AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Norbiton: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if your motor has been run since it got in. Out in Surbiton or here in Norbiton, an unrun motor must stay unrun. Switch nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, then count on a proper flush after a drain, done just where your vehicle stands around Norbiton. Already run? Pull over when you safely can, then turn everything off. A larger job, then, but the identical first step.
Further down: the cases we meet, wherever in Greater London. Pick the one that fits.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Norbiton forecourt
You are at the petrol pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Maybe you are at the Shell, maybe at the BP, possibly somewhere else in Norbiton.
The point: of every spot to notice, this is the best. The AdBlue is in the tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
Your move: stay out of the driver's seat, even if the queue needs clearing. Have the attendants to lend a hand pushing it into a bay, save the bottle, then ring us right there. 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.
Norbiton, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. Only by the recycling, the empty container in hand, did you glance back at the cap you'd opened at the drive. It takes place on drives just off Hawks Road as often as anywhere.
Put simply: if the car hasn't been driven since, it is almost as good as spotting it at the forecourt. At the bottom of your tank is where AdBlue waits, since it won't blend with diesel — and a night passing makes no difference.
Next: stop an early move by keeping your keys in the house, then phone us. Kingston upon Thames or Norbiton: wherever your drive sits, that's where it gets drained. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Norbiton?
Filled up, pulled away, and soon the motor was turning roughly, blowing smoke, down on power, or lighting up the dash. Perhaps it was on Cambridge Road, perhaps on the way out towards Westminster, under 10 miles away.
What it means: the fuel system has drawn the AdBlue in. The injection pump and every injector see it as well on a longer trip, after the fuel filter and lines have it. More driving, more restarts: deeper it goes.
Your move: pull up somewhere safe, then switch your engine off. On the M3, under 10 miles from Norbiton, that means the next junction, not the services further on. Do not restart the vehicle to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Call, saying what distance the car was driven.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
A week ago, the car was new to you. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is absent or somewhere else. On this one, the cap is just next to the diesel cap — news to you. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Greater London.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more stage. Any work on your car frequently needs the owner's approval under hire or fleet agreements.
Your move: rental firm or fleet manager first, us next, because settling it beforehand cuts time. Waiting for an answer at the car park at the nearest station, or beside St Peter? Leave the engine off meanwhile.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, around Norbiton
Honestly, the best answer might be that you think so. 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. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Coombe.
What it means: a little spilled around the filler does no damage to the motor. In the diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue harms it. If there is AdBlue in that tank, turning on the vehicle will pull it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Next: assume it went in, and leave your engine off. Checking a tank that proves clean is better than emptying one after it's been run — so phone and describe to us what you saw.
What each AdBlue drain around Norbiton has in common
The work opens the same way, whichever the case. Three questions are asked when our technicians arrive — at a forecourt, a driveway, a road beside Burrit Hall or the car park outside The Bull & Bush: the liquid, the quantity, and if it has been started. Those replies determine this work, and you hear the price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to some metals in fuel systems, and so it won't wash out on its own; that's why a full flush, after this drain, counts much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Next comes the filter — cleaned, or replaced when necessary — followed by clean diesel, and a test of your car. The majority of unrun vehicles are a half-hour visit after the moment our engineers get there.
Starting the car comes at the end. Our engineers confirm it runs properly on new diesel before we leave. Permanent damage is very unusual if it is noticed quickly, and the whole job is done where your car is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Norbiton
Norbiton is a suburban area in the London Borough of Kingston upon Thames, situated on the riverside at an elevation of around 15 metres. Norbiton lies approximately 9.7 miles from central London and is close to nearby places such as Kingston upon Thames and Hampton Wick. Norbiton has a population of around 14199 people and is predominantly composed of flat housing. Norbiton is well connected to surrounding areas, including Westminster, which is about 9.4 miles away.
Norbiton and Greater London: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout KT postcodes, the vans serving Norbiton — a residential suburb — reach surrounding towns too, Kingston Hill and Hampton Wick among them. The whereabouts is quickest from a postcode that starts KT1 3.
Centre of Norbiton or a lay-by near Multi-Use Games Area: wherever it is, your car never needs to move an inch for us. The van drains it where it stands. If you are somewhere hard to explain, close to Sports Centre extension or close to a boundary, ring and ask rather than assuming.
In one line: your situation
Unstarted? Leave it off and phone. Started already? Pull over, turn off, phone. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest whatever it is, in Norbiton and Greater London, on 0333 366 0103.