What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Nettlestead
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if the engine has been run since it was put in. Wherever the car is — Red Hill, Nettlestead — never start a motor that hasn't run yet. Leave the engine and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103; it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Nettlestead. Stop the minute it is safe then turn off, if it has already run. The job is bigger, but the first stage is the same.
Wherever in Kent it took place, one of the situations below fits yours.
Nettlestead forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
You are 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. Somewhere in Nettlestead, then — JET, another forecourt nearby, or somewhere else nearby.
The point: of every spot to notice, the forecourt is the best. Still in that tank, and no fuel drawn through: that's where the AdBlue sits.
Your move: keep out of the driver's seat, even if the pump needs freeing. Ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle into a parking spot, keep the till receipt or the bottle, then phone us from the forecourt. If it cannot be shifted, it can be drained at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Nettlestead
Days had passed with the dash light on. A bottle from the garage, emptied in at the drive — and it was just by the recycling that the cap caught your eye. Just off Bryant Close is no different from anywhere.
In short: if the vehicle hasn't been driven since, it is nearly equal to finding out at the pump. Being reluctant to blend, AdBlue drops to the base inside your tank and waits. One night standing changes nothing.
Next: keys indoors, so nobody drives your vehicle off at breakfast. Then, phone. Wateringbury or Nettlestead: whichever your driveway sits, that's where it is emptied. Even at night, our pumps stay quiet enough for a driveway.
Nettlestead: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
A short way after topping up, your motor started misbehaving: roughness, smoke, less power, lights on your dash. Maidstone Road, perhaps, or the route to Southend-on-Sea — a trip of under 25 miles.
What it means: the fuel system has drawn the AdBlue in. Through your filter, along the pipework, and — the more the distance — on into the high-pressure pump and every injector. Each restart, like every mile, pushes it on.
What to do: pull over where it's safe then switch off. Exit at the next junction — not the services beyond — if you're on the M20, under 5 miles from Nettlestead. It will not have cleared, and so there is no sense starting it again to find out. Call, saying how far your car was driven.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You have only driven this car a week. The AdBlue filler sits right beside the diesel one, which you didn't know, because your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Anyone, wherever across Kent, could do it.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it's run, with one more stage. Plenty of hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on your car.
Settling it before we arrives is quicker, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, and then us. If you are stuck in the car park outside Wateringbury, or by Nettlestead Village Hall, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
Nettlestead: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
"I think so" is often as honest answer there is. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia around the filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. Maybe on a friend's drive in Teston, or in a rush by Wateringbury Church of England Primary School on the school run.
Meaning? Spills outside the inlet don't touch your engine at all. Once it's inside the diesel tank, though, that changes. Any AdBlue in the tank will be pulled in by turning on the car, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
Next: act as though it went in, then leave the motor off. Tell us what you saw on the phone. A clear tank checked counts as a better outcome than a run one drained.
Nettlestead: what every AdBlue drain has in common
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Three questions come once our engineers reach your car — at a filling station, a drive, a road beside St Mary the Virgin Church, Nettlestead or the car park at The Railway: the fluid, the quantity, and whether it has run. Replies set the work; the price follows on the call while nobody has left yet.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to some metals used in fuel systems, and so it does not rinse out unaided; that's why the flush, after this drain, counts much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Fresh diesel is put in once your filter is cleaned or replaced, and your car is then checked. Never started? In that case about half an hour once we are there covers most jobs.
Starting the car comes last. Before our engineers head off, it's checked to be sure it runs properly on new diesel. Our engineers do the entire job where the car is, and lasting damage is very unusual when it has been caught soon. Paying is that day, never upfront. For the insurer, there is a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer. Check your insurance before we arrive: misfuelling cover comes included in many policies.
About Nettlestead itself
Nettlestead is a small village in Kent, situated on the banks of the River Medway at an elevation of 21 metres. Nettlestead lies near the villages of Wateringbury and Nettlestead Green, and is characterized by its terraced housing. Nettlestead is located approximately 29.5 miles from London and 24 miles from Southend-on-Sea, making it a rural community within commuting distance of larger urban areas.
AdBlue drains around Nettlestead and across Kent
Nettlestead is a village, and the same vans that cover it work the towns around it too, Pizien Well and Nettlestead Green among them, across the ME postcode area. Fastest of all: a ME18 5 postcode to show where you stand.
Parked heading to Nettlestead Place Gardens, or bang in the centre of Nettlestead, your car remains where it is — there's no need to shift it anywhere. Our technicians drain the car where it is. Tricky to explain? Close to Nettlestead Place or a county line? Checking beats assuming, so phone.
Your situation, in one line
Still unrun? Leave the vehicle that way and ring. Already run: stop, switch off then call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there around Nettlestead and anywhere across Kent on 0333 366 0103.