AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Lunces Common: What Now?
Has your engine run since the AdBlue got in? That one question decides almost everything about what comes next. Out in Worlds End or right around Lunces Common, an unrun engine should remain that way. Switch nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, and expect a thorough flush plus a drain, carried out just where the vehicle sits in Lunces Common. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Stage one remains unchanged, even if the job is bigger.
Anywhere across East Sussex it took place, one of the cases below fits yours.
On a Lunces Common forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
You're at the pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Be it Gulf, Shell or anywhere else around Lunces Common, the situation is identical.
Put simply: there is no better spot exists to spot it. Still in that tank, with nothing drawn through: that's where the AdBlue sits.
Freeing the petrol pump is no reason to start it — and so do not get back in. Phone us from the forecourt after the vehicle sits in a space — the staff will lend a hand to push it — then keep the bottle. If it can't be shifted, it can be cleared at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt.
Lunces Common, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
For days the dash had been warning you. Only by the recycling, the empty container in your hand, did you look back at the cap you'd used on the drive. Houses just off Ditchling Road get hit as much as anywhere else.
The point: no miles since makes it almost as good to finding it at the petrol pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of the tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves your car in the morning. Then call. Our technicians drain the car on your driveway, whether that is in Lunces Common or out in Fox Hill. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Lunces Common: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your engine began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Spring Bank, say, or the route to Brighton and Hove — a trip of under 15 miles.
Meaning? Your fuel pump has sucked the AdBlue in. Past your filter, through the lines, and — the further the mileage — deeper into the injection pump and every injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
What to do: pull over where it is safe to do so and switch off. Lunces Common lies under 10 miles from the M23; there, come off at the next junction instead of pressing on to the services. Starting it again to check gets nothing — AdBlue never clears itself. Let us know the distance driven when you ring.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
It's a motor you have had for a week. The AdBlue filler sits right alongside the diesel one, which you didn't know, since your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across East Sussex.
The upshot: just as above, split by if it ran, only with an added stage. Any work on your car often needs the owner's go-ahead under hire or fleet agreements.
Next: phone the rental company or the fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before our arrival is faster. Stranded near Church Hall or outside Wivelsfield till the firm answers, the vehicle remains switched off throughout.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Lunces Common?
"I think so" is often as honest as it gets. Which cap was taken off, you cannot say; meanwhile the bottle feels lighter than expected, and ammonia hangs by the filler. A hurried stop by the gates of St Wilfrid's CofE Primary School, or a visit to a friend in Haywards Heath: both fits.
The point: the engine is not harmed by a little AdBlue splashed on the outside. In the diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue harms it. If there is AdBlue in your tank, firing up your car will pull it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Do not fire it up. Ring with what you saw: we'd rather find a tank free of AdBlue than drain one once the motor has run.
What every AdBlue drain in Lunces Common has in common
The work opens the same way, whichever your situation. Wherever your vehicle is — Fox and Hounds's car park, a street by St Peter and St John The Baptist (Wivelsfield Parish Church), a driveway, a forecourt — the van arrives and asks about the liquid, the amount, plus whether your engine has been run. Your price is given over the phone, ahead of anyone setting off, and the replies shape the job.
A thorough flush follows this drain. With petrol it's routine; with AdBlue it is essential, because crystals form and some metals corrode, and neither washes out unaided. Next is the filter — cleaned, or replaced where needed — followed by clean diesel, and a test of the car. If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
We fire it up at the end. Before we head off, it is checked to make sure it runs properly on clean diesel. The whole job is done where the car is, and when it is noticed soon, long-term damage is very rare. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, nothing upfront. Dig out your insurance while we're en route: cover for misfuelling is included in plenty of policies.
About Lunces Common itself
Lunces Common is a small hamlet situated on the riverside in East Sussex, with a relatively low elevation of 46 metres. Lunces Common lies near several other settlements, including Fox Hill, Wivelsfield, and Bolnore Village, and is approximately 10.9 miles from Brighton and Hove. Lunces Common is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting. Lunces Common has a population of around 619 residents, according to recent estimates.
Lunces Common and East Sussex: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a rural hamlet, Lunces Common has the same vans as the nearby towns — Bolnore Village, Wivelsfield — right through RH postcodes. Fastest of all: a RH16 4 postcode for where you stand.
No towing is required, be it stopped centrally in Lunces Common or on a lay-by en route to Furze Wood, so leave it where it is. Our technicians drain it where it is. Tricky to explain? By Lunce's Hall or a county line? Checking is better than assuming, so phone.
The one-line version
Still unrun? Keep the vehicle that way and phone. Run by now: stop, switch down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, within Lunces Common or anywhere in East Sussex.