What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Holywell Row
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if your engine has run since it got in. Not run yet? Then leave the car like that, wherever your vehicle is — Holywell Row or Mildenhall. Leave your motor and your ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103; it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Holywell Row. Where your motor has run, stop somewhere safe straight away, then turn it off. It is a bigger job, though stage one doesn't change.
Further down: the situations our technicians see, wherever across Suffolk. Choose yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Holywell Row forecourt
Only at this point, nozzle yet in your hand, you realise that the cap you took off was the wrong one, there at the petrol pump. Maybe you're at the Esso, perhaps at the Jet, possibly somewhere else in Holywell Row.
The upshot: of all places to find out, the forecourt is the best. The AdBlue is in that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Clearing the petrol pump is no excuse to start it — and so do not get back in. Have the attendants to lend a hand rolling it to a space, save the bottle, then ring us from there. If it cannot be moved, it can be drained at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a working forecourt.
At home around Holywell Row with AdBlue in the diesel tank
Days had gone by with the warning light on. Bought a container, tipped it in outside the house, binned the empty — and only then looked at the cap a second time, too late. Homes just off Dolvers View get hit as often as everywhere else.
The point: zero driving since makes it nearly equal to spotting it at the petrol pump. Being reluctant to mix, AdBlue drops low in the tank and waits. One night parked changes nothing.
Next: stop any early-morning drive by keeping the keys indoors, then ring us. Your drive is where it gets emptied, be it around Holywell Row or Wilde Street. Our pumping kit runs quiet enough that it won't wake the street at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Holywell Row?
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power or a glowing dashboard arrived a mile or two after the top-up. Possibly it was on MIldenhall Road, maybe on the way out towards Ely, under 15 miles away.
What it means: the fuel system has pulled the AdBlue in. Past your filter, along the lines, and — the further the mileage — deeper into the high-pressure pump and every injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Your move: pull up anywhere safe, then switch your engine off. On the M11, under 25 miles from Holywell Row, that means the next exit, not the services further on. Don't restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Tell us know the distance driven when you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have only had the car a week. On your own car, AdBlue is absent or somewhere else. On this one, its inlet is right next to your diesel cap — news to you. Anyone, anywhere in Suffolk, might make it.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it has run, with one more step. The owner frequently has to sign off any work, under many hire and company agreements.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is quicker settled before we arrive than after. Stranded by Holywell Row Village Hall or at Lakenheath until the firm replies, the vehicle remains switched off throughout.
Unsure about AdBlue in your diesel tank in Holywell Row?
Now and then, "I think so" is the most you can honestly say. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia around your filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. Maybe at a friend's driveway in Little Eriswell, or rushing outside Beck Row Primary Academy on the school run.
What it means: a little spilled round the filler does no harm to your motor. The diesel tank with AdBlue in it is another matter. You can't tell which by turning the key, and doing so will suck in any AdBlue that is in that tank.
Your move: behave as if it did, and don't start your engine. Ring with the details: we'd sooner confirm a tank free of AdBlue than empty one once your engine has been run.
Every AdBlue drain around Holywell Row shares these steps
Each case has the same start to the job. Filling station, drive, The King's Head's car park or a road by Holywell Row Methodist Church — the van comes to your car, and three answers come next: which fluid, which amount, and whether it has run. On the phone, ahead of dispatch, you hear our quote, and those replies shape the job too.
AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some metals used in fuel systems, so it won't rinse out on its own; that is why the flush, after this drain, counts far more here than with petrol. Then is the filter — flushed, or replaced when needed — then fresh diesel, and a test of your car. Not started? Then about half an hour once we are there is most jobs.
Our technicians fire it up at the end. Our engineers check it runs properly on fresh diesel before we leave. When it's caught early, the car very rarely has permanent damage, and the entire job takes place where it is. Paying comes that day, never upfront. For the insurer, there is a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Holywell Row and where it is
Holywell Row is a small village in Suffolk, situated in the eastern part of England, with an elevation of around 8 metres above sea level. Holywell Row lies near the villages of Wilde Street, Eriswell, and Beck Row, and is approximately 10.7 miles from the city of Ely. Holywell Row has a population of around 517 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Holywell Row is also located about 65.2 miles from London, making it a rural community with some distance from the capital city.
AdBlue drains around Holywell Row, and across Suffolk too
As a rural village, Holywell Row has the same vans as the nearby towns — Beck Row, Eriswell — right across IP postcodes. Quickest of all: a IP28 8 postcode to show where you stand.
Centre of Holywell Row or a layby near Aspel Close Local Nature Reserve: wherever it sits, the car never needs to shift an inch for the drain. We drain the vehicle where it sits. Phone and check rather than guess when you are close to Holywell Row Village Sign, near a border, or somewhere tricky to explain.
The one-line version
Engine never started: ring, and leave it switched off. Run by now? Stop, turn off, phone. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest whatever it is, in Holywell Row and Suffolk, on 0333 366 0103.