What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Pilning
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether your engine has been run since it was put in. Not run so far? Then leave the car like that, whether your car is — Pilning or Severn Beach. Call 0333 366 0103 with the ignition and engine both off. In Pilning, such a case is typically drained and flushed on the spot. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. It is a larger job, though stage one doesn't change.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever in Gloucestershire it happened.
At the pump in Pilning: AdBlue in a diesel
Picture it: standing by the pump, gripping the nozzle, you realise the cap you took off wasn't the correct one. Anywhere in Pilning, then — the nearest petrol station, BP, or anywhere else nearby.
Put simply: there is no better place to be to spot it. The AdBlue is inside your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
Next: avoid the urge to fire it up only to free up the pump. Ask the staff to help you push the car into a parking bay, keep the receipt or the bottle, and phone us from the forecourt. Our equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt, so a vehicle that can't be pushed away is drained right at the petrol pump.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Pilning drive?
Several days had gone by with the warning light on. Only by the recycling, the empty container in hand, did you look back at the cap you had used at the drive. Houses just off B4055 get hit as often as anywhere else.
The upshot: no driving since makes it nearly equal to spotting it at the petrol pump. Diesel and AdBlue keep apart: the AdBlue settles to the base of that tank and remains put, however long it waits.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves the vehicle in the morning. Then ring. Your drive is where it is emptied, whether around Pilning or Redwick. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Pilning?
Rough running, smoke, lost power or a glowing dashboard arrived a short way after the fill. Somewhere on Cross Hands Road or heading to Bristol — under 10 miles away.
Meaning? Your fuel pump has taken the AdBlue up. Mileage decides how deep it goes: filter and lines to begin with, then the high-pressure pump and each injector. More miles, more restarts: deeper it goes.
What to do: pull over where it is safe to do so and switch off. Pilning lies under a mile from the M4; there, come off at the first junction instead of pressing on to the services. Don't restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Let us know the distance driven when you ring.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company vehicles
You've had this car barely a week. On your own car, AdBlue is missing or elsewhere. On this one, the cap is right next to your diesel cap — a surprise to you. Anywhere you happen to be around Gloucestershire, every driver could slip up.
Put simply: an extra step on top of the cases above, and those depend on if it's run. The owner often needs to approve any work, under many hire and company agreements.
Next: phone the rental company or your fleet manager first, then us — settling it before we arrive is faster. Keep the vehicle off while the reply arrives, even if you are parked at the nearest station or near War Memorial.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Pilning?
At times, "I think so" is all anyone can truthfully say. What cap was taken off, you cannot recall; but the bottle feels less than it ought to, and ammonia hangs by your filler. A hurried top-up by the gates of St Peter's Anglican / Methodist VC Primary, or a call to a friend in Dyers Common: either fit.
The upshot: the motor is not hurt by a little AdBlue spilled on the outside. A diesel tank with AdBlue in it is a different matter. Any AdBlue in that tank would be sucked in by firing up your car, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
Do this: behave as if it got in, and don't start the motor. Phone with the details: we would rather find a clean tank than drain one after the motor has run.
What each AdBlue drain around Pilning has in common
Each case has the same start to the job. Three things are asked when our technicians arrive — at a filling station, a drive, a road beside Mafeking Hall or the car park at Kings Arms: the fluid, the quantity, and if the motor has run. The price is given on the call, before a van leaves, and the answers shape the work.
AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some metals used in fuel systems, so it does not wash out on its own; that's why the flush, after this drain, counts much more here than with petrol. Clean diesel is put in after the filter has been cleaned or replaced, and the car is finally checked. Not started? Then roughly half an hour on site covers most jobs.
The final step is starting it. Before our technicians leave, it is tested to confirm it runs properly on new diesel. If it is caught soon, the car very rarely has lasting damage, and the whole job takes place where it is. Nothing is paid upfront, payment happens on the day, and you receive what your insurer asks for: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies cover misfuelling, and so look at yours as we head over.
About Pilning, for a moment
Pilning is a small village in Gloucestershire, situated on the coastal plain near the Severn Estuary. Pilning has a low elevation of around 7 metres above sea level and is located near several other small communities, including Redwick and New Passage. Pilning is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock and is within commuting distance of Bristol, which is approximately 8 miles away.
Pilning and Gloucestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
Over BS postcodes, the teams covering Pilning — a coastal village — work surrounding towns too, New Passage and Northwick among them. Your whereabouts comes clearest from a postcode beginning BS35 4.
Whether the vehicle is on a lay-by on the way to Pilning Playing Fields or in a car park in the middle of Pilning, it doesn't need to shift. Our van drains it in place. Guessing won't help beside St Peter's Church, close to a county line or somewhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
The one-line version
Where it hasn't started, ring and keep it that way. Already run: stop, switch off then call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there around Pilning and anywhere in Gloucestershire on 0333 366 0103.