AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Oakthorpe: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether your engine has been run since it was put in. Wherever the car stands — Moira, Oakthorpe — don't run an engine that hasn't run yet. Leave your motor and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103; it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Oakthorpe. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The job is bigger, yet the first stage is the same.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever across Leicestershire it happened.
Oakthorpe forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Picture it: stood by the petrol pump, gripping the nozzle, you spot the cap you opened wasn't the correct one. Be it Esso, Shell or anywhere else in Oakthorpe, the situation is identical.
Meaning? Spotting it here is the best it gets. Still inside your tank, and nothing drawn onwards: that's where the AdBlue sits.
Next: avoid the urge to fire it up only to move away from the pump. Ring us from the forecourt after your car is in a bay — the staff will help roll it — then save the receipt. Can't move the car beside the pump? Our explosion-proof kit keeps a busy forecourt safe, and so it can be drained in place.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Oakthorpe drive?
On your dash, a reminder had been lit all week. A bottle from the garage, emptied in at the drive — and it's only by the bin that the cap got a second look. Right off New Street is not different from any other place.
Meaning? Provided your vehicle hasn't moved since, it's second to the forecourt case. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of your tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
Next: keys indoors, so no one drives your car off at breakfast. Then, phone. Our engineers drain the vehicle on your driveway, whether that is around Oakthorpe or out in Measham. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
On the road in Oakthorpe with AdBlue in a diesel
Filled up, drove away, and soon your motor was turning unevenly, smoking, down on power, or lighting up your dash. Perhaps it was on Measham Road, perhaps on the way out towards Lichfield, under 15 miles away.
Meaning? Your fuel pump has sucked the AdBlue up. Through the filter, through the pipework, and — the further the distance — on into the injection pump and each injector. It goes further with every extra mile covered and every restart.
What to do: pull over where it is safe to do so and switch off. Leave by the next junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M42, under 3 miles from Oakthorpe. Don't restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Roughly how far had it go? Say so when you phone.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You've only had this car a week. The AdBlue filler sits right beside the diesel filler, which you didn't know, because your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Across Leicestershire, nobody is immune.
The point: just as above, divided by if it ran, but with an added stage. Work on your vehicle frequently requires the owner's go-ahead under hire or fleet terms.
Your move: hire firm or fleet manager first, us second, since settling it early cuts time. Stranded by Oakthorpe Community Leisure Centre or outside Polesworth till the firm answers, your vehicle remains switched off the whole time.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Oakthorpe?
"I think so" is often as honest answer there is. Lighter, that bottle; a trace of ammonia round your filler; a hazy recollection of which cap. Look familiar? A hurried top-up by the gates of Oakthorpe Primary School, or a call to a friend in Acresford: both fits.
In short: spillage round your filler does your engine no harm. Once it's inside the diesel tank, though, that changes. Any AdBlue in that tank would be drawn in by firing up the car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Next: assume it went in, then keep the motor off. Ring us and explain what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
Every AdBlue drain around Oakthorpe shares these steps
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. Anywhere your car stands — Bird in hand's car park, a street by Oakthorpe Methodist Church, a drive, a forecourt — our van gets there and we ask about the fluid, the quantity, and if your motor has turned over. Your price is given on the call, before a van leaves, and those replies set the job.
A thorough flush comes after the drain. With petrol it is routine; with AdBlue it is crucial, because deposits build up and certain metals corrode, and none of it rinses out unaided. Next comes the fuel filter — flushed, or swapped when necessary — then clean diesel, and a test of the car. The majority of unstarted vehicles are a half-hour visit after the moment we get there.
Our engineers fire it up last. With clean diesel in, it runs while our technicians confirm it is running correctly, and then we leave. The whole job is done where the car is, and when it is caught soon, long-term damage is very uncommon. For your insurer: the engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Oakthorpe itself
Oakthorpe is a small village in the East Midlands region of England, situated approximately 103 metres above sea level. Oakthorpe lies near the villages of Measham, Donisthorpe, and Stretton en le Field, and is about 13 miles from the city of Lichfield. Oakthorpe has a population of around 742 people, with a predominance of semi-detached housing. Oakthorpe is located inland, about 102 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains in Oakthorpe, and across Leicestershire too
Oakthorpe is a rural village, and the same vans that cover it work the towns near it too, Donisthorpe and Stretton en le Field among them, across the DE postcode area. The location comes quickest from a postcode beginning DE12 7.
Whether the car is on a lay-by on the way to Saltersford Wood or in a car park in the middle of Oakthorpe, it doesn't need to shift. We drain the car where it is. Awkward to explain? By St John or a county line? Asking beats assuming, so ring.
In one line: your situation
Still unrun? Leave the vehicle that way then ring. Run already: pull over, switch down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, in Oakthorpe or anywhere in Leicestershire.