What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Laindon
Everything turns on a single fact: if the engine has started since the AdBlue went in — far more than anything else. If it hasn't, keep it that way, whether your car is in Laindon itself or out in Lee Chapel North. Phone 0333 366 0103 with your key and motor still off. Across Laindon, such a case is typically emptied and flushed on the spot. Stop the minute you safely can and switch off, if it has been run. A larger job, yes, yet the same first step.
Anywhere in Essex it took place, one of the cases below matches yours.
At the petrol pump in Laindon: AdBlue in a diesel
Just at this point, bottle yet in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, right at the pump. Perhaps you're at the BP, maybe at the Esso, perhaps somewhere else in Laindon.
In short: there is no better place to be to discover it. The AdBlue is inside the tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
What to do: do not get back in and fire it up to clear the pump. Ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle into a parking space, keep the receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. Stuck by the petrol pump? Explosion-proof equipment makes a busy forecourt sensible, and so it can be drained where it is.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Laindon drive?
For days the dash had been nagging you. A bottle from the garage, tipped in on the drive — and it was only by the bin that the cap got your eye. It takes place on driveways just off West Mayne as often as anywhere.
Meaning? As long as your vehicle hasn't been driven since, it is second to the forecourt case. At the floor of the tank sits exactly where AdBlue stays, since it won't mix with diesel — and a night going by changes nothing of the difference.
Put the keys indoors tonight — or a person might take it away first thing — then phone us. Great Berry or Laindon: wherever your drive sits, that is where it gets drained. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Drove off with AdBlue in a diesel in Laindon?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the engine began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Somewhere on B148 or heading towards Chelmsford — under 15 miles away.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked through the system. The high-pressure pump and each injector see it too on a bigger run, after the filter and lines have had it. More driving, more starts: deeper it goes.
What to do: pull over where it is safe to do so and switch off. Laindon lies under 10 miles from the M25; there, pull off at the first junction rather than pressing on to the services. No trial restarts: clearing isn't something AdBlue will do. Roughly what distance did it gone? Tell us as you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have had the vehicle hardly a week. The AdBlue filler is right next to the diesel one, which you didn't know, because your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. It can happen to anyone, anywhere around Essex.
In short: one extra stage on top of the situations above, which depend on if it's run. Plenty of hire and fleet contracts require the owner's approval for work.
Next: ring the rental company or your fleet manager first, then us — sorting it before our arrival is faster. If you're stranded in the car park outside the nearest station, or by Laindon Library, while you wait for an answer, leave your car off.
Laindon: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
"I think so" is often as honest answer there is. A faint ammonia smell lingers around your filler, the bottle feels too light, and the cap you took off is a blur. Maybe it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Millhouse Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Lee Chapel.
What it means: a little spilled round the filler does no harm to your motor. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. Any AdBlue in your tank would be sucked in by starting the vehicle, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
Next: assume it got in, then keep your engine off. Ring us and explain what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
Laindon: what every AdBlue drain has in common
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Wherever your vehicle stands — Hungry Horse's car park, a road beside Temple of Light Christian Spiritualist Church Laindon, a drive, a forecourt — our van arrives and we ask about the fluid, the amount, plus whether the motor has turned over. On the phone, before dispatch, you hear the quote, and those answers shape the work too.
Draining your tank comes first, then a careful flush — more vital after urea than with petrol, because crystals and corrosion won't go by themselves, however long you wait. Then is the filter — flushed, or replaced where needed — followed by clean diesel, and a test of the car. If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Starting it comes at the end. We check it runs smoothly on new diesel before leaving. The whole job is done where the car is, and if it is caught quickly, lasting damage is very unusual. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, nothing upfront. Worth knowing: lots of insurers include misfuelling cover, so a quick look at your policy as we travel is worthwhile.
About Laindon itself
Laindon is a suburban area in Essex, situated approximately 24 miles east of London and 11 miles southeast of Chelmsford. Laindon lies at an elevation of around 40 metres, in a gently sloping landscape of arable farmland and residential development. Laindon is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, with nearby neighbourhoods including Great Berry, Steeple View, and Southfields. Laindon has a population of around 9024 people, making it a sizeable residential community in the area.
AdBlue drains about Laindon and across Essex
As a residential suburb, Laindon has the same vans as the nearby towns — Southfields, Steeple View — all the way across SS postcodes. The whereabouts comes clearest from a postcode that starts SS15 6.
No towing is needed, whether parked centrally in Laindon or on a lay-by heading to Manor House Recreation Ground, so leave it put. The van drains it in place. Guessing doesn't help near The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on a county line or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
Your situation, in one line
Not run yet: keep it off and call. Run by now? Stop, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder whichever it is, in Laindon and Essex, on 0333 366 0103.