What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Hinxhill
Has the engine turned over since the AdBlue was put in? That one point settles nearly everything else from here. If it has not, keep it that way, whether your car is around Hinxhill itself or out in Willesborough. Leave your motor and your ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103; it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Hinxhill. Stop the moment it is safe and turn off, if it has been run. The job is bigger, but the first step is the same.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever in Kent it happened.
Hinxhill forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you just notice it while you're standing at the pump, bottle or the nozzle in hand. It might be the Tesco, or the BP, or a different station around Hinxhill.
What it means: this is the best spot to find out. Only your tank has AdBlue; not one component beyond it has drawn it in.
What to do: don't get back in and fire it up to clear the petrol pump. Three jobs: a push into a bay with the attendants assisting, the bottle kept, and a call to us from the forecourt. Can't move the car by the pump? Explosion-proof kit makes a busy forecourt sensible, and so it can be drained in place.
Hinxhill, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. A bottle bought at the shop, tipped in at the drive — and it's only at the recycling that the cap caught your eye. Driveways near Hinxhill Road get it as much as anywhere.
Meaning? As long as the vehicle has not moved since, it's close to the pump case. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of that tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
Your move: keys in the house, and so no one drives your car anywhere at breakfast. After that, ring. Your driveway is where it is drained, whether around Hinxhill or Hinxhill Park. Even at night, our pumps are quiet enough for a residential street.
Hinxhill: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Rough running, smoke, lost power or a glowing dashboard started a mile or two after the top-up. Perhaps it was on Plumpton Road, possibly on the way out towards Canterbury, under 15 miles away.
Meaning? The fuel pump has taken the AdBlue in. Through the filter, along the pipework, and — the further the mileage — on into the injection pump and every injector. Each restart, like every mile, carries it on.
Next: find a safe place, pull in, then turn the motor off. On the M20, under a mile from Hinxhill, that means the next junction, not the services further on. Don't restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Let us hear the distance covered as you ring.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You have had this car hardly a week. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is absent or somewhere else. On this one, the cap is right by the diesel inlet — news to you. Throughout Kent, nobody is immune.
Meaning? Whatever case above counts here — run or unrun — plus one further stage. The owner often has to sign off any work, under many hire and company agreements.
Do this: rental firm or fleet manager first, us second, since settling it beforehand cuts time. If you are stranded in the car park at Ashford International, or by St Mary's Church, while you wait for an answer, leave your car off.
Hinxhill: unsure whether it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Now and then, "I think so" is all anyone can truthfully say. What cap came off, you cannot recall; but the bottle weighs lighter than it ought to, and a whiff of ammonia hangs by the filler. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Brook Community Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Naccolt.
The point: your motor isn't hurt by some AdBlue spilled on the filler. Once it is inside the diesel tank, though, it does. Starting the car cannot tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in your tank it will pull it in.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Don't fire it up. Describe what you saw on the phone. A clean tank checked is a happier result than an already-run one emptied.
What every AdBlue drain in Hinxhill has in common
Every case has the same opening to the job. Anywhere the vehicle stands — Blacksmiths Arms's car park, a street by Statue of William Harvey, a driveway, a filling station — our van arrives and we ask for the liquid, the quantity, and if your motor has been run. Those answers settle this work, and you hear our quote on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Draining that tank comes next, then a careful flush — more important after urea than after petrol, since crystals and corrosion won't go by themselves, no matter how long it sits. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Most unstarted cars are a half-hour visit after the moment we get there.
Lastly, our technicians start the car. Our technicians check it runs correctly on fresh diesel before we leave. Lasting damage is very unusual when it's caught early, and the entire job is done where the vehicle is. Nothing is paid upfront, payment is made on the day, and you get what your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Dig out your insurance before we're en route: misfuelling cover is included in many policies.
About Hinxhill
Hinxhill is a small hamlet in Kent, situated inland at an elevation of 64 metres, and is located near the larger settlements of Willesborough Lees and Brook. Hinxhill is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock and is surrounded by rural landscapes, including Hinxhill Park. Hinxhill is approximately 11 miles from Canterbury and around 52 miles from London, making it a relatively rural community within the South East region.
AdBlue drains across Kent, Hinxhill included
Hinxhill is a rural hamlet, and the same vans that cover it work the places near it too, Willesborough Lees and Brook among them, across the TN postcode area. Telling us a TN25 5 postcode finds you fastest of all.
Centre of Hinxhill or a layby near Broomfields: either way it sits, your car never needs to shift at all for us. Our van empties it where it stands. Assuming doesn't help beside St Mary, on a county line or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
In one line: your scenario
Where it has not run, phone and keep it that way. Run already: pull over, switch down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, in Hinxhill or wherever in Kent.