elevation of around 81 metres. Hatherleigh has a mix of housing types, with terraced houses being particularly prevalent, and is located near other local places such as Fishleigh and Bondstones. Hatherleigh is close to the city of Exeter, which is approximately 24.6 miles away, and is around 177.3 miles from London.
Hatherleigh and Devon: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a village, Hatherleigh shares its vans with the surrounding towns — Bondstones, Fishleigh Castle — right across EX postcodes. A postcode starting EX20 3 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Central Hatherleigh or a layby near Island Park: wherever it is, the vehicle never needs to move an inch for this drain. Where it stands, that is where it is drained. Tricky to pin down? Close to Hatherleigh Methodist Church or a border? Checking is better than guessing, so phone.
In one line: your scenario
Still unrun? Leave it that way and phone. Run already: pull over, switch down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, within Hatherleigh or anywhere across Devon.