North Woolwich: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
One fact counts above all when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is if your motor has been started since. Anywhere your car is — Silvertown, North Woolwich — never start a motor that has not run yet. Keep nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, and expect a proper flush after a drain, done just where the car stands around North Woolwich. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The job is bigger, but the first stage is the same.
Compare your case to one of the list below, wherever around Greater London you are.
North Woolwich forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you only spot it while you're stood at the pump, bottle or nozzle in your hand. It might be the Harvest Energy, or the Asda, or a different station in North Woolwich.
Meaning? Spotting it here is as good as it gets. The AdBlue is in that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
Your move: keep out of the car, even if the queue wants clearing. A few things: a push into a bay with the attendants helping, the bottle saved, and a ring to us from where you stand. Our equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a live forecourt, so a vehicle that can't be pushed away gets drained right at the pump.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in North Woolwich
Several days had passed with the warning light on. A bottle bought at the shop, tipped in at the driveway — and it was only by the recycling that the cap caught a second look. Drives near Pier Road see it as much as anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue stay apart: the AdBlue drops to the floor of the tank and stays put, however long the night.
Next: the keys in the house, so nobody drives the vehicle off first thing. After that, ring. Your driveway is where it is emptied, be it around North Woolwich or Woolwich. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
North Woolwich: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Rough running, smoke, lost power or a lit dashboard arrived a mile or two beyond the fill. Store Road, say, or the route to London — a run of under 10 miles.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been sucked into the system. It has been through the fuel filter and your lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors. Every restart, like every mile, pushes it on.
What to do: pull over where it is safe then switch off. On the M11, under 10 miles from North Woolwich, that means the next exit, not the services further on. No trial starts: clearing itself isn't something AdBlue will do. Ring us and say how far you travelled.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've just had the vehicle a week. Unbeknown to you, the two fillers sit side by side here — not like your own vehicle, which has no AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere. It can happen to anyone, anywhere in Greater London.
In short: one extra stage on top of the situations above, which turn on whether it's run. Work on the vehicle often requires the owner's approval under hire or company terms.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's quicker settled before our engineers arrive than after. Waiting for an answer at the car park outside Woolwich Dockyard, or beside St John's Parish Community Church? Keep your car off throughout.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, North Woolwich?
At times the honest answer is "I think so". What cap was taken off, you can't say; but the bottle weighs lighter than it ought to, and ammonia hangs by your filler. It might have been on a friend's drive in Cavendish Square, or rushing by Drew Primary School at the school run.
What it means: a little spilled about the filler does no harm to the motor. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Starting your car will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in your tank it will suck it in.
Take it that it was put in, and don't turn the key. Checking a tank that proves free of AdBlue is better than draining one once it has been run — so phone then describe to us what you saw.
Each AdBlue drain around North Woolwich shares these stages
Every case gets the same start to the work. Anywhere your car stands — Henley Arms's car park, a road by Royal Docks Learning and Activity Centre, a driveway, a filling station — our van gets there and we ask for the fluid, the amount, and if the motor has been run. The price is given on the call, before a van leaves, and those answers set the job.
AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some metals in fuel systems, so it won't rinse out on its own; that's why the flush, after this drain, counts much more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Most unstarted vehicles are a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive.
Starting the car comes at the end. Our test that it runs smoothly on clean diesel comes before our technicians head off. Lasting damage is very unusual if it is noticed quickly, and the whole job is done where your car is. Nothing is paid upfront, payment happens on the day, and you receive what your insurer asks for: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Plenty of policies cover misfuelling, so check yours while the van travels.
About North Woolwich, briefly
North Woolwich is a suburban area in the London Borough of Newham, situated on the north bank of the River Thames. North Woolwich sits at a low elevation of around 5 metres, with the river forming its southern boundary. North Woolwich is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing and its proximity to nearby places like Woolwich and Royal Arsenal West. North Woolwich is located approximately 6.6 miles from central London, making it a commuter-friendly area.
AdBlue drains across Greater London, North Woolwich included
Over E postcodes, the vans covering North Woolwich — a residential suburb — work surrounding towns as well, Royal Arsenal West and Cyprus included. Quickest of all: a E16 2 postcode to show your location.
Centre of North Woolwich or a layby near Royal Victoria Gardens: either way it is, your car doesn't need to move at all for us. The van empties it in place. If you are somewhere hard to describe, close to North Woolwich Library or close to a boundary, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The one-line version
Unstarted? Leave the vehicle that way then ring. Run by now? Pull over, switch off, phone. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest whichever case, in North Woolwich and Greater London, on 0333 366 0103.