What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Ottery St Mary
Has the engine run since the AdBlue got in? This one question settles almost everything else from here. Anywhere the car is — Gosford, Ottery St Mary — never start a motor that hasn't been started yet. Call 0333 366 0103 with your ignition and engine still off. Across Ottery St Mary, such a case is generally emptied and flushed where it stands. Pull over the moment you safely can then switch off, if it has already run. Step one stays the same, even if the job is bigger.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever around Devon it happened.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Ottery St Mary forecourt
You're 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 Esso, possibly at the Texaco, possibly somewhere else in Ottery St Mary.
What it means: this is the best location to find out. The AdBlue is in that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Next: resist the temptation to fire it up only to free up the petrol pump. Ask the staff to help you roll the vehicle into a parking bay, keep the receipt or the bottle, then call us from the forecourt. Emptying it right at the pump is fine if it can't be shifted, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home in Ottery St Mary
The warning light had been on for days. Only by the recycling, the empty container in hand, did you look back at the cap you'd opened at the driveway. Just off Broad Street is no less likely from anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. At the floor of your tank is where AdBlue waits, since it won't blend with diesel — and a night passing changes no difference.
Put the keys indoors tonight — otherwise a person might take it away at breakfast — and phone us. Wiggaton or Ottery St Mary: whichever your driveway is, that's where it is cleared. Our pumping kit works quietly enough that it won't wake the street at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Ottery St Mary?
Rough running, smoke, lost power or a lit dashboard arrived a mile or two beyond the top-up. B3174, say, or the route towards Exeter — a run of under 15 miles.
What it means: the fuel system has sucked the AdBlue in. It has been through the fuel filter and the lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors. Every restart, like each mile, pushes it deeper.
Your move: stop somewhere sensible, then switch your motor off. Leave by the first junction — not the services beyond — if you're on the M5, under 10 miles from Ottery St Mary. No test restarts: clearing itself is not something AdBlue will do. Tell us hear the mileage covered as you ring.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You've had the vehicle barely a week. Your own car either has no AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere, so nothing told you the AdBlue cap was right next to your diesel. Throughout Devon, no one is safe from it.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more stage. The owner often needs to sign off any work, under plenty of hire and fleet contracts.
Sorting it before the van arrives is faster, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. Keep it switched off while the answer arrives, even if you are waiting at Feniton or close to Ottery St Mary Library.
Unsure about AdBlue in your diesel tank in Ottery St Mary?
Now and then, "I think so" is the most anyone can honestly say. What cap was taken off, you can't recall; but the bottle weighs less than expected, and ammonia hangs by your filler. The gates of Ottery St Mary Primary School in a hurry, perhaps, or someone's drive over in Fairmile.
The point: your motor is not harmed by a little AdBlue spilled on the filler. Inside your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue damages it. You cannot tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so will suck in any AdBlue that is in your tank.
Do this: behave as if it got in, and never start the engine. Describe what you saw on your phone. A clean tank checked is a happier outcome than a run one drained.
The common ground in every Ottery St Mary AdBlue drain
Every situation has the same start to the work. Three questions are asked when our engineers arrive — at a forecourt, a driveway, a road beside Victoria Monument marking 60th year of her reign or the car park outside The Volunteer: the liquid, the amount, and whether it has run. Over the phone, before anything else, you hear the price, and those answers decide the work too.
A thorough flush comes after this drain. With petrol it is standard; with AdBlue it is essential, because deposits build up and certain metals are attacked, and none of it rinses away unaided. Next comes the fuel filter — flushed, or replaced where necessary — then clean diesel, and a test of your car. The majority of unstarted vehicles are a half-hour visit after the moment our engineers arrive.
Finally, we start the car. Our check that it runs smoothly on fresh diesel comes before our technicians leave. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, and if it's caught quickly, permanent damage is very unusual. For your insurer: the engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, no money in advance. Worth remembering: many insurers include misfuelling cover, and so a check of your policy as we travel is worthwhile.
About Ottery St Mary itself
Ottery St Mary is a town situated in the East Devon area, on the banks of the River Otter at an elevation of around 55 metres. Ottery St Mary lies approximately 11 miles east of Exeter and 146 miles west of London, with nearby villages including Wiggaton, Coombelake, and Taleford. Ottery St Mary has a population of around 6509 people, predominantly living in detached housing. Ottery St Mary is characterized by its riverside setting and surrounding countryside.
AdBlue drains around Ottery St Mary, and across Devon too
As a riverside town, Ottery St Mary has the same vans as the surrounding places — Taleford, Coombelake — all the way across EX postcodes. Giving us your EX11 1 postcode finds you fastest of all.
Whether the vehicle is on a lay-by on the way to Land of Canaan or in a car park in the middle of Ottery St Mary, it does not need to move. Our technicians drain the vehicle where it is. Guessing doesn't help near Saint Mary, close to a county line or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
In one line: your situation
Still unrun? Leave it that way and phone. Whichever line applies, Petrol in Diesel handles the rest on 0333 366 0103, across Devon and in Ottery St Mary — once you stop, turn off then ring, if it's run.