AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Petersham: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if your engine has been run since it got in. Anywhere the car stands — Cole Park, Petersham — don't start an engine that has not been started yet. Usually this means draining and thoroughly rinsing it right there in Petersham — so keep your ignition and motor off and ring 0333 366 0103. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. A bigger job, then, but the same opening step.
Further down: the cases we meet, anywhere in Greater London. Pick yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Petersham forecourt
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you only notice it while you are stood at the pump, bottle or the nozzle in hand. Whether Shell, BP or somewhere else in Petersham, the case is identical.
What it means: this is the best location to find out. Only your tank has AdBlue; not one component beyond it has taken it in.
Next: resist the urge to fire it up just to move away from the petrol pump. Three jobs: a push into a bay with the attendants assisting, the bottle saved, and a call to us from where you stand. Stuck by the pump? Our explosion-proof equipment makes a busy forecourt safe, so it can be drained where it is.
Petersham, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look a second time at the cap. It takes place on drives just off Star and Garter Hill as commonly as anywhere.
The point: zero miles since leaves it almost as good to spotting it at the petrol pump. At the floor of your tank sits where AdBlue stays, because it will not mix with diesel — and a night going by changes no difference.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so nobody moves your car in the morning. Then call. Your driveway is where it gets drained, be it in Petersham or Richmond. The pumping kit works quietly enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Petersham: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Rough running, smoke, lost power or a lit dashboard arrived a short way beyond the top-up. Petersham Road, perhaps, or the way to Westminster — a trip of under 10 miles.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked through your fuel system. Past your filter, along the pipework, and — the more the distance — deeper into the high-pressure pump and each injector. More driving, more starts: further it travels.
Pull in somewhere safe — that is the first job — then turn it off. Service stations further on can wait: from the M4, under 3 miles out of Petersham, take the next junction. No test restarts: clearing itself is not something AdBlue does. Phone, and say what distance the vehicle was driven.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
It is a vehicle you have had for a week. Your own motor either has no AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, so no one told you the AdBlue cap sits right next to the diesel. Throughout Greater London, nobody is immune.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it's run, with one more stage. Many hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
Settling it before we arrives is faster, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. Stuck near St Peter’s or at Richmond till someone answers, your car remains switched off throughout.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, around Petersham
"I think so" is often as honest answer there is. Too light, that bottle; a trace of ammonia round your filler; no clear recollection of the cap. Look familiar? Maybe on a friend's driveway in Twickenham, or rushing outside The Russell Primary School at the school run.
Meaning? Spills around the inlet don't reach your engine at all. Once it is inside the diesel tank, though, it does. If there is AdBlue in your tank, firing up the car would pull it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
What to do: treat it as if it went in. Don't fire it up. Ring us and explain what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
What every AdBlue drain in Petersham has in common
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. Three questions come when we arrive — on a filling station, a driveway, a street beside King Henry VIII's Mound or the car park outside The Dysart: the fluid, the quantity, and whether the motor has run. Over the phone, ahead of dispatch, you hear our quote, and those answers shape the job too.
Then the tank is emptied and your system purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't rinse out on its own. Finally are your filter, cleaned or renewed as needed; clean diesel; and a test of your car. The majority of unstarted cars are a half-hour visit after the moment we get there.
Our technicians fire it up last. We make sure it runs smoothly on new diesel before we leave. Long-term damage is very uncommon when it is caught quickly, and the entire job is done where the vehicle is. Nothing is paid upfront, payment happens on the day, and you get what your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Check your insurance before we arrive: misfuelling cover is built into plenty of policies.
About Petersham, briefly
Petersham is a small suburban area in southwest London, situated on the River Thames. Petersham sits at an elevation of 19 metres, with views across the river to the surrounding countryside. Petersham is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock and is located near to Richmond, Ham, and Eel Pie Island. Petersham is a relatively small community, with a population of approximately 999 residents.
AdBlue drains round Petersham and across Greater London
Throughout TW postcodes, the vans covering Petersham — a residential suburb — reach nearby towns too, Ham and Eel Pie Island included. Telling us your TW10 7 postcode finds you quickest of all.
Central Petersham or a layby near Petersham Common Wood: wherever it is, the car doesn't need to move an inch for us. We drain the car where it sits. If you are somewhere hard to describe, near RSPCA Fountain or close to a border, ring and ask rather than assuming.
The one-line version
Unstarted? Leave the car that way then ring. Started by now? Stop, turn off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest whichever case, in Petersham and Greater London, on 0333 366 0103.