AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Mellis Green, and What to Do Next
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if your engine has run since it went in. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the car is in Mellis Green itself or out in Thornham Parva. Usually this means emptying and properly flushing it right there in Mellis Green — and so leave the ignition and engine off and phone 0333 366 0103. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. A larger job, yes, yet the identical opening step.
Anywhere across Suffolk it took place, one of the situations below fits yours.
At the pump around Mellis Green: AdBlue in a diesel
Only at this point, bottle yet in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, right at the pump. Whether Gulf Oil, Morrisons or somewhere else in Mellis Green, the situation is the same.
What it means: this is the ideal place to find out. Still inside the tank, with no fuel pulled onwards: that's where the AdBlue is.
Freeing the pump is no reason to run it — and so don't get back in. A few jobs: a push into a space with the attendants assisting, the receipt saved, and a call to us from the forecourt. Can't move it by the petrol pump? Explosion-proof equipment makes a live forecourt safe, and so it can be drained in place.
Mellis Green, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
On your dash, a warning had been lit for days. Only by the recycling, the empty container in hand, did you glance back at the cap you had opened on the driveway. Drives close to Rectory Road see it as much as anywhere.
Meaning? As long as your vehicle has not been driven since, it's second to the pump case. At the floor of your tank sits where AdBlue stays, since it will not mix with diesel — and a night passing changes nothing of the difference.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so no one moves the car in the morning. Then call. Mellis or Mellis Green: wherever your driveway is, that is where it is drained. Even at night, the pumps stay quiet enough for a residential street.
On the road in Mellis Green with AdBlue in a diesel
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power or a lit dashboard started a short way beyond the fill. It might have been driving for Norwich, under 25 miles away, or simply along Mellisash Road.
The point: the system has drawn AdBlue in already. It has been through your filter and the lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and the injectors. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Pull in safely — that is the next job — then turn it off. Services further along are too far: on the M11, under 50 miles out of Mellis Green, use the next junction. Do not restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Roughly what distance had it gone? Say so as you call.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've had this car hardly a week. The AdBlue filler sits right alongside the diesel filler, which you didn't know, since your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Anyone, anywhere around Suffolk, could do the same.
Meaning? Whatever case above applies too — run or not — plus one extra step. Many hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on your car.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is quicker settled before we arrive than after. Hanging on for a reply at the car park at Diss, or near St Mary, Mellis? Leave your car off throughout.
Mellis Green: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Honestly, the only answer might be that you think it did. A faint ammonia-like whiff lingers around your filler, the bottle feels too light, and which cap came off is hard to recall. The gates of Mellis Church of England Primary School in a hurry, perhaps, or someone's driveway over in Great Green.
In short: spillage near the filler does the motor no harm. The diesel tank with AdBlue inside is another matter. If there is AdBlue in your tank, firing up your car would draw it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Do this: behave as if it did, and never start your engine. Tell us what you noticed on your phone. A clear tank looked at is a happier outcome than an already-run one emptied.
The common ground in each Mellis Green AdBlue drain
The work opens identically, whichever your situation. Wherever your vehicle stands — Railway Tavern's car park, a road by Mellis Memorial Hall, a drive, a forecourt — our van gets there and asks for the fluid, the quantity, and if the engine has turned over. Your price is given on the call, ahead of anyone setting off, and the answers shape the job.
AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to certain metals in fuel systems, so it won't rinse out on its own; that is why the flush, after the drain, counts far more with AdBlue than with petrol. Last are your filter, flushed or renewed if necessary; fresh diesel; and a test of the vehicle. Never started? In that case about half an hour on site covers most jobs.
We fire it up at the end. Before our engineers go, it's tested to make sure it runs correctly on fresh diesel. The whole job is done where your car is, and when it is noticed quickly, lasting damage is very unusual. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Worth knowing: many insurers include misfuelling cover, so a quick look at your documents as we travel is worthwhile.
About Mellis Green itself
Mellis Green is a rural locality in Suffolk, situated inland at an elevation of around 50 metres, near the villages of Mellis and Burgate. Mellis Green lies within the wider landscape of the Eastern region, approximately 76 miles from London and 23 miles from Norwich. Mellis Green is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its relatively dispersed and rural nature.
AdBlue drains across Suffolk, Mellis Green included
Burgate and Little Green have the same teams as Mellis Green, a small village, along with further places throughout IP postcodes. Telling us a IP23 8 postcode pins you quickest of all.
Parked en route to Whitmore's Wood, or right in the centre of Mellis Green, your car stays where it is — there's no need to move it anywhere. We drain the vehicle where it stands. Awkward to explain? By Mellis Village Sign or a county line? Checking is better than guessing, so phone.
The one-line version
Engine not started: phone, leaving it switched off. Whatever case applies, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, across Suffolk and within Mellis Green — after you stop, switch off and ring, if it has run.