Motcombe: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if the motor has been run since it got in. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the car is in Motcombe itself or out in Hugglers Hole. Leave the motor and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103; it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Motcombe. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The job is bigger, yet the first step is the same.
Wherever across Dorset it took place, one of the cases below fits yours.
Motcombe forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Just now, bottle still in hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, there at the petrol pump. Maybe you're at the Murco, maybe at the Esso, possibly somewhere else around Motcombe.
In short: there is no better place exists to spot it. Nothing has pulled it through, and so the AdBlue stays only in your tank.
Do this: keep out of the driver's seat, even if the pump needs freeing. A few jobs: a push into a space with the attendants helping, the bottle saved, and a ring to us from where you stand. If it can't be shifted, it can be drained at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
Motcombe, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look once more at the cap. Right off Willow Way is no less likely from anywhere.
The upshot: no miles since makes this nearly as good to finding it at the pump. At the floor of your tank is exactly where AdBlue stays, since it won't mix with diesel — and a night passing changes nothing of the difference.
Put the keys indoors tonight — or someone might take it away first thing — and phone us. Elm Hill or Motcombe: whichever your driveway is, that is where it is cleared. The equipment runs quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Motcombe: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Topped up, drove away, and before long the engine was turning unevenly, blowing smoke, down on power, or lighting up the dash. It might have been heading to Salisbury, under 25 miles away, or simply along Glebe Gardens.
Meaning? The fuel pump has sucked the AdBlue up. Through your filter, along the lines, and — the further the distance — on into the high-pressure pump and each injector. It goes further with every mile driven and each restart.
Pull in safely — that's the next step — then turn everything off. On the M27, under 50 miles from Motcombe, that means the next junction, not the services further on. No test restarts: clearing itself isn't something AdBlue will do. Tell us know the distance covered when you ring.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
Seven days ago, it was unknown to you. Unknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel fillers sit next to each other here — unlike your own vehicle, which has none or stores it in another spot. Any driver, anywhere across Dorset, could do it.
In short: one extra stage on top of the situations above, which depend on if it's run. Any work on your car often needs the owner's approval under hire or fleet terms.
Next: phone the rental company or the fleet manager first, then us — settling it before we arrive is quicker. If you're stuck in the car park outside Gillingham (Dorset), or by Motcombe Memorial Hall, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Motcombe?
"I think so" is sometimes the most honest as it gets. Too light, the bottle; a trace of ammonia round the filler; no clear memory of which cap. Look familiar? Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Motcombe CofE Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Sedgehill Corner.
What it means: a little spilled around your filler does no harm to your engine. Inside your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue damages it. You can't tell which by turning the key, and doing so will suck in any AdBlue that is in the tank.
Next: act as though it got in, and keep your engine off. Describe what you noticed on your phone. A clear tank looked at counts as a happier result than an already-run one emptied.
Motcombe: what each AdBlue drain has in common
No matter the case, one opening applies. Anywhere the car is — The Coppleridge Inn's car park, a road beside St Mary, a drive, a forecourt — the van arrives and asks about the liquid, the amount, and whether your engine has been run. Replies shape the work; the price comes by phone while nobody has left yet.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a careful flush — more important after urea than with petrol, because crystals and corrosion will not clear on their own, however long you wait. Fresh diesel is put in once the fuel filter has been flushed or changed, and your car is finally checked. If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
Last, our engineers fire it up. Our check that it runs properly on new diesel comes before our engineers head off. Permanent damage is very rare if it is caught soon, and the whole job is done where your car is. Nothing is taken upfront, payment is made on the day, and you get what your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Motcombe itself
Motcombe is a small village in Dorset, situated inland at an elevation of around 88 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Motcombe lies near the villages of Elm Hill, Bittles Green, and North End, and is approximately 18.5 miles from Salisbury. Motcombe has a population of around 713 residents, and is located about 96 miles west of London. Motcombe remains a quiet rural community with a strong sense of local identity.
AdBlue drains across Dorset, Motcombe included
Being a rural village, Motcombe shares its vans with the surrounding towns — North End, Bittles Green — right across SP postcodes. Telling us a SP7 9 postcode pins you fastest of all.
Whether the car is on a lay-by on the way to Recreation Field or in a car park in the middle of Motcombe, it doesn't need to shift. Where it sits, that's where it gets emptied. Awkward to pin down? By St John the Evangelist or a border? Asking is better than guessing, and so ring.
The one-line version
Still unrun? Keep the vehicle that way then ring. Whichever case applies, Petrol in Diesel takes over from there on 0333 366 0103, throughout Dorset and in Motcombe — after you stop, turn off and ring, if it's run.