Holbury: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether the motor has run since it got in. Wherever the car is — Blackfield, Holbury — don't start a motor that hasn't been started yet. Usually that is draining and thoroughly flushing it right there around Holbury — so keep the ignition and engine off then phone 0333 366 0103. Stop the minute it is safe then turn off, if it has already run. The job is bigger, but the first stage is the same.
Match what happened to a situation from the list below, wherever across Hampshire you happen to be.
On a Holbury forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you only spot it as you are stood at the pump, bottle or the nozzle in hand. It could be the Esso, or perhaps the Shell, or a different forecourt around Holbury.
The upshot: of every spot to notice, this is the best. Only the tank has AdBlue; not one component beyond it has taken it in.
Next: avoid the temptation to start it only to move away from the pump. Three jobs: a push into a space with the attendants helping, the bottle kept, and a ring to us from the forecourt. The equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a live forecourt, so a vehicle that can't be pushed away gets drained right at the pump.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Holbury drive?
The warning light had been on for days. Only by the recycling, the empty container in your hand, did you glance back at the cap you'd opened at the driveway. It happens on drives just off Waltons Avenue as commonly as anywhere.
The point: no driving since makes this nearly equal to finding it at the petrol pump. Diesel and AdBlue stay apart: the AdBlue drops to the floor of your tank and stays put, no matter how long the night.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves your car in the morning. Then call. Little Holbury or Holbury: wherever your driveway sits, that is where it gets emptied. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel around Holbury?
Rough running, smoke, lost power or a glowing dashboard arrived a mile or two beyond the top-up. Sloane Avenue, say, or the route towards Southampton — a run of under 10 miles.
What it means: the system has drawn the AdBlue in. The high-pressure pump and every injector get it as well on a bigger trip, once your filter and pipework have it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: find a sensible place, stop, then switch your motor off. Holbury lies under 10 miles from the M27; there, pull off at the first junction rather than pushing on for the services. No test restarts: clearing isn't something AdBlue does. Call, saying what distance the vehicle was driven.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You have only driven the vehicle a week. Your own vehicle either does without AdBlue or puts it somewhere different, and so nothing warned you the AdBlue cap was right beside your diesel. Anywhere you happen to be across Hampshire, every driver could be caught.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it's run, with one more step. Plenty of hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
Next: ring the hire company or the fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before we arrive is quicker. If you're stuck in the car park at Netley, or by Holbury Manor, while you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
Holbury: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
"I think so" is often the most honest answer there is. A slight ammonia-like whiff lingers around the filler, the bottle seems too light, and the cap you took off is hard to recall. It might have been at a friend's driveway in Fawley, or rushing outside Cadland Primary School on the school run.
Put simply: a spill near your filler does the motor unharmed. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. If there is AdBlue in that tank, turning on your car will pull it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Do not start the vehicle. Inspecting a tank that proves free of AdBlue is better than emptying one after it's been run — so phone and tell us what you noticed.
Holbury: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Whatever the situation, one start is used. Three things are asked when our engineers arrive — at a forecourt, a driveway, a road by The Good Shepherd or the car park at The Old Mill Inn: the liquid, the amount, and if it has run. On the phone, ahead of anything else, you hear our price, and those answers decide the work too.
Then your tank is drained and your system purged 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 doesn't rinse out on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Most unstarted vehicles are a half-hour visit from the moment our engineers arrive.
The final step is firing it up. With fresh diesel in, it runs while our technicians confirm it's running correctly, and then we head off. When it is caught soon, the car very rarely has permanent damage, and the whole job takes place where it is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of policies cover misfuelling, and so look at yours as we head over.
About Holbury and where it is
Holbury is a coastal village in Hampshire, situated near the city of Southampton and overlooking the Solent Strait. Holbury has a population of around 1954 people and is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock. Holbury sits at an elevation of approximately 35 metres above sea level, with nearby villages including Little Holbury and Hardley. Holbury is located about 5 miles from Southampton and 71 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Hampshire, Holbury included
Throughout SO postcodes, the vans covering Holbury — a coastal village — work surrounding places too, Hardley and Roughdown among them. The location is quickest from a postcode that starts SO45 2.
Parked heading to Gang Warily Recreation Centre Pitch & Putt, or bang in the heart of Holbury, your car remains put — there's no need to shift it anywhere. Where it stands, that's where it gets cleared. Tricky to explain? Close to Bethany Gospel Hall or a county line? Asking is better than assuming, so ring.
In one line: your situation
If it hasn't started, ring and leave it off. Already run: stop, switch off and ring. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there around Holbury and anywhere across Hampshire on 0333 366 0103.