AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Mepal, and What to Do Next
Everything turns on a single detail: whether the engine has been run after the AdBlue was added — far more than anything else. Not started yet? Then leave the vehicle that way, whether your vehicle sits — Mepal or Wardy Hill. Call 0333 366 0103 with your key and engine still off. In Mepal, such a case is typically emptied and flushed on the spot. Pull over the moment it is safe and turn off, if it has already run. Stage one remains the same, even if the job is bigger.
Further down: the situations our technicians see, anywhere across Cambridgeshire. Choose yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Mepal forecourt
Only now, nozzle still in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, there at the petrol pump. Maybe you are at the Esso, possibly at the BP, perhaps somewhere else in Mepal.
Meaning? Spotting it on the forecourt is as good as it can be. The AdBlue is in your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
Do this: stay out of the driver's seat, even if the queue needs freeing. Three things: a shove into a bay with the staff assisting, the bottle kept, and a call to us from the forecourt. Draining it right at the pump is fine if it cannot be shifted, since the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Mepal drive?
On the dash, a warning had shown for days. Only by the recycling, the empty bottle in your hand, did you glance back at the cap you'd used on the driveway. Right off High Street is no different from any other place.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of that tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
Your move: keys in the house, and so no one drives the vehicle off first thing. After that, ring. Out in Sutton Gault or right here in Mepal, the draining happens at your drive. Night-time drains beside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Mepal?
A short way beyond topping up, the engine started playing up: rough running, smoke, less power, lights on your dash. Maybe heading for Ely, under 10 miles away, or simply down School Lane.
Meaning? Your fuel pump has sucked the AdBlue up. The high-pressure pump and every injector get it as well on a bigger run, after the filter and lines have it. Every restart, like every mile, pushes it on.
Your move: stop somewhere sensible, then turn the motor off. Mepal lies under 15 miles from the M11; there, come off at the next junction instead of pressing on for the services. Restarting it to test gets nothing — AdBlue never clears on its own. Let us hear the mileage covered as you ring.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have had this car hardly a week. Unbeknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel inlets sit side by side here — not like your own car, which has none or keeps it elsewhere. Any driver, wherever around Cambridgeshire, could make it.
In short: one extra stage on top of the cases above, and those depend on whether it has run. The owner frequently has to approve any work, under many hire and company agreements.
Your move: rental firm or fleet manager to begin with, us next, since settling it beforehand saves time. If you are stranded in the car park outside Ely, or by war memorial, while you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, in Mepal
Occasionally the honest answer is "I think so". Which cap came off, you cannot recall; but the bottle weighs lighter than expected, and ammonia lingers by the filler. It might have been at a friend's driveway in Wentworth, or rushing by Mepal and Witcham Church of England Primary School at the school run.
In short: spillage round your filler leaves the engine unharmed. The diesel tank with AdBlue inside is another matter. Turning on your car won't tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in that tank it would suck it in.
Do this: behave as though it did, and never start the engine. Describe what you saw on the phone. A clean tank checked is a better outcome than an already-run one emptied.
What every AdBlue drain in Mepal has in common
Every situation gets the same start to the work. Our engineers come to the car, whether it's on a forecourt, a drive, the car park at The Three Pickerels or a side street near Mepal Village Sign, and ask three things: what went in, roughly how much, and if the motor has been run. Those replies decide this work, and you get the price by phone, before anyone heads out.
Emptying that tank comes next, followed by a careful flush — more vital after urea than after petrol, since crystals and corrosion will not clear on their own, however long it sits. Clean diesel is put in once your filter has been cleaned or replaced, and your car is then checked. Never started? In that case roughly half an hour once we are there is most jobs.
Firing it up comes at the end. Before we go, it is tested to make sure it runs properly on new diesel. If it is caught quickly, the vehicle very rarely has permanent damage, and the entire job takes place where it is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many policies include misfuelling, so check yours as we head over.
About Mepal itself
Mepal is a small village in Cambridgeshire, situated on the lakeside near the River Great Ouse. Mepal sits at a low elevation of around 10 metres, close to the nearby settlements of Sutton Gault, Sutton, and Witcham. Mepal has a population of approximately 626 residents, with a predominance of detached housing. Mepal is located near the city of Ely, which is about 6 miles away.
Mepal and Cambridgeshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Mepal is a village, and the same vans that cover it work the places near it too, Sutton and Witcham among them, across the CB postcode area. Quickest of all: a CB6 2 postcode to show where you stand.
No towing is needed, whether stopped in the centre of Mepal or in a lay-by heading to New Zealand Squadron War Memorial, and so leave it where it is. Our van drains it in place. Assuming doesn't help near Mepal Village Hall, on a border or somewhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
In one line: your scenario
Motor never started: phone, leaving it alone. Already run: stop, switch off then call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Mepal and anywhere in Cambridgeshire on 0333 366 0103.