What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Hope
Has your engine turned over since the AdBlue was put in? That single point decides almost everything else from here. Not run yet? Then leave the car that way, wherever your vehicle sits — Hope or Caer Estyn. Ring 0333 366 0103 with the key and motor still off. In Hope, such a case is generally emptied and flushed where it stands. Already run? Stop when safe, then turn everything off. A larger job, yes, but the identical opening step.
Below: the cases our technicians see, anywhere around Flintshire. Choose yours.
At the pump around Hope: AdBlue in a diesel
Only at this point, nozzle yet in your hand, you realise that the cap you opened was the wrong one, there at the petrol pump. Maybe you are at the Gulf, perhaps at the Applegreen, perhaps somewhere else in Hope.
What it means: this is the ideal place to find out. Nothing has drawn it in, and so the AdBlue stays just inside that tank.
Freeing the pump is no excuse to start it — and so don't get back in. Phone us from the forecourt once the car sits in a bay — the attendants will help push it — then keep the bottle. If it cannot be moved, it can be cleared at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
At home in Hope with AdBlue in the diesel tank
Several days had gone by with the dash light on. Only by the recycling, the empty bottle in hand, did you look back at the cap you had used on the driveway. Driveways close to Sarn Lane see it as much as any other street.
The upshot: no driving since makes this nearly equal to finding it at the pump. Diesel and AdBlue keep separate: the AdBlue drops to the floor of that tank and stays there, no matter how long the night.
Next: keys indoors, so nobody takes the vehicle off at breakfast. After that, phone. Our technicians drain the vehicle on your driveway, whether that's around Hope or out in Caergwrle. Even at night, the pumps stay quiet enough for a residential street.
Hope: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
A short way after topping up, the motor started misbehaving: roughness, smoke, lost power, warnings on your dash. Hawarden Road, say, or the way to Wrexham — a trip of under 10 miles.
In short: the AdBlue has been pulled through the system. The high-pressure pump and every injector see it too on a bigger run, after your filter and lines have it. It travels further with each extra mile driven and each restart.
Next: find a sensible spot, stop, then turn the motor off. Exit at the first junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M56, under 10 miles from Hope. Don't restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Call, saying how far your car went.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You have had this car barely a week. On your own car, AdBlue is missing or elsewhere. On this one, the inlet is right by the diesel cap — a surprise to you. Anywhere you are in Flintshire, any driver could slip up.
The upshot: just as above, split by whether it ran, only with an added step. The owner often has to approve any work, under many hire and fleet agreements.
Sorting it before the van turn up is quicker, so ring the hire company or your fleet manager, and then us. Keep the car off while the reply arrives, even if you are parked at Hope (Flintshire) or near Saint Cynfarchs Church.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Hope?
Now and then, "I think so" is all anyone can truthfully say. A slight ammonia-like whiff lingers near the filler, the bottle seems too light, and the cap you took off is a blur. A hurried top-up by the gates of Dodleston CofE Primary School, or a visit to a friend in Lower Mountain: both fit.
What it means: a little spilled about the filler does no harm to the motor. In your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue harms it. Any AdBlue in the tank would be sucked in by starting your car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Do this: behave as though it did, and don't start the motor. Inspecting a tank that proves clean beats draining one once it has been run — so ring and describe to us what you saw.
Hope: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Each situation has the same start to the job. Wherever your vehicle is — The White Lion's car park, a road beside The Packhorse Bridge, a driveway, a filling station — our van gets there and asks about the fluid, the amount, plus whether the engine has been run. On the phone, ahead of dispatch, you are told the quote, and those replies shape the job too.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to certain metals in fuel systems, so it won't rinse out unaided; that's why the flush, after the drain, matters far more with AdBlue than with petrol. Finally are the filter, cleaned or replaced as needed; clean diesel; and a check of your car. Never started? In that case about half an hour once we are there covers most jobs.
Finally, we start it. We check it runs properly on new diesel before we leave. Permanent damage is very unusual when it's caught soon, and the entire job is done where the vehicle is. Nothing is taken upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you get what the insurer wants: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Worth remembering: lots of insurers include misfuelling cover, and so a quick look at your documents as we travel pays.
About Hope
Hope is a village situated on the riverside in Flintshire, Wales, with an elevation of 87 metres above sea level. Hope lies approximately 5 miles from Wrexham and is surrounded by nearby places such as Caergwrle and Bridge End. Hope has a population of around 1317 people and predominantly consists of semi-detached housing. Hope is located near the Welsh-English border, about 165 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Flintshire, Hope included
Being a village, Hope shares its vans with the nearby places — Talwrn, Bridge End — right across LL postcodes. Fastest of all: a LL12 9 postcode to show your location.
Central Hope or a layby near Bryn y Gaer: wherever it sits, your car never needs to move at all for the drain. Where it stands, that's where it is emptied. Assuming doesn't help near Caergwrle Evangelical Church, close to a county line or somewhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
In one line: your situation
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off and call. Run by now: stop, power down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, in Hope or anywhere in Flintshire.