Leeholme: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
Has the engine turned over since the AdBlue was put in? This one question decides nearly everything else from here. If it hasn't, keep it that way, whether the car is around Leeholme itself or out in Howlish. Leave the engine and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103; it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Leeholme. Stop the moment it is safe then switch off, if it has been run. Stage one remains unchanged, even though the job is bigger.
Match your case to a situation from the list below, wherever in Durham you are.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Leeholme forecourt
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you only spot it while you're standing at the petrol pump, bottle or the nozzle in your hand. Perhaps you're at the Gulf, possibly at the Binchester Service Station, possibly somewhere else around Leeholme.
What it means: this is the best spot to find out. Still in that tank, and no fuel pulled through: that is where the AdBlue is.
Your move: keep out of the car, however much the queue needs freeing. Get the staff to lend a hand pushing it into a bay, hold on to the bottle, then ring us from there. Can't move it by the pump? Explosion-proof kit makes a busy forecourt sensible, and so we can drain the car in place.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Leeholme drive?
The warning light had been on for days. Only at the recycling bin, the empty bottle in hand, did you glance back at the cap you'd opened at the driveway. Homes just off Chiltern Road get caught out as much as everywhere else.
Meaning? Provided the car hasn't moved since, it's second to the pump case. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of your tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
Your move: keys in the house, and so nobody drives your vehicle anywhere at breakfast. After that, ring. Our technicians drain the car on your drive, whether that is in Leeholme or out in Coundon. Night-time clears beside a house are no problem: the pumps are low-noise.
Leeholme: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Topped up, drove away, and soon your engine was turning roughly, smoking, down on power, or flashing up your dash. Anywhere along Kent Street or heading towards Durham — under 10 miles away.
What it means: the system has pulled the AdBlue in. The injection pump and every injector see it too on a longer run, after the fuel filter and lines have had it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: pick a safe spot, stop, and turn your engine off. Leave by the first junction — not the services beyond — if you are on the A1(M), under 5 miles from Leeholme. No trial restarts: clearing isn't something AdBlue does. Tell us hear the distance covered when you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
Seven days back, the car was unknown to you. On your own car, AdBlue is absent or somewhere else. On this one, the inlet is just next to your diesel inlet — news to you. Anywhere you are around Durham, any driver could slip up.
Meaning? Whatever case above applies here — run or not — plus one extra step. Plenty of hire and company contracts need the owner's sign-off before repairs.
Do this: rental firm or your fleet manager first, us second, because sorting it beforehand saves time. If you're stuck in the car park outside Bishop Auckland, or by Leeholme and Coundon Community Centre, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, in Leeholme
At times, "I think so" is the most you can truthfully say. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia round your filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. Maybe on a friend's driveway in New Coundon, or rushing outside Victoria Lane Academy at the school run.
In short: spillage near the filler does the motor no harm. If it's inside your diesel tank, though, that changes. If there is AdBlue in that tank, starting your car would draw it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
Your move: behave as if it did, and never start the engine. Describe what you saw on your phone. A clean tank looked at counts as a better result than an already-run one emptied.
What each AdBlue drain in Leeholme has in common
Each situation gets the same opening to the job. Three questions come when our technicians reach your car — at a forecourt, a drive, a road by St Joseph's or the car park at The Three Tuns: the liquid, the amount, and whether it has run. Answers shape the work; the price comes by phone whilst nobody has set off yet.
Then your tank is emptied and the fuel system flushed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't rinse out on its own. Finally are your filter, flushed or renewed if necessary; fresh diesel; and a test of your car. Not started? Then about half an hour on site is most jobs.
Our engineers fire it up last. With fresh diesel in, it runs while we make sure it's running correctly, and then we leave. If it's noticed quickly, the car very seldom has lasting damage, and the whole job happens where it is. Nothing is taken upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you get what your insurer asks for: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies cover misfuelling, and so look at yours while the van travels.
About Leeholme and where it is
Leeholme is a village in County Durham, situated inland at an elevation of 172 metres, approximately 8 miles from the city of Durham. Leeholme has a population of around 1686 residents and is characterised by predominantly terraced housing. Leeholme is located near other small villages such as Coundon, Westerton, and Leasingthorne, and is about 226.8 miles north of London.
AdBlue drains across Durham, Leeholme included
Leeholme is a rural village, and the same teams that cover it work the places near it too, Westerton and Leasingthorne among them, across the DL postcode area. Quickest of all: a DL14 8 postcode to show your location.
Stopped heading to Quarry Wood, or right in the heart of Leeholme, your vehicle remains put — there's no need to move it anywhere. Our engineers drain the vehicle where it sits. Assuming won't help near Coundon War Memorial, close to a border or somewhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
Your situation, summed up
Where it has not started, ring then leave it off. Already run: stop, switch off then call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Leeholme and anywhere across Durham on 0333 366 0103.