Lipson: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
One thing matters most once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is whether your engine has been started since. Wherever the vehicle is — Mutley, Lipson — never run a motor that hasn't run yet. Ring 0333 366 0103 with the ignition and motor both off. Across Lipson, that is generally drained and flushed where it stands. Where the engine has been run, stop somewhere safe straight away, then turn the vehicle off. A bigger job, yes, yet the same first move.
Match what happened to a situation from the ones below, wherever in Devon you are.
Lipson forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Only now, bottle still in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, there at the pump. Be it Asda, Esso or anywhere else around Lipson, the case is identical.
The point: of every spot to find out, the forecourt is the best. Just that tank holds AdBlue; no component past it has drawn any in.
What to do: don't get back in and crank it to clear the petrol pump. Three jobs: a shove into a space with the staff helping, the receipt kept, and a call to us from where you stand. Our equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a live forecourt, so a vehicle that can't be pushed clear is emptied where it is at the pump.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Lipson drive?
On the dash, a reminder had been lit 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 a second time at the cap. Driveways near Lipson Road see it as much as any other street.
Meaning? As long as the vehicle hasn't been driven since, it's close to the pump case. On the floor of that tank sits exactly where AdBlue waits, because it won't mix with diesel — and a night passing makes no difference.
Your move: the keys in the house, so nobody drives the car off first thing. After that, ring. In Lipson Vale or right here in Lipson, the drain is done at your driveway. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Drove off with AdBlue in a diesel around Lipson?
A short way beyond topping up, your motor started misbehaving: rough running, smoke, lost power, lights on your dash. Perhaps it was on Ladysmith Road, maybe on the way out towards Plymouth, under 3 miles away.
Meaning? The fuel pump has sucked the AdBlue in. It has been through the fuel filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure pump and the injectors. Every restart, like every mile, pushes it on.
Pull in safely — that is the first job — then turn everything off. Service stations further on are too far: on the M5, under 50 miles out of Lipson, take the next junction. It will not have cleared, so there's no sense starting it again to check. Call us and say how far you drove.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
It is a motor you have had for a week. Unknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel inlets are side by side here — not like your own car, which has no AdBlue or keeps it in another spot. Throughout Devon, no one is immune.
Meaning? Whatever applies above applies too — run or unrun — plus one extra step. Many hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on your car.
Your move: rental firm or your fleet manager to begin with, us second, because settling it beforehand cuts time. Stuck by Civil War or at Plymouth until the firm replies, your vehicle remains turned off the whole time.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, in Lipson
Occasionally the fair answer is "I think so". Too light, the bottle; a hint of ammonia near your filler; no clear memory of the cap. Sound familiar? Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Lipson Vale Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Lower Compton.
Meaning? Drips outside the inlet never touch your motor at all. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. Firing up the car won't tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in the tank it will suck it in.
Do this: act as though it did, and never start your motor. Inspecting a tank that turns out clean is better than draining one once it's been run — so phone then tell us what you noticed.
The common ground in every Lipson AdBlue drain
The job begins identically, whichever the situation. Three things are asked when our engineers reach the car — at a filling station, a driveway, a street by Michael Foot Memorial or the car park outside The Tap & Barrel: the fluid, the quantity, and if the motor has run. Over the phone, ahead of dispatch, you hear the price, and those replies decide the job too.
A thorough flush follows the drain. With petrol it is routine; with AdBlue it's crucial, since crystals build up and certain metals are attacked, and none of that rinses away unaided. Next is your filter — flushed, or replaced when needed — followed by fresh diesel, and a test of the vehicle. Never started? In that case roughly half an hour on site is most jobs.
Our engineers fire it up last. With fresh diesel in, it runs while we check it's running properly, and then we head off. Permanent damage is very unusual when it's noticed soon, and the whole job is done where the car 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 look at yours while the van travels.
About Lipson, briefly
Lipson is a suburban area located on the coast of Devon, sitting approximately 58 metres above sea level and just over a mile from Plymouth city centre. Lipson is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock and is situated near other local areas such as Lipson Vale and Mount Gould. Lipson is part of the larger Plymouth urban area, with nearby neighbourhoods including St Judes. Lipson has a population of around 14644 residents.
AdBlue drains in Lipson, and across Devon too
As a residential suburb, Lipson shares its vans with the nearby towns — St Judes, Mount Gould — all the way across PL postcodes. A postcode starting PL4 7 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to Freedom Fields or in a car park in the middle of Lipson, it does not need to move. Wherever it stands, that is where it gets emptied. Phone and check instead of guessing if you are close to Salisbury Road Baptist Church, on a border, or somewhere tricky to explain.
The one-line version
Engine not started: phone, leaving it switched off. Whatever line fits, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, throughout Devon and within Lipson — after you stop, turn off then phone, if it's run.