Lower Holloway: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
One thing counts above all once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is whether the engine has run since. Anywhere the car stands — Kentish Town, Lower Holloway — don't run an engine that hasn't been started yet. Call 0333 366 0103 with your key and motor both off. Across Lower Holloway, such a case is generally drained and flushed on the spot. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Step one stays unchanged, even though the work grows.
Wherever across Greater London it happened, one of the cases below fits yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Lower Holloway forecourt
Imagine it: stood by the pump, gripping the nozzle, you realise the filler you took off was not the right one. Maybe you are at the Shell, perhaps at the Esso, maybe somewhere else around Lower Holloway.
Meaning? Spotting it on the forecourt is the best it can be. Still inside that tank, and no fuel drawn onwards: that is where the AdBlue is.
What to do: don't get back in and crank it to clear the pump. Ring us from the forecourt once your car is in a bay — the attendants will help push it — then keep the bottle. If it can't be moved, it can be emptied at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Lower Holloway drive?
For days the dash had been nagging you. Picked up a container, tipped it in at home, binned the empty — and at that point looked at the cap again, too late. It happens on drives just off Surr Street as commonly as anywhere.
Meaning? Provided your vehicle has not been driven since, it is close to the forecourt case. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of that tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so nobody moves the vehicle in the morning. Then ring. Your driveway is where it is drained, be it around Lower Holloway or Barnsbury. Even at night, the pumps are quiet enough for a driveway.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Lower Holloway?
A mile or two after topping up, the engine started misbehaving: rough running, smoke, less power, lights on the dash. North Road, perhaps, or the way to London — a run of under 3 miles.
Meaning? Your fuel pump has sucked the AdBlue in. Mileage decides how deep it goes: filter and pipework to begin with, then the injection pump and each injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
What to do: pull over where it is safe then switch off. Leave at the next junction — not the services further along — if you are on the M1, under 5 miles from Lower Holloway. It will not have cleared, so there is no sense starting it again to check. Phone, saying how far your vehicle was driven.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You have had this car barely a week. The AdBlue filler sits right alongside the diesel one, which you didn't know, because your own car either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Wherever you happen to be in Greater London, every driver can be caught.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it's run, with one more step. The owner frequently needs to sign off any work, under many hire and fleet contracts.
Next: ring the hire company or your fleet manager first, and then us — settling it before our arrival is faster. Stuck by Pleasance or outside Caledonian Road & Barnsbury till someone replies, your car remains switched off throughout.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, around Lower Holloway
Truthfully, the best answer may be that you think it did. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia around your filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. The gates of Hungerford School in a rush, perhaps, or a friend's drive out in Kings Cross.
Meaning? Drips around the filler never touch the engine at all. In the diesel tank, however, AdBlue harms it. You can't tell which by turning the key, and doing so will pull in any AdBlue that is in that tank.
Your move: behave as though it got in, and don't start your engine. Phone with what you saw: we'd rather find a tank free of AdBlue than empty one after the engine has been run.
Lower Holloway: what every AdBlue drain has in common
Whichever situation you are in, this job starts the same way. Three questions are asked once we reach the car — at a forecourt, a drive, a street beside Islington Tennis Centre and Gym or the car park at The Depot: the liquid, the quantity, and if it has run. Those answers settle this work, and you get our quote by phone, before anyone heads out.
AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to certain metals in fuel systems, and so it does not rinse out on its own; that's why the flush, after this drain, matters much more here than with petrol. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. If the motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Finally, we start it. Before we head off, it is checked to confirm it runs correctly on clean diesel. Lasting damage is very uncommon when it's noticed early, and the entire job is done where the vehicle is. Payment is on the day, never upfront. For your insurer, there is a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer. Many policies include misfuelling, and so check yours while the van travels.
About Lower Holloway and where it is
Lower Holloway is a suburban area in north London, situated approximately 2.9 miles from the city centre. Lower Holloway has a relatively low elevation of around 45 metres and is characterised by a high proportion of flat dwellings. Lower Holloway is bordered by nearby places such as Barnsbury, Holloway, and Tufnell Park, and is home to a population of around 23,098 people. Lower Holloway forms part of the wider London urban landscape, with a mix of residential and commercial properties.
AdBlue drains around Lower Holloway, and across Greater London too
Lower Holloway is a residential suburb, and the same vans that cover it work the towns around it too, Holloway and Tufnell Park among them, across the N postcode area. A postcode starting N7 9 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Centre of Lower Holloway or a lay-by near Caledonian Park: either way it is, your car doesn't need to move an inch for the drain. Our technicians drain the car where it sits. Assuming doesn't help near Caledonian Road Methodist Church, close to a border or somewhere awkward to describe; phone and check.
Your situation, summed up
Engine not started: phone, and leave it switched off. Started by now? Pull over, switch off, phone. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder whichever case, in Lower Holloway and Greater London, on 0333 366 0103.