What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Ocean Village
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if your engine has run since it got in. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the vehicle is around Ocean Village itself or out in Woolston. Keep nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, and expect a proper flush plus a drain, carried out just where your vehicle stands around Ocean Village. Pull over the moment you safely can then turn off, if it has been run. Stage one stays the same, even if the work is bigger.
Anywhere in Hampshire it happened, one of the situations below matches yours.
On a Ocean Village forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Picture it: stood by the petrol pump, gripping the nozzle, you realise the cap you opened wasn't the right one. It could be the Texaco, or perhaps the Esso, or a different forecourt around Ocean Village.
What it means: this is the best spot to find out. Just the tank has AdBlue; not one part beyond it has taken it in.
Your move: keep out of the car, even if the pump wants clearing. Get the staff to lend a hand pushing it into a bay, hold on to the bottle, then phone us right there. If it can't be shifted, it can be emptied at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home in Ocean Village
On the dash, a reminder had been lit all week. A bottle from the garage, tipped in on the drive — and it's only at the recycling that the cap got a second look. Drives near Ocean Way see it as much as anywhere.
Meaning? Provided the car has not moved since, it's second to the forecourt case. At the bottom of that tank sits where AdBlue waits, since it won't blend with diesel — and a night passing changes no difference.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so no one moves the car in the morning. Then ring. Crosshouse or Ocean Village: whichever your drive sits, that is where it is cleared. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Ocean Village: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Lumpy running, smoke, falling power or a glowing dashboard arrived a mile or two beyond the fill. Perhaps it was on Mermaid Way, maybe on the way out towards Southampton, under a mile away.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked through the system. Distance sets how far it gets: filter and pipework to begin with, then the high-pressure pump and every injector. More miles, more starts: deeper it goes.
Stop safely — that's the next step — then turn it off. On the M27, under 5 miles from Ocean Village, that means the next junction, not the services further on. No trial restarts: clearing is not something AdBlue will do. Call, saying how far your car was driven.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
It's a vehicle you have had for a week. Your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, so no one told you the AdBlue cap sits right next to the diesel. Anyone, wherever in Hampshire, could do it.
In short: one extra stage on top of the cases above, and those depend on whether it's run. Many rental and company contracts require the owner's sign-off before repairs.
Next: ring the rental company or your fleet manager first, then us — settling it before we arrive is faster. Keep the vehicle switched off as the reply arrives, even if you are parked outside Southampton Town Quay or near Harbour Lights Picturehouse.
Unsure about AdBlue in your diesel tank in Ocean Village?
At times, "I think so" is the most anyone can truthfully say. A faint ammonia-like smell hangs near your filler, the bottle seems too light, and which cap came off is a blur. A hurried stop by the gates of Hope Community School Southampton, or a visit to a friend in Southampton: both fit.
What it means: a little spilled about your filler does no damage to the motor. Once it's inside your diesel tank, though, it does. If there is AdBlue in the tank, turning on the vehicle will pull it in, and it would not tell you which either.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Don't start it. Describe what you noticed on the phone. A clean tank checked is a happier result than a run one emptied.
What each AdBlue drain around Ocean Village has in common
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Three questions are asked when we reach the car — on a filling station, a drive, a street by Solent Sky or the car park at The Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis: the fluid, the quantity, and whether the motor has run. Those replies decide the work, and you hear the price by phone, before anyone heads out.
AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to certain metals used in fuel systems, and so it won't rinse out on its own; that's why a full flush, after this drain, counts much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Then comes the filter — cleaned, or replaced when necessary — followed by clean diesel, and a test of your car. Where the engine has not run, expect roughly half an hour once we arrive, for most jobs.
Lastly, our engineers fire it up. Our technicians check it runs correctly on new diesel before we leave. When it's caught early, the car very seldom has lasting damage, and the entire job takes place where it is. Paying is that day, never upfront. For the insurer, you get a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer. Many insurance policies cover misfuelling, so check yours while the van travels.
About Ocean Village and where it is
Ocean Village is a coastal suburban area in Hampshire, situated near the city of Southampton. Ocean Village occupies a low-lying area, with an elevation of around 1 metre, and is characterized by predominantly flat-type housing. Ocean Village is close to other nearby places, including Crosshouse, Chapel, and St Marys, and is located approximately 69 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Hampshire, Ocean Village included
Ocean Village is a residential suburb, and the same vans that cover it work the towns near it too, Chapel and St Marys among them, across the SO postcode area. The location is clearest from a postcode beginning SO14 3.
Whether the vehicle is on a lay-by on the way to Queen's Park or in a car park in the middle of Ocean Village, it does not need to move. The drain happens right there. If you're somewhere hard to explain, near Calshot Spit Lightship or close to a border, ring and ask instead of assuming.
In one line: your scenario
Engine not started: phone, and leave it switched off. Run already: pull over, switch down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, within Ocean Village or anywhere in Hampshire.