What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Newtown
Has the motor turned over since the AdBlue went in? This one point decides nearly everything else from here. Out in Ashton or here in Newtown, an unstarted motor must remain unrun. Call 0333 366 0103 with your ignition and motor still off. In Newtown, such a case is typically drained and flushed on the spot. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The job is bigger, but the first stage is the same.
Anywhere in Hampshire it took place, one of the cases below matches yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Newtown forecourt
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you only spot it as you are stood at the petrol pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. Somewhere in Newtown, then — Sainsbury's, Texaco, or anywhere else nearby.
What it means: this is the ideal location to find out. Only that tank holds AdBlue; no part past it has taken any in.
Your move: keep out of the driver's seat, even if the queue wants freeing. Three jobs: a shove into a bay with the attendants assisting, the bottle kept, and a ring to us from where you stand. If it can't be moved, it can be drained at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
Newtown, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
On your dash, a warning had been lit all week. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look a second time at the cap. Homes just off Siskin Close are caught out as often as anywhere else.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. Being reluctant to blend, AdBlue drops low inside that tank and stays. A night standing alters none of that.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves the vehicle in the morning. Then ring. Bishops Waltham or Newtown: whichever your driveway sits, that's where it gets drained. Late-night empties outside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel in Newtown?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the engine began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Tangier Lane, perhaps, or the route to Winchester — a run of under 10 miles.
The point: your system has pulled AdBlue in by now. It has been through the fuel filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors. It travels deeper with each mile covered and each restart.
Do this: pull up somewhere safe, then switch your engine off. On the M27, under 5 miles from Newtown, that means the next exit, not the services further on. No trial starts: clearing isn't something AdBlue will do. Roughly how far did it go? Say so as you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have only driven the vehicle for days. Your own car either does without AdBlue or keeps it somewhere different, and so no one warned you the AdBlue cap sits just beside the diesel. Any driver, anywhere around Hampshire, might do the same.
Put simply: one extra step on top of the situations above, and those turn on whether it's run. Many rental and company agreements need the owner's sign-off for repairs.
Next: phone the rental company or your fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before our arrival is quicker. Leave the vehicle switched off as the answer comes, whether you are parked outside Botley or near Our Lady Queen of Apostles.
Newtown: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Honestly, the best answer might be that you think so. A faint ammonia smell hangs near the filler, the bottle feels too light, and the cap you took off is a blur. The gates of Bishop's Waltham Junior School in a rush, perhaps, or a friend's drive over in Wintershill.
What it means: a little spilled around the filler does no harm to your motor. A diesel tank with AdBlue in it is another matter. You can't tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so will draw in any AdBlue that is in the tank.
Your move: act as if it did, and never start your engine. Describe what you saw on your phone. A clean tank looked at is a better result than an already-run one emptied.
What every AdBlue drain around Newtown has in common
Every situation has the same opening to the work. Three questions are asked once we reach your car — on a filling station, a drive, a street by Bishop's Waltham Palace or the car park at The Priory Inn: the liquid, the quantity, and whether the motor has been started. On the phone, ahead of dispatch, you are told the price, and those replies shape the work too.
A thorough flush comes after the drain. With petrol it is routine; with AdBlue it is essential, since deposits form and some metals are attacked, and neither rinses away unaided. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Not started? In that case about half an hour on site covers most jobs.
Firing it up comes last. Our technicians confirm it runs smoothly on fresh diesel before we leave. Our technicians do the entire job where the car is, and permanent damage is very unusual when it has been spotted soon. For your insurer: the engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, no money upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Newtown itself
Newtown is a suburban area in Hampshire, situated approximately 8 miles from Winchester and 61 miles from London. Newtown sits at an elevation of around 50 metres, in a gently rolling inland landscape near the villages of Bishops Waltham and Durley Street. Newtown has a population of around 2568 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Newtown is close to the Northbrook area, with which it shares some community facilities.
AdBlue drains around Newtown and across Hampshire
Newtown is a new town, and the same teams that cover it work the towns near it too, Northbrook and Durley Street among them, across the SO postcode area. Your whereabouts is quickest from a postcode beginning SO32 1.
Whether the car is on a lay-by on the way to Claylands Local Nature Reserve or in a car park in the middle of Newtown, it does not need to shift. The van drains it where it stands. Guessing won't help beside Bishop's Waltham Museum, on a border or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
In one line: your situation
Motor not started: phone, leaving it switched off. Whichever case applies, Petrol in Diesel handles the rest on 0333 366 0103, throughout Hampshire and within Newtown — after you pull over, switch off and ring, if it's run.