Larkfield: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
Has your motor run since the AdBlue got in? This one question decides almost everything about what comes next. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the vehicle is around Larkfield itself or out in Leybourne. Call 0333 366 0103 with your key and engine both off. Across Larkfield, such a case is generally emptied and cleaned where it stands. Where the motor has been run, stop somewhere safe straight away, then switch the vehicle off. The job is bigger, yet the first stage is the same.
Below: the cases we see, anywhere around Kent. Pick yours.
On a Larkfield forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
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. Somewhere around Larkfield, then — Esso, Tesco, or somewhere else close by.
Meaning? Finding out on the forecourt is as good as it can be. Nothing has pulled it in, so the AdBlue sits just in that tank.
What to do: do not get back in and start the car to clear the petrol pump. Ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle into a parking space, keep your receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. If it can't be moved, it can be cleared at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
At home around Larkfield with AdBlue in the diesel tank
For days the dashboard had been warning you. Only by the recycling, the empty bottle in your hand, did you look back at the cap you'd used at the drive. It occurs on drives just off New Hythe Lane as frequently as anywhere.
In short: if your car has not been driven since, it's nearly equal to spotting it at the pump. Being unable to mix, AdBlue drops low inside your tank and stays. A night parked alters nothing.
Put the keys indoors overnight — otherwise a person might take it off first thing — and call us. We drain it on your drive, whether that is around Larkfield or out in Ditton. The equipment works quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Larkfield: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the motor began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Perhaps it was on Briar Close, possibly on the way out towards Southend-on-Sea, under 25 miles away.
The upshot: your system has drawn AdBlue through by now. The injection pump and every injector see it as well on a longer trip, once the fuel filter and lines have it. It goes further with each extra mile covered and every restart.
Your move: stop anywhere safe, then switch the engine off. Exit at the next junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M20, under a mile from Larkfield. It will not have cleared, and so there is no point restarting to find out. Call us and say how far you went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have only had the car a week. Unbeknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel inlets sit side by side here — unlike your own car, which has no AdBlue or keeps it in another spot. Anyone, wherever around Kent, could do it.
The upshot: just as above, split by if it ran, but with an added stage. Plenty of hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the car.
Sorting it before we turn up is quicker, and so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, and then us. If you are stranded in the car park outside New Hythe, or by Larkfield Library, whilst you wait for an answer, leave your car off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, in Larkfield
Now and then, "I think so" is all anyone can honestly say. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia round the filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. Maybe on a friend's drive in Millhall, or rushing outside Brookfield Junior School on the school run.
Put simply: a spill near the filler does your engine unharmed. The diesel tank with AdBlue inside is a different story. You cannot tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so will suck in any AdBlue that is in the tank.
Assume it got in, and don't turn the engine. Describe what you noticed on your phone. A clear tank looked at counts as a happier result than an already-run one drained.
Each AdBlue drain around Larkfield shares these stages
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Three questions come when our engineers reach the car — at a forecourt, a driveway, a street beside Larkfield & East Malling Methodist Church or the car park at The Monk's Head: the liquid, the quantity, and if the motor has run. Those replies settle this work, and you get our quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
Then the tank is cleared and your system purged 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. Fresh diesel goes in once the filter has been cleaned or changed, and the car is finally tested. Not started? In that case about half an hour once we are there covers most jobs.
Firing it up comes last. Before we head off, it's tested to make sure it runs correctly on new diesel. If it's noticed soon, the vehicle very rarely has permanent damage, and the whole 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. Many insurance policies include misfuelling, and so check yours while the van travels.
About Larkfield itself
Larkfield is a village situated on the riverside in Kent, with an elevation of around 29 metres. Larkfield lies near the towns of Ditton, Lunsford, and New Hythe, and is approximately 20 miles from Southend-on-Sea. Larkfield has a population of around 2698 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Larkfield is also within commuting distance of London, being around 28 miles from the city.
AdBlue drains in Larkfield, and across Kent too
Larkfield is a village, and the same vans that cover it work the towns around it too, Lunsford and New Hythe among them, across the ME postcode area. A postcode starting ME20 6 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
No towing is required, be it stopped in the centre of Larkfield or on a layby heading to Kilnbarn Recreation Ground, so keep it where it is. The van empties it where it stands. Awkward to pin down? Close to Larkfield Village Hall or a county line? Asking beats assuming, so ring.
Your scenario, summed up
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off and ring. Started already? Stop, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest whatever case, in Larkfield and Kent, on 0333 366 0103.