AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Ickleford: What Now?
Everything turns on a single fact: whether the engine has been run since the AdBlue was added — more than anything else. Over in Westmill or here around Ickleford, an unstarted motor must remain unrun. Phone 0333 366 0103 with your key and motor still off. Across Ickleford, such a case is typically emptied and flushed on the spot. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Step one remains the same, even if the job is bigger.
Wherever around Hertfordshire it took place, one of the situations below fits yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Ickleford forecourt
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you just spot it as you are standing at the pump, bottle or nozzle in your hand. Whether the nearest petrol station, Shell or somewhere else around Ickleford, the situation is the same.
Meaning? Spotting it on the forecourt is as good as it can be. Only the tank has AdBlue; no component past it has drawn it in.
Next: avoid the temptation to start it only to move away from the pump. Get the staff to help pushing it into a bay, save the receipt, then phone us right there. Our equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a live forecourt, so a car that can't be pushed away gets drained where it is at the pump.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Ickleford drive?
For days the dashboard had been nagging you. Only at the recycling bin, the empty bottle in your hand, did you glance back at the cap you had used on the drive. Drives near Turnpike Lane get it as much as anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. At the floor of the tank is exactly where AdBlue stays, because it won't mix with diesel — and a night going by changes no difference.
Your move: keys in the house, so nobody takes your car anywhere first thing. After that, ring. Our technicians drain it on your drive, whether that is in Ickleford or out in Lower Green. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
On the road in Ickleford with AdBlue in a diesel
A short way after filling up, the engine started misbehaving: rough running, smoke, lost power, warnings on the dash. Greenfield Lane, perhaps, or the way to St Albans — a run of under 25 miles.
The point: your system has pulled AdBlue in by now. Distance decides how deep it gets: filter and lines to begin with, then the injection pump and each injector. Each restart, like each mile, pushes it deeper.
Do this: stop somewhere sensible, then turn the motor off. Ickleford sits under 5 miles from the A1(M); there, come off at the next junction rather than pressing on to the services. Do not restart the vehicle to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Tell us hear the mileage covered as you ring.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
It's a motor you have had for a week. On your own car, AdBlue is absent or somewhere else. On this one, its inlet is right by your diesel cap — a surprise to you. Across Hertfordshire, no one is safe from it.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more stage. Work on the vehicle often requires the owner's go-ahead under hire or company agreements.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's faster settled before our technicians arrive than after. If you are stranded in the car park at Hitchin, or by Saint Katharine, while you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
Ickleford: unsure whether it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
"I think so" is often the most honest answer there is. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia round the filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Ickleford Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Walsworth.
What it means: a little spilled about the filler does no harm to your engine. A diesel tank with AdBlue inside is another story. Turning on the vehicle will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in the tank it will pull it in.
Next: assume it went in, then leave the engine off. Inspecting a tank that proves free of AdBlue beats draining one once it's been run — so phone and tell us what you noticed.
Every AdBlue drain in Ickleford shares these steps
Every case gets the same start to the job. Anywhere your vehicle is — The Old George's car park, a road beside Ickleford Village Hall, a drive, a filling station — the van gets there and we ask about the liquid, the quantity, and whether your engine has turned over. Over the phone, before anything else, you are told the price, and those answers shape the work too.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to certain metals used in fuel systems, and so it does not rinse out unaided; that is why the flush, after the drain, matters much more here than with petrol. Then comes the filter — cleaned, or swapped where necessary — then clean diesel, and a test of the car. The majority of unstarted vehicles are a half-hour job from the moment our technicians arrive.
Last, we start the engine. We check it runs correctly on new diesel before we go. If it is caught early, the vehicle very rarely has permanent damage, and the entire job happens where it is. For your insurer: the engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, no money upfront. Dig out your insurance before we're en route: cover for misfuelling is built into many policies.
About Ickleford itself
Ickleford is a village in Hertfordshire, situated on the banks of the River Lea at an elevation of around 55 metres. Ickleford has a mix of old and new housing, with detached homes being the predominant type, and is located near other small settlements such as Lower Green and Cadwell. Ickleford is close to the city of St Albans, which is about 15 miles away, and is also within commuting distance of London, at approximately 32 miles from the capital. Ickleford has a population of around 1209 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains around Ickleford, and across Hertfordshire too
Cadwell and Snailswell have the same vans as Ickleford, a village, plus other places over SG postcodes. Giving us your SG5 3 postcode finds you fastest of all.
Centre of Ickleford or a lay-by near Cadwell Playing Field: either way it is, the car doesn't need to shift an inch for this drain. Wherever it stands, that is where it is cleared. Ring and check rather than guess when you're by Ickleford Sports & Recreation Club, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to explain.
In one line: your situation
Not run yet: keep it off then ring. Run already: stop, switch down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, within Ickleford or wherever in Hertfordshire.