AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Hertford Heath, and What to Do Next
Has your motor turned over since the AdBlue went in? This one question settles nearly everything else from here. Not run yet? Then leave the car that way, wherever the car is — Hertford Heath or Great Amwell. Usually that means draining and thoroughly flushing it right there around Hertford Heath — and so leave the key and engine off then phone 0333 366 0103. Where the engine has been run, pull in somewhere safe first, then switch it off. A bigger job, then, yet the same opening step.
Match what happened to one of the list below, anywhere around Hertfordshire you happen to be.
Hertford Heath forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
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. Whether BP, Gulf or anywhere else around Hertford Heath, the situation is identical.
Put simply: no better spot to be to discover it. Just that tank has AdBlue; not one part past it has drawn any in.
Clearing the petrol pump is no excuse to start it — so do not get back in. Ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle into a parking bay, keep the till receipt or the bottle, then call us from the forecourt. If it can't be shifted, it can be emptied at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home in Hertford Heath
Days had passed with the dash light on. Bought a bottle, poured it in at home, binned the empty — and at that point looked at the cap again, too late. Just off Vicarage Causeway is not less likely from any other place.
Meaning? Provided your car has not been driven since, it's close to the forecourt case. At the floor of the tank sits where AdBlue waits, because it won't mix with diesel — and a night going by changes no difference.
Next: stop an early move by keeping the keys in the house, then phone us. In Rush Green or right here around Hertford Heath, the draining happens on your drive. Night-time drains outside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Hertford Heath?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your engine began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Maybe heading for St Albans, under 15 miles away, or just down London Road.
In short: the AdBlue has been pulled into your fuel system. The injection pump and each injector get it as well on a longer run, after the fuel filter and pipework have it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: find a safe spot, pull in, then switch your motor off. Leave by the first junction — not the services further along — if you are on the M25, under 10 miles from Hertford Heath. Starting it again to check gets nothing — AdBlue never clears on its own. Let us know the mileage driven when you ring.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've just driven the car a week. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is missing or elsewhere. On this one, the cap is right by the diesel inlet — a surprise to you. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Hertfordshire.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it has run, with one more step. Plenty of rental and fleet contracts need the owner's sign-off before work.
Next: ring the hire company or the fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before we arrive is quicker. Stranded near Holy Trinity or at Hertford East until the firm answers, your vehicle remains switched off the whole time.
Hertford Heath: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Truthfully, the best answer might be that you think so. Lighter, the bottle; a trace of ammonia near your filler; no clear memory of which cap. Sound familiar? A hurried top-up by the gates of Hertford Heath Primary and Nursery School, or a visit to a friend in Hailey: both fits.
Meaning? Drips outside the filler don't touch the motor at all. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. Any AdBlue in the tank will be pulled in by starting the car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Assume it got in, and don't start your key. Inspecting a tank that proves clean beats draining one once it's been run — so phone then describe to us what you saw.
Each AdBlue drain in Hertford Heath shares these steps
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Three things come once our engineers reach the car — at a forecourt, a driveway, a road by Hertford Heath Village Hall or the car park outside The Goat: the fluid, the amount, and if the motor has been started. Your price comes over the phone, before a van leaves, and the answers set the job.
Then the tank is drained and the system rinsed thoroughly, which counts 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. Next comes the fuel filter — flushed, or replaced when necessary — followed by clean diesel, and a test of the vehicle. The majority of unrun vehicles are a half-hour visit after the moment our technicians get there.
Our technicians fire it up last. Our technicians make sure it runs correctly on fresh diesel before we go. Our engineers do the entire job where your car is, and long-term damage is very unusual if it has been caught early. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Dig out your insurance while we arrive: cover for misfuelling comes built into plenty of policies.
About Hertford Heath, briefly
Hertford Heath is a village in Hertfordshire, situated inland at an elevation of 87 metres, approximately 19.7 miles from London. Hertford Heath lies near several smaller communities, including Rush Green, Pine Hurst, and Woollensbrook, and is close to the city of St Albans, which is 12.8 miles away. Hertford Heath has a population of around 1336 people and is characterised by predominantly terraced housing.
AdBlue drains across Hertfordshire, Hertford Heath included
Being a rural village, Hertford Heath has the same vans as the nearby towns — Woollensbrook, Pine Hurst — all the way through SG postcodes. The whereabouts comes clearest from a postcode beginning SG13 7.
Central Hertford Heath or a lay-by near Golding's Wood: either way it sits, the car doesn't need to shift at all for the drain. Wherever it sits, that's where it gets cleared. Guessing won't help near Sports: Squash Courts, close to a border or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
The one-line version
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off then ring. Run already? Pull over, switch off, phone. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder whatever case, across Hertford Heath and Hertfordshire, on 0333 366 0103.