What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Leybourne
Has the motor run since the AdBlue was put in? That single point decides almost everything about what comes next. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the car is in Leybourne itself or out in Birling. Keep nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, and count on a proper flush after a drain, carried out just where the vehicle stands in Leybourne. Pull over the minute it is safe then switch off, if it has already run. Step one stays unchanged, even though the job grows.
Wherever around Kent it took place, one of the situations below matches yours.
On a Leybourne forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
You're 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. Somewhere in Leybourne, then — Esso, BP, or anywhere else nearby.
Meaning? Spotting it here is the best it can be. Still inside your tank, and nothing drawn onwards: that is where the AdBlue is.
Do this: stay out of the car, even if the queue wants clearing. Phone us from the forecourt after the car sits in a space — the attendants will lend a hand to roll it — then keep the receipt. If it can't be shifted, it can be drained at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a working forecourt.
Leybourne, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
For days the dashboard had been warning you. Only at the recycling bin, the empty container in your hand, did you look back at the cap you'd opened at the driveway. Houses just off Castle Way are caught out as often as everywhere else.
The upshot: no miles since leaves this nearly as good to spotting it at the petrol pump. At the bottom of your tank sits exactly where AdBlue waits, since it will not mix with diesel — and a night passing changes no difference.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves the vehicle in the morning. Then ring. Larkfield or Leybourne: wherever your drive is, that is where it gets cleared. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
On the road around Leybourne with AdBlue in a diesel
Filled up, drove away, and before long the engine was turning roughly, smoking, losing power, or lighting up your dash. Perhaps it was on Rectory Lane North, possibly on the way out towards Southend-on-Sea, under 25 miles away.
In short: the AdBlue has been pulled into your fuel system. It has been through the fuel filter and your lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure pump and the injectors. It travels further with every extra mile covered and each restart.
Stop somewhere safe — that's the next job — then turn it off. Leave by the next junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M20, under a mile from Leybourne. Do not restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Roughly how far did it go? Tell us when you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company vehicles
You have had this vehicle hardly a week. The AdBlue filler is right next to the diesel one, which you did not know, since your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Throughout Kent, no one is safe from it.
The upshot: just as above, split by whether it ran, only with an added step. Plenty of hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on your car.
Your move: hire firm or your fleet manager to begin with, us second, because sorting it beforehand saves time. If you are stranded in the car park outside West Malling, or by St Peter and St Paul, while you wait for an answer, leave your car off.
Leybourne: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Truthfully, the best answer might be that you think it did. A faint ammonia-like smell hangs around the filler, the bottle seems too light, and the cap you took off is a blur. A hurried top-up by the gates of Leybourne, St Peter and St Paul Church of England Primary Academy, or a visit to a friend in Mill Street: either fit.
What it means: a little spilled about your filler does no damage to the engine. Inside the diesel tank, however, AdBlue damages it. Any AdBlue in the tank would be drawn in by firing up the vehicle, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
Do this: act as though it did, and don't start the motor. Ring us and explain what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
Leybourne: what every AdBlue drain has in common
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Wherever the vehicle is — The Old Rectory's car park, a road by Castle, a drive, a filling station — the van gets there and asks about the liquid, the amount, and whether your motor has turned over. Answers shape the work; the price follows by phone while nobody has set off yet.
A thorough flush follows the drain. With petrol it's routine; with AdBlue it is essential, since crystals form and certain metals are attacked, and neither rinses away unaided. Last are your filter, cleaned or replaced if necessary; clean diesel; and a test of the car. Most unstarted vehicles are a half-hour job from the moment we turn up.
Last, our technicians fire it up. Before our technicians leave, it's checked to be sure it runs properly on fresh diesel. When it's caught quickly, the car very seldom has permanent damage, and the whole job takes place where it is. Nothing is paid upfront, settlement is made on the day, and you get what your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Dig out your insurance while we're en route: misfuelling cover is included in plenty of policies.
About Leybourne and where it is
Leybourne is a village in Kent, situated inland at an elevation of around 15 metres, and is located near the towns of Larkfield, Lunsford, and West Malling. Leybourne has a population of approximately 1426 residents and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Leybourne is also within commuting distance of London, being around 27.6 miles from the capital, and is roughly 20.4 miles from the nearest city, Southend-on-Sea.
AdBlue drains round Leybourne and across Kent
Throughout ME postcodes, the teams covering Leybourne — a rural village — work surrounding towns too, Lunsford and West Malling included. A postcode starting ME19 5 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Central Leybourne or a lay-by near Leybourne Woods: either way it is, the car doesn't need to shift at all for this drain. Draining happens right there. Tricky to explain? By Leybourne Village Hall or a county line? Checking is better than guessing, so ring.
The one-line version
Engine never started: phone, and leave it switched off. Started already? Stop, turn off, phone. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest whichever it is, in Leybourne and Kent, on 0333 366 0103.