AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Little Heath: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if the motor has run since it got in. Wherever the car stands — Calcot, Little Heath — don't start a motor that has not run yet. Leave your motor and your ignition off and call 0333 366 0103; it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Little Heath. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Stage one remains the same, even if the job is bigger.
Wherever around Berkshire it took place, one of the cases below matches yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Little Heath forecourt
Only at this point, nozzle still in hand, you realise that the cap you opened was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. Anywhere in Little Heath, then — Asda, BP, or anywhere else nearby.
The point: of all places to find out, this is the best. Still inside that tank, with nothing pulled onwards: that is where the AdBlue is.
Next: avoid the temptation to start it only to free up the pump. Phone us from the forecourt once your vehicle is in a space — the staff will lend a hand to push it — and keep the receipt. If it cannot be moved, it can be drained at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
Little Heath, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Several days had gone by with the dash light on. A bottle bought at the garage, emptied in at the driveway — and it's just at the recycling that the cap caught your eye. Right off Longworth Avenue is not different from anywhere.
Meaning? As long as your vehicle hasn't moved since, it is close to the pump case. As it is unable to mix, AdBlue settles low inside your tank and stays. One night parked alters none of that.
Put the keys indoors tonight — otherwise someone might take it away at breakfast — and call us. Tilehurst or Little Heath: wherever your drive sits, that's where it is emptied. Even at night, the pumps stay quiet enough for a residential street.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Little Heath?
A mile or two beyond filling up, your motor started playing up: roughness, smoke, less power, warnings on the dash. Anywhere on Foxcombe Drive or else on the road to Oxford — under 25 miles away.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked through your fuel system. The injection pump and each injector see it too on a bigger run, after your filter and lines have had it. It travels further with each extra mile driven and each restart.
What to do: pull over where it is safe to do so then switch off. Exit at the first junction — not the services further along — if you are on the M4, under 3 miles from Little Heath. Starting it again to test gets nothing — AdBlue never clears on its own. Phone us and say how far you drove.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company cars
A week ago, the car was unknown to you. The AdBlue filler is right alongside the diesel one, which you did not know, since your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. It can happen to anyone, anywhere around Berkshire.
Meaning? Whichever case above applies here — run or unrun — and one further step. The owner often has to approve the work, under many rental and fleet agreements.
Do this: rental firm or fleet manager first, us second, because settling it beforehand saves time. Waiting for a reply in the car park at Tilehurst, or near St Joseph's Catholic Church? Leave your car off meanwhile.
Little Heath: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Truthfully, the only answer may be that you think so. Which cap was taken off, you cannot recall; meanwhile the bottle feels less than it ought to, and a whiff of ammonia lingers by your filler. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at St Paul's Catholic Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Sulham.
The point: the motor isn't harmed by some AdBlue spilled around the outside. Inside your diesel tank, however, AdBlue damages it. If there is AdBlue in that tank, turning on your car would draw it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
Next: assume it went in, and keep the motor off. Call us and explain what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
What every AdBlue drain around Little Heath has in common
Each case gets the same start to the work. Wherever the car is — Fox and Hounds's car park, a street beside St Catherine of Siena, a drive, a filling station — our van gets there and asks for the fluid, the amount, and whether your motor has turned over. Those answers settle the work, and you get the quote on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a careful flush — more important after urea than after petrol, because crystals and corrosion won't go on their own, no matter how long you wait. Then comes the filter — cleaned, or swapped where needed — followed by clean diesel, and a test of your car. Not started? Then roughly half an hour on site covers most jobs.
Finally, our technicians fire it up. Our test that it runs properly on new diesel comes before our engineers head off. When it is noticed quickly, the car very seldom has permanent damage, and the whole job takes place where it is. Nothing is paid upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you get what your insurer wants: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. It is worth knowing: lots of insurers include misfuelling cover, and so a quick look at your policy as you wait is worthwhile.
About Little Heath itself
Little Heath is a suburban area in Berkshire, situated inland at an elevation of 92 metres, and forms part of the larger Reading urban area. Little Heath lies near the villages of Tilehurst and Calcot Row, and is connected to nearby Churchend. Little Heath has a population of approximately 8042 residents, predominantly living in semi-detached housing.
AdBlue drains around Little Heath, and across Berkshire too
Calcot Row and Churchend have the same teams as Little Heath, a residential suburb, along with further towns over RG postcodes. Quickest of all: a RG31 5 postcode for your location.
Parked en route to Hildens Drive Play Area, or right in the centre of Little Heath, the car remains where it is — there's no need to shift it anywhere. Our van empties it in place. Assuming doesn't help beside Hall Place Equestrian Centre, on a border or somewhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
The one-line version
Where it hasn't run, phone then keep it that way. Already run: stop, switch off and call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Little Heath and anywhere in Berkshire on 0333 366 0103.