What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Kingsmead
All of it hinges on one fact: whether your engine has started since the AdBlue was added — more than anything else. Wherever your car stands — Lyncombe Hill, Kingsmead — don't run a motor that has not been started yet. Keep nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, and count on a proper flush plus a drain, done right where the vehicle stands in Kingsmead. Stop the minute you safely can then turn off, if it has already run. The job is bigger, but the first stage is the same.
Further down: the cases we see, anywhere across Somerset. Choose the one that fits.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Kingsmead forecourt
You are at the petrol pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Possibly you are at the Esso, possibly at the Sainsbury's, perhaps somewhere else in Kingsmead.
The upshot: of all places to find out, this is the best. No pump has pulled it through, and so the AdBlue sits just in the tank.
Freeing the pump is no reason to run it — and so do not get back in. A few jobs: a push into a bay with the attendants assisting, the bottle kept, and a ring to us from where you stand. Draining it there at the petrol pump is possible when it can't be moved, since the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home in Kingsmead
On the dash, a reminder had shown all week. 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. Right off Green Park is no less likely from any other place.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue keep apart: the AdBlue settles to the floor of that tank and remains there, however long the night.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so no one moves the vehicle in the morning. Then call. Our engineers drain the vehicle on your drive, whether that is in Kingsmead or out in Westmoreland. Even at night, the pumps stay quiet enough for a driveway.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel in Kingsmead?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your motor began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Anywhere on Green Park Road or else on the road to Bath — under a mile away.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked through the fuel system. It has been through the filter and the lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and the injectors. It travels further with every mile covered and each restart.
Stop safely — that's the next job — then turn it off. Services further on are too far: on the M4, under 10 miles out of Kingsmead, take the first junction. It will not have cleared, and so there is no sense starting it again to find out. Phone, saying what distance your vehicle was driven.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have had this car hardly a week. Your own vehicle either does without AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere, so no one warned you the AdBlue inlet was right next to the diesel. Anywhere you happen to be across Somerset, every motorist can be caught.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more stage. Any work on the car often needs the owner's go-ahead under hire or fleet agreements.
Next: ring the rental company or your fleet manager first, then us — sorting it before our arrival is quicker. Keep the vehicle off while the reply comes, whether you're parked outside Bath Spa or close to Bath Farmers Market.
Kingsmead: unsure whether it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Occasionally the honest answer is "I think so". Lighter, the bottle; a hint of ammonia near your filler; no clear recollection of which cap. Look familiar? Maybe it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Oldfield Park Infant School, or on a friend's drive in Oldfield Park.
What it means: a little spilled around the filler does no harm to your motor. If it is inside the diesel tank, though, it does. Any AdBlue in your tank would be sucked in by turning on the vehicle, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Do not fire it up. Ring us and explain what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
Kingsmead: what every AdBlue drain has in common
Every case gets the same start to the job. Wherever the vehicle stands — Bath Brew House's car park, a street by The Salvation Army, a drive, a forecourt — the van gets there and asks for the fluid, the amount, and whether your motor has turned over. Over the phone, before anything else, you are told the price, and those replies shape the work too.
Then that tank is drained and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly, which counts 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. Last come the filter, cleaned or renewed if necessary; clean diesel; and a check of your vehicle. If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
The final step is starting the car. Before we head off, it is checked to confirm it runs properly on fresh diesel. When it's noticed quickly, the car very seldom has long-term damage, and the entire job takes place where it is. Nothing is taken upfront, payment is made on the day, and you receive what the insurer asks for: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Worth remembering: many insurers offer misfuelling cover, so a check of your documents while you wait pays.
About Kingsmead, for a moment
Kingsmead is a suburban area located on the riverside in Somerset, with a relatively low elevation of 22 metres. Kingsmead sits adjacent to the city of Bath, with which it is closely associated, and is near other nearby places such as Westmoreland and Beechen Cliff. Kingsmead is characterized by a high proportion of flat housing, reflecting its urban setting. Kingsmead is also within easy reach of larger cities, being around 97 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Somerset, Kingsmead included
Kingsmead is a residential suburb, and the same vans that cover it work the places around it too, Bath and Beechen Cliff among them, across the BA postcode area. Quickest of all: a BA1 1 postcode for your location.
No moving is needed, whether parked centrally in Kingsmead or on a layby en route to City of Bath WHS, so keep it where it is. Our technicians drain the car where it sits. Ring and check rather than guess when you're close to Odeon, on a border, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
The one-line version
Engine never started: ring, leaving it alone. Run by now: stop, switch down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Kingsmead or wherever across Somerset.