AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Horton Heath, and What to Do Next
Everything turns on one fact: whether your engine has started after the AdBlue went in — far more than anything else. If it has not, keep it that way, whether your car is in Horton Heath itself or out in Boorley Green. Keep nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, then expect a proper flush after a drain, done right where the vehicle sits in Horton Heath. Stop the moment it is safe then switch off, if it has been run. The job is bigger, yet the first step is the same.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever in Hampshire it happened.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Horton Heath forecourt
Imagine it: standing by the pump, holding the nozzle, you realise the cap you opened was not the right one. Be it Texaco, Esso or somewhere else around Horton Heath, the situation is the same.
What it means: this is the ideal spot to find out. Just that tank holds AdBlue; not one part past it has drawn any in.
Next: avoid the temptation to fire it up only to move away from the pump. Ask the staff to help you roll your car into a parking spot, keep the receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. The equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt, so a vehicle that cannot be pushed away gets drained where it is at the petrol pump.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Horton Heath drive?
On the dash, a warning had shown for days. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look again at the cap. Just off Westfield Close is no different from any other place.
Meaning? Provided your vehicle has not moved since, it's second to the pump case. As it is reluctant to mix, AdBlue settles low inside the tank and waits. A night parked alters none of that.
Keep the keys in the house overnight — or someone may take it off first thing — and phone us. Our engineers drain the car on your driveway, whether that is around Horton Heath or out in Durley. Night-time clears outside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise.
Horton Heath: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
A mile or two after filling up, the engine started playing up: roughness, smoke, less power, lights on the dash. Maybe driving for Southampton, under 10 miles away, or just along Botley Road.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been sucked into the system. Mileage decides how far it goes: filter and pipework first, then the high-pressure pump and each injector. More driving, more restarts: deeper it travels.
Stop safely — that's the first job — then switch it off. Horton Heath lies under 3 miles from the M27; there, pull off at the first junction instead of pressing on for the services. Don't restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Phone, saying what distance the car was driven.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You've had this vehicle hardly a week. Your own car either does without AdBlue or puts it somewhere different, and so no one told you the AdBlue inlet was just next to the diesel. Anyone, anywhere across Hampshire, might do the same.
Put simply: an extra stage on top of the situations above, which turn on whether it's run. The owner often has to approve any work, under many hire and company agreements.
Next: ring the rental company or your fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before we arrive is faster. Keep the vehicle off while the answer comes, whether you are waiting at Hedge End or close to Horton Heath Community Centre.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Horton Heath?
Sometimes the honest answer is "I think so". The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia about your filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. It might have been on a friend's driveway in Shamblehurst, or in a rush outside Fair Oak Infant School on the school run.
The upshot: your engine is not hurt by a little AdBlue splashed around the outside. Once it is inside your diesel tank, though, that changes. Any AdBlue in the tank would be drawn in by starting the vehicle, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
Next: assume it got in, and leave the motor off. Checking a tank that proves free of AdBlue is better than emptying one once it's been run — so ring then tell us what you noticed.
What each AdBlue drain in Horton Heath has in common
The work begins the same way, whatever the case. Our technicians come to the car, whether it is at a forecourt, a driveway, the car park outside Brigadier Gerard or a side street close to Church of the Holy Cross, and ask three things: what got in, about how much, and if the engine has been run. Replies shape the job; the quote follows on the call while nobody has left yet.
AdBlue crystallises and eats at some metals in fuel systems, and so it won't wash out unaided; that is why a full flush, after the drain, counts much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Next comes the fuel filter — cleaned, or replaced where necessary — then fresh diesel, and a test of the car. Where the motor hasn't been started, allow roughly half an hour once we arrive, in most cases.
Finally, we fire it up. Our check that it runs smoothly on clean diesel comes before we head off. If it's spotted early, the vehicle very rarely has long-term damage, and the entire 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 check yours as we head over.
About Horton Heath itself
Horton Heath is a village in Hampshire, situated near the River Hamble and close to the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth. Horton Heath sits at an elevation of 32 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Horton Heath is located near several other villages, including Durley and Fair Oak, and is within commuting distance of London, approximately 63.5 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Hampshire, Horton Heath included
Horton Heath is a village, and the same vans that cover it work the towns around it too, Fair Oak and Dowds Farm among them, across the SO postcode area. Telling us a SO50 7 postcode finds you quickest of all.
Stopped heading to Knowle Park, or bang in the heart of Horton Heath, the car stays where it is — there is no need to move it at all. Draining is done right there. If you're somewhere hard to describe, near St. Swinthuns Wells or close to a border, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Your situation, in one line
Unstarted? Leave the car off and ring. Run by now? Pull over, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder whatever case, in Horton Heath and Hampshire, on 0333 366 0103.