Owlsmoor: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
One thing counts above all when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if your motor has run since. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the car is in Owlsmoor itself or out in Little Sandhurst. Normally that is emptying and thoroughly flushing it on the spot in Owlsmoor — and so leave your key and engine off then phone 0333 366 0103. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. It's a bigger job, though stage one doesn't change.
Anywhere across Berkshire it happened, one of the cases below matches yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Owlsmoor forecourt
Just now, bottle yet in your hand, you realise that the cap you opened was the wrong one, right at the pump. It could be the Esso, or perhaps the BP, or another forecourt around Owlsmoor.
What it means: this is the ideal location to find out. Just your tank holds AdBlue; no part past it has drawn any in.
Freeing the petrol pump is no reason to run it — so do not get back in. Ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle into a parking space, keep the receipt or the bottle, then call us from the forecourt. Our equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a live forecourt, so a vehicle that can't be pushed clear is cleared right at the petrol pump.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Owlsmoor drive?
For days the dashboard had been nagging you. Only at the recycling bin, the empty container in hand, did you look back at the cap you'd opened on the driveway. Drives close to Culver Road get it as much as anywhere.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. Being unable to mix, AdBlue drops to the base inside your tank and waits. One night standing changes none of that.
Next: the keys indoors, so no one takes the car anywhere first thing. Then, phone. Our technicians drain the car on your drive, whether that's in Owlsmoor or out in College Town. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Drove off with AdBlue in a diesel in Owlsmoor?
A short way beyond filling up, your engine started misbehaving: roughness, smoke, less power, warnings on your dash. Possibly it was on Crown Place, possibly on the way out towards Westminster, under 50 miles away.
The upshot: the system has drawn AdBlue through by now. The injection pump and every injector get it as well on a longer trip, once the fuel filter and pipework have it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
What to do: pull over where it's safe then switch off. Exit by the first junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M3, under 3 miles from Owlsmoor. Don't restart the vehicle to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Let us hear the mileage covered as you ring.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You have had the vehicle barely a week. The AdBlue filler sits right beside the diesel filler, which you didn't know, since your own car either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Anywhere you are across Berkshire, any driver can slip up.
The upshot: exactly as above, split by if it ran, only with one added step. Any work on the car frequently needs the owner's approval under rental or company terms.
Do this: hire firm or your fleet manager first, us second, since sorting it beforehand cuts time. Keep the vehicle off as the reply comes, whether you're parked at Sandhurst or near St George's Church.
Unsure about AdBlue in the diesel tank around Owlsmoor?
At times, "I think so" is all anyone can honestly say. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia round the filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Owlsmoor Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Crowthorne.
The point: the motor is not hurt by some AdBlue splashed on the outside. Inside your diesel tank, however, AdBlue damages it. If there is AdBlue in the tank, firing up the vehicle will suck it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
Next: act as though it went in, then keep your engine off. Describe what you noticed on your phone. A clean tank looked at counts as a better result than an already-run one emptied.
The common ground in every Owlsmoor AdBlue drain
The work opens the same way, whichever your situation. Anywhere your vehicle is — Rackstraw Farm's car park, a street beside New Owlsmoor Community Centre, a driveway, a filling station — the van arrives and we ask about the liquid, the amount, plus whether the motor has been run. Replies set the work; the quote comes by phone while no one has left yet.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to certain metals used in fuel systems, and so it does not rinse out unaided; that is why a full flush, after this drain, counts much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Clean diesel is put in once the fuel filter has been cleaned or replaced, and the car is finally checked. Where the motor hasn't run, allow roughly half an hour on site, in most jobs.
Our engineers fire it up last. With clean diesel in, it runs while our technicians check it is running smoothly, and then we head off. We do the whole job where the vehicle is, and long-term damage is very rare when it has been caught soon. Paying is that day, never in advance. For the insurer, you get a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer. Many policies include misfuelling, and so look at yours while the van travels.
About Owlsmoor, for a moment
Owlsmoor is a suburban area in Berkshire, situated approximately 30 miles west of London and near the towns of Sandhurst and College Town. Owlsmoor occupies a relatively low-lying area at around 71 metres above sea level, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Owlsmoor is close to the Broadmoor Estate and has a population of around 6356 residents.
Owlsmoor and Berkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Owlsmoor shares its vans with the nearby places — Broadmoor Estate, Sandhurst — all the way across GU postcodes. The whereabouts comes quickest from a postcode that starts GU47 0.
No towing is needed, whether parked centrally in Owlsmoor or on a layby heading to Owlsmoor Park, so leave it where it is. Where it stands, that is where it is drained. Phone and ask rather than guess if you're close to Sandhurst Social Club, on a boundary, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
In one line: your situation
Motor not started: ring, leaving it alone. Already run: stop, switch off and call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Owlsmoor and anywhere around Berkshire on 0333 366 0103.