Hockerill: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
Everything hinges on one fact: whether the motor has started since the AdBlue was added — far more than anything else. Not started yet? Then leave the car that way, whether the vehicle is — Hockerill or Thorley Street. Leave the motor and your ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103; it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Hockerill. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. A bigger job, yes, but the identical first step.
Further down: the situations our engineers see, wherever in Hertfordshire. Pick yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Hockerill forecourt
You are at the pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Whether Shell, Sainsbury's or anywhere else in Hockerill, the situation is identical.
What it means: this is the ideal spot to find out. Just that tank has AdBlue; no component past it has taken it in.
What to do: don't get back in and start the car to clear the petrol pump. Ask the attendants to help you push your car into a parking space, keep your receipt or the bottle, then ring us from the forecourt. Emptying it right at the pump is fine when it cannot be moved, since the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Hockerill drive?
On the dash, a warning had been lit for days. Bought a bottle, tipped it in outside the house, binned the empty — and at that point checked the cap again, after the fact. It occurs on driveways just off Kings Court as regularly as anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. On the bottom of that tank is exactly where AdBlue stays, because it will not blend with diesel — and a night passing makes no difference.
Next: prevent an early drive by keeping your keys indoors, then phone us. Out in Bishops Stortford or right here in Hockerill, the draining is done at your drive. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel in Hockerill?
Filled up, pulled away, and before long the engine was turning unevenly, blowing smoke, down on power, or lighting up your dash. Anywhere along Kingfisher Way or else heading towards Chelmsford — under 25 miles away.
In short: the AdBlue has been pulled into the fuel system. Distance decides how deep it goes: filter and lines to begin with, then the high-pressure pump and each injector. It goes further with each extra mile driven and each restart.
What to do: pull over where it's safe to do so and switch off. On the M11, under 3 miles from Hockerill, that means the next exit, not the services further on. No trial restarts: clearing itself isn't something AdBlue will do. Tell us hear the distance covered as you ring.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You have just had the vehicle for days. Your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere different, and so no one warned you the AdBlue cap sits just next to the diesel. Anywhere you happen to be around Hertfordshire, every motorist can slip up.
The point: exactly as above, divided by if it ran, but with one added stage. Any work on the car often needs the owner's approval under rental or fleet terms.
Settling it before we turn up is quicker, and so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, and then us. Waiting for a reply at the car park at Bishops Stortford, or near All Saints? Leave your engine off throughout.
Unsure about AdBlue in the diesel tank in Hockerill?
Truthfully, the best answer might be that you think it did. A faint ammonia-like whiff lingers around your filler, the bottle feels too light, and the cap you took off is a blur. Maybe it happened in a hurry at the school gates at All Saints Church of England Primary School and Nursery, Bishop's Stortford, or on a friend's drive in Start Hill.
In short: spillage round your filler leaves the engine no harm. If it is inside your diesel tank, though, it does. You cannot tell which by turning the key, and doing so would pull in any AdBlue that is in that tank.
Next: act as though it got in, and keep your motor off. Describe what you noticed on your phone. A clear tank checked counts as a happier outcome than a run one emptied.
Each AdBlue drain in Hockerill shares these stages
The work begins the same way, whatever the situation. Three things are asked when we arrive — at a filling station, a driveway, a street beside Waytemore Castle (remains) or the car park at The Cock Inn: the fluid, the quantity, and whether it has been started. Over the phone, before anything else, you hear the quote, and those replies decide the job too.
Then the tank is cleared and the system rinsed 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 does not rinse out on its own. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Firing it up comes last. With fresh diesel in, it runs while we make sure it is running properly, and then we leave. If it's caught quickly, the car very rarely has permanent damage, and the whole job takes place where it is. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Hockerill, for a moment
Hockerill is a suburban area located on the riverside in Hertfordshire, with a relatively low elevation of 74 metres. Hockerill sits near the cities of Chelmsford and Bishops Stortford, and is also close to the settlements of New Town and Birchanger. Hockerill has a population of approximately 5974 people, and is characterised by a predominance of flat housing. Hockerill is situated about 28 miles from London, making it a commuter base for the capital.
Hockerill and Hertfordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Hockerill has the same vans as the surrounding towns — Birchanger, New Town — all the way through CM postcodes. Your location is clearest from a postcode beginning CM23 2.
Whether the vehicle is on a lay-by on the way to Sworder's Field or in a car park in the middle of Hockerill, it doesn't need to move. Where it stands, that's where it is drained. Guessing doesn't help beside War Memorial, close to a county line or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
Your situation, summed up
Not run yet: keep it off then call. Run already? Pull over, turn off, phone. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder whichever case, in Hockerill and Hertfordshire, on 0333 366 0103.