What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Mayfield
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if the engine has been run since it went in. Wherever your car stands — Argos Hill, Mayfield — never run a motor that hasn't run yet. Leave the motor and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103; it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Mayfield. When the motor has run, pull in somewhere safe straight away, then switch the vehicle off. The job is bigger, but the first stage is the same.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever across East Sussex it happened.
On a Mayfield forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Just now, bottle still in hand, you realise that the cap you opened was the wrong one, there at the petrol pump. Whether Mayfield Garage, Shell or somewhere else around Mayfield, the case is the same.
What it means: this is the best place to find out. The AdBlue is inside that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
Your move: stay out of the driver's seat, however much the queue wants clearing. Three jobs: a push into a bay with the staff helping, the bottle kept, and a ring to us from the forecourt. Our equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a live forecourt, and so a vehicle that can't be pushed clear gets emptied right at the petrol pump.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home in Mayfield
On your dash, a reminder had been lit all week. Only at the recycling bin, the empty bottle in your hand, did you glance back at the cap you had used at the drive. It takes place on driveways just off West Street as frequently as anywhere.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. On the floor of your tank sits where AdBlue waits, since it will not mix with diesel — and a night passing makes no difference.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so nobody moves your car in the morning. Then ring. Your driveway is where it gets emptied, whether around Mayfield or Wellbrook. Even at night, our pumps are quiet enough for a driveway.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel around Mayfield?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your engine began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Maybe it was on St Mary-in-the-Fields, maybe on the way out towards Brighton and Hove, under 25 miles away.
What it means: the system has pulled the AdBlue in. The high-pressure pump and each injector see it as well on a longer trip, after your filter and pipework have had it. More miles, more restarts: further it travels.
Do this: pull up somewhere safe, then switch your motor off. Services further on can wait: on the M23, under 25 miles out of Mayfield, use the first junction. It won't have cleared, and so there's no sense starting it again to find out. Tell us know the distance driven when you ring.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
It is a motor you have had for a week. On your own car, AdBlue is absent or elsewhere. On this one, the inlet is just by the diesel cap — news to you. Anyone, wherever across East Sussex, might do the same.
In short: one extra step on top of the cases above, and those turn on whether it's run. The owner frequently has to sign off any work, under plenty of rental and company contracts.
Next: phone the hire company or your fleet manager first, then us — settling it before we arrive is quicker. Waiting for an answer in the car park at Crowborough, or near Mayfield Baptist Chapel? Keep the car off meanwhile.
Unsure about AdBlue in your diesel tank around Mayfield?
Occasionally the honest answer is "I think so". Too light, the bottle; a hint of ammonia near the filler; no clear recollection of which cap. Sound familiar? Maybe it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Mayfield Church of England Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Trulls Hatch.
The upshot: your motor isn't harmed by a little AdBlue splashed around the outside. Once it is inside your diesel tank, though, it does. You can't tell which by turning the key, and doing so would pull in any AdBlue that is in your tank.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Do not fire it up. Inspecting a tank that proves clean beats emptying one after it has been run — so phone then describe to us what you saw.
The common ground in each Mayfield AdBlue drain
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. Wherever your vehicle stands — The Middle House's car park, a street beside St Dunstan's Church, a drive, a filling station — the van arrives and asks for the liquid, the quantity, and whether the motor has been run. Replies shape the job; the price comes by phone while no one has set off yet.
Then that tank is cleared and your system flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not rinse out on its own. Finally come your filter, flushed or replaced as needed; fresh diesel; and a check of your vehicle. Where the engine hasn't run, allow roughly half an hour on site, for most jobs.
We start the car last. Our test that it runs smoothly on new diesel comes before our engineers go. When it's caught soon, the vehicle very rarely has permanent damage, and the whole job happens where it is. Paying comes that day, never upfront. For the insurer, you get a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Mayfield itself
Mayfield is a rural village in East Sussex, situated inland at an elevation of around 136 metres. Mayfield lies approximately 37.6 miles south of London and 22.2 miles north of Brighton and Hove, near the villages of Wellbrook, Woolbridge, and Coggins Mill. Mayfield has a population of around 1226 people, predominantly living in detached houses.
AdBlue drains round Mayfield and across East Sussex
As a rural village, Mayfield has the same vans as the surrounding towns — Coggins Mill, Woolbridge — right across TN postcodes. Your location is quickest from a postcode beginning TN20 6.
Central Mayfield or a lay-by near King Georges's Playing Fields Park: either way it is, your car never needs to shift at all for the drain. The van empties it in place. Guessing won't help near Colkins Mill Church, close to a border or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
In one line: your situation
Motor never started: ring, leaving it switched off. Started already? Stop, turn off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder whatever case, in Mayfield and East Sussex, on 0333 366 0103.