What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Orgreave
One thing matters most once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if the engine has run since. Over in Woodhouse or right around Orgreave, an unrun engine must stay unrun. Phone 0333 366 0103 with the ignition and motor still off. Across Orgreave, that is typically emptied and flushed on the spot. Where the engine has been run, stop somewhere safe straight away, then turn it off. The job is bigger, but the first step is the same.
Wherever in South Yorkshire it took place, one of the cases below fits yours.
Orgreave forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you just notice it while you are stood at the pump, bottle or nozzle in your hand. Whether Shell, ITM Power or somewhere else in Orgreave, the situation is the same.
Meaning? Finding out on the forecourt is as good as it can be. The AdBlue is inside that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
What to do: don't get back in and crank it to clear the petrol pump. Ring us from the forecourt once the vehicle sits in a bay — the staff will lend a hand to roll it — and save the bottle. Can't move the vehicle by the petrol pump? Explosion-proof equipment keeps a busy forecourt sensible, and so it can be drained where it is.
At home in Orgreave with AdBlue in the diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. Only at the recycling bin, the empty container in hand, did you look back at the cap you had opened at the drive. Driveways near Kirkdale Crescent get it as much as any other street.
The upshot: no driving since leaves this nearly as good to finding it at the pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of that tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so nobody moves your car in the morning. Then ring. Our technicians drain the vehicle on your drive, whether that is in Orgreave or out in Waverley. Night-time clears outside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Orgreave?
Lumpy running, smoke, falling power or a lit dashboard started a mile or two after the fill. Anywhere on Orgreave Place or else on the road towards Sheffield — under 5 miles away.
The upshot: the system has drawn AdBlue through by now. The injection pump and every injector see it too on a longer run, once the fuel filter and pipework have had it. More driving, more restarts: further it travels.
Your move: pull up somewhere sensible, then switch your engine off. On the M1, under 3 miles from Orgreave, that means the next exit, not the services further on. It won't have cleared, and so there is no sense restarting to find out. Tell us know the mileage covered as you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
A week back, it was unknown to you. The AdBlue filler sits right alongside the diesel one, which you didn't know, because your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. It can happen to anyone, anywhere around South Yorkshire.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it has run, with one more stage. Many rental and company agreements need the owner's sign-off for work.
Your move: rental firm or fleet manager to begin with, us next, since settling it beforehand cuts time. Stranded by the centre or outside Woodhouse until someone answers, the car stays switched off throughout.
Orgreave: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Sometimes the fair answer is "I think so". A slight ammonia-like smell lingers near your filler, the bottle seems too light, and which cap came off is hard to recall. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Ballifield Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Treeton.
Put simply: spillage round the filler does your motor unharmed. Inside the diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue harms it. Starting the car will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in that tank it will draw it in.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Don't fire it up. Ring with the details: we'd rather confirm a clean tank than empty one once your engine has been run.
The common ground in every Orgreave AdBlue drain
The job begins identically, whichever your case. Wherever the vehicle is — The Everest Inn's car park, a street beside St Josephs, a driveway, a filling station — our van arrives and we ask about the liquid, the quantity, and if the motor has turned over. On the phone, before dispatch, you hear the price, and those replies shape the work too.
A thorough flush follows the drain. With petrol it's routine; with AdBlue it is crucial, since crystals form and some metals corrode, and none of that rinses away unaided. Last come the fuel filter, flushed or renewed as needed; clean diesel; and a test of the vehicle. Where the motor hasn't been started, allow about half an hour on site, in most cases.
Last, our technicians start the engine. Our test that it runs properly on fresh diesel comes before we head off. When it's caught early, the car very rarely has lasting damage, and the entire job takes place where it 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, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Orgreave itself
Orgreave is a suburban area in South Yorkshire, situated approximately 4 miles southeast of Sheffield city centre. Orgreave sits at an elevation of around 82 metres, in a gently sloping landscape near the River Rother. Orgreave is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, with nearby amenities and services in the surrounding suburbs of Waverley and Handsworth.
Orgreave and South Yorkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Orgreave has the same vans as the nearby places — Woodhouse Mill, Handsworth — right through S postcodes. Quickest of all: a S13 9 postcode to show your location.
No towing is required, whether stopped centrally in Orgreave or in a layby heading to Highfield Square, so leave it where it is. Where it sits, that's where it is cleared. If you are somewhere hard to explain, near Church of St Mary The Virgin or close to a border, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Your situation, summed up
Still unrun? Leave the vehicle that way and phone. Already run: stop, switch off then ring. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there around Orgreave and anywhere in South Yorkshire on 0333 366 0103.