AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Park Corner: What Now?
All of that hinges on one fact: if the engine has been run since the AdBlue went in — more than anything else. Not run so far? Then leave it like that, whether the vehicle sits — Park Corner or Bullens Green. Call 0333 366 0103 with your ignition and engine both off. In Park Corner, such a case is generally emptied and cleaned on the spot. Already started? Pull over once safe, then turn it off. Stage one stays the same, even if the work grows.
Wherever around Hertfordshire it happened, one of the cases below fits yours.
Park Corner forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Only at this point, nozzle still in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, there at the pump. Be it Shell, Day Bros or somewhere else in Park Corner, the case is the same.
Meaning? Finding out on the forecourt is the best it can be. Still inside that tank, with nothing pulled through: that's where the AdBlue is.
What to do: do not get back in and crank it to clear the pump. Get the attendants to help rolling it into a bay, hold on to the receipt, then phone us from there. The equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a live forecourt, and so a car that can't be pushed clear is drained where it is at the pump.
At home in Park Corner with AdBlue in your diesel tank
Days had gone by with the dash light on. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look again at the cap. Houses just off Wistlea Crescent get caught out as much as everywhere else.
In short: if your car hasn't been driven since, it's almost equal to spotting it at the pump. Being reluctant to blend, AdBlue settles low in the tank and stays. A night parked changes none of that.
Your move: the keys in the house, so nobody drives your vehicle off at breakfast. After that, phone. We drain it on your drive, whether that is in Park Corner or out in Colney Heath. Late-night empties outside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel in Park Corner?
Topped up, drove away, and soon your engine was running roughly, smoking, losing power, or lighting up your dash. Possibly it was on Cutmore Drive, possibly on the way out towards St Albans, under 5 miles away.
The point: the system has pulled AdBlue in by now. It's been through the fuel filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure pump and the injectors. Every restart, like every mile, pushes it deeper.
Next: pick a sensible spot, stop, and switch your engine off. Leave at the next junction — not the services beyond — if you're on the A1001, under 3 miles from Park Corner. Don't restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Phone us and say how far you drove.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have just driven this car a week. Your own car either does without AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, and so no one told you the AdBlue inlet sits right beside your diesel. Anywhere you happen to be around Hertfordshire, every motorist could be caught.
Meaning? Whichever applies above counts here — run or not — plus one extra stage. The owner often needs to approve any work, under plenty of rental and company contracts.
Next: ring the hire company or the fleet manager first, and then us — settling it before our arrival is faster. Stuck near St Mark's Chuch Centre or outside Welham Green till the firm answers, the car remains switched off throughout.
Park Corner: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Occasionally the fair answer is "I think so". The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia around your filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. Maybe at a friend's driveway in Smallford, or rushing by Colney Heath Primary School on the school run.
Put simply: a spill round the filler leaves the engine unharmed. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. Firing up your car won't tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in your tank it would pull it in.
Next: act as though it went in, and leave the engine off. Phone with what you saw: we would rather confirm a tank free of AdBlue than empty one once your engine has been run.
What every AdBlue drain around Park Corner has in common
Every case gets the same opening to the work. Forecourt, drive, The Crooked Billet's car park or a street by St Mark's — the van reaches the vehicle, and three answers follow: what liquid, what amount, and if it has run. Answers set the work; the price follows on the call while nobody has left yet.
Then your tank is emptied and your system cleaned thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel is put in after the fuel filter has been flushed or replaced, and the car is then checked. Most unstarted vehicles are a half-hour visit from the moment our technicians turn up.
Firing it up comes at the end. With new diesel in, it runs while our engineers make sure it's running correctly, and then we go. If it is caught early, the car very seldom has permanent damage, and the whole job takes place where it is. Payment comes that day, never upfront. For the insurer, there is a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer. Plenty of policies include misfuelling, so check yours while the van travels.
About Park Corner
Park Corner is a small suburban area in Hertfordshire, situated near the River Colne and close to the city of St Albans. Park Corner has a relatively low elevation of 74 metres and is located approximately 17 miles from London. Park Corner is characterised by its semi-detached housing and is surrounded by nearby places such as Colney Heath and Sleapshyde. Park Corner is a residential community with a population of around 738 people.
Park Corner and Hertfordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Park Corner is a residential suburb, and the same vans that cover it work the towns near it too, Sleapshyde and Roestock among them, across the AL postcode area. The location comes clearest from a postcode beginning AL4 0.
Whether the vehicle is on a lay-by on the way to Colney Heath Community Park or in a car park in the middle of Park Corner, it does not need to shift. Wherever it sits, that's where it gets drained. Tricky to pin down? Close to Colney Heath Village Hall or a border? Checking is better than assuming, and so ring.
In one line: your situation
Unstarted? Keep the vehicle that way and phone. Already run: stop, switch off then call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Park Corner and anywhere in Hertfordshire on 0333 366 0103.