What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Little Heath
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if your engine has been run since it went in. Anywhere your car is — Brookmans Park, Little Heath — don't run a motor that has not run yet. Ring 0333 366 0103 with the key and motor still off. Across Little Heath, that is generally drained and flushed where it stands. When your engine has run, pull in somewhere safe first, then turn the car off. Step one stays unchanged, even if the work is bigger.
Anywhere in Hertfordshire it happened, one of the cases below fits yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Little Heath forecourt
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you just spot it while you're standing at the petrol pump, bottle or the nozzle in your hand. It might be the BP, or the Tesco, or a different forecourt in Little Heath.
Put simply: no better spot exists to discover it. The AdBlue is inside your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
What to do: do not get back in and crank it to clear the pump. Ask the attendants to help you push the car into a parking spot, keep the till receipt or the bottle, then ring us from the forecourt. Can't move the car by the petrol pump? Our explosion-proof kit makes a busy forecourt safe, and so we can drain the vehicle in place.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Little Heath
For days the dash had been nagging you. Only by the recycling, the empty bottle in hand, did you glance back at the cap you had used at the driveway. Right off Heathfield Close is no less likely from any other place.
In short: if your car hasn't moved since, it is almost equal to spotting it at the forecourt. Being reluctant to blend, AdBlue settles to the base inside the tank and stays. One night standing alters nothing.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves the car in the morning. Then ring. Your driveway is where it is emptied, be it in Little Heath or Swanley Bar. Late-night drains outside a house are no problem: the pumps are low-noise.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Little Heath?
A mile or two after filling up, the motor started misbehaving: rough running, smoke, less power, warnings on the dash. Possibly it was on Sandringham Road, maybe on the way out towards St Albans, under 10 miles away.
What it means: your fuel system has pulled the AdBlue in. Past the filter, along the lines, and — the more the mileage — on into the high-pressure pump and every injector. More driving, more starts: deeper it goes.
Pull in somewhere safe — that's the first job — then switch it off. Little Heath lies under 3 miles from the M25; there, pull off at the first junction rather than pressing on for the services. It won't have cleared, and so there's no point starting it again to find out. Phone us and say how far you travelled.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You have just had the vehicle a week. On your own car, AdBlue is absent or somewhere else. On this one, the cap is just next to your diesel cap — a surprise to you. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Hertfordshire.
The upshot: exactly as above, split by whether it ran, only with an added stage. Work on your vehicle often requires the owner's approval under rental or fleet agreements.
Next: phone the hire company or your fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before we arrive is faster. If you are stuck in the car park outside Potters Bar, or by Christ Church Parish Hall, while you wait for an answer, leave your car off.
Unsure about AdBlue in your diesel tank around Little Heath?
Honestly, the only answer may be that you think so. What cap came off, you cannot recall; meanwhile the bottle weighs lighter than expected, and ammonia lingers by your filler. The gates of Little Heath Primary School in a rush, perhaps, or a friend's drive out in Ganwick Corner.
In short: a spill round the filler does your engine unharmed. The diesel tank with AdBlue in it is another story. Any AdBlue in your tank will be sucked in by turning on the car, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
Assume it got in, and never turn your key. Checking a tank that proves free of AdBlue is better than draining one after it's been run — so phone then tell us what you saw.
Little Heath: what every AdBlue drain has in common
No matter the case, one opening applies. Our technicians come to the vehicle, whether it's at a forecourt, a drive, the car park at The Builders Arms or a side street close to Next Gen Fitness, and ask three things: what was put in, roughly how much, and whether the engine has been run. Replies shape the work; the quote comes on the call whilst nobody has set off yet.
A thorough flush comes after this drain. With petrol it is standard; with AdBlue it's crucial, because crystals form and certain metals are attacked, and none of that rinses away unaided. Fresh diesel goes in after the fuel filter has been cleaned or changed, and your car is finally checked. Where your engine hasn't run, expect about half an hour once we arrive, in most cases.
The last step is firing it up. Our check that it runs correctly on new diesel comes before we go. Our engineers do the whole job where the car is, and permanent damage is very rare when it has been caught soon. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies cover misfuelling, and so check yours while the van travels.
About Little Heath
Little Heath is a suburban area in Hertfordshire, situated approximately 13.7 miles from London and 7.6 miles from St Albans. Little Heath sits at an elevation of around 125 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type in the area. Little Heath is located near other places such as Swanley Bar, Potters Bar, and Northaw, and has a population of around 3290 residents.
AdBlue drains about Little Heath and across Hertfordshire
Potters Bar and Northaw have the same teams as Little Heath, a residential suburb, plus other towns throughout EN postcodes. Telling us a EN6 1 postcode pins you quickest of all.
Parked heading to Rose Garden, or bang in the heart of Little Heath, the vehicle remains where it is — there's no need to shift it at all. Our van drains it in place. Phone and check instead of guessing if you're close to Christ Church, near a border, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
Your situation, in one line
If it hasn't started, ring and leave it off. Run already? Pull over, switch off, phone. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder whatever case, in Little Heath and Hertfordshire, on 0333 366 0103.