What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Pin Green
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if the motor has been run since it was put in. Not run yet? Then leave the car that way, wherever your car sits — Pin Green or Chells Manor. Leave the engine and your ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103; it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Pin Green. Already started? Stop when safe, then turn it off. Stage one stays unchanged, even if the work is bigger.
Wherever around Hertfordshire it took place, one of the situations below fits yours.
Pin Green forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Imagine it: stood by the pump, holding the nozzle, you spot the filler you took off wasn't the correct one. Be it Shell, Tesco or anywhere else in Pin Green, the case is the same.
Meaning? Spotting it here is the best it can be. Nothing has pulled it in, and so the AdBlue sits just inside the tank.
What to do: do not get back in and crank it to clear the petrol pump. Ask the staff to help you push your car into a parking spot, keep the till receipt or the bottle, then call us from the forecourt. If it can't be moved, it can be emptied at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
Pin Green, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
On the dash, a warning had shown for days. Only at the recycling bin, the empty bottle in hand, did you look back at the cap you'd used on the driveway. It happens on driveways just off Webb Rise as regularly as anywhere.
In short: if your car hasn't moved since, it's almost as good as finding out at the forecourt. As it is unable to blend, AdBlue settles to the base inside your tank and stays. One night standing alters none of that.
Your move: the keys in the house, and so no one drives the car anywhere at breakfast. Then, phone. Chells or Pin Green: whichever your driveway is, that's where it is drained. Late-night empties beside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Pin Green?
Rough running, smoke, falling power or a glowing dashboard arrived a short way beyond the top-up. Maybe heading to St Albans, under 15 miles away, or just along Meredith Road.
The point: your system has drawn AdBlue through already. The injection pump and every injector get it too on a bigger trip, after the filter and pipework have it. It goes further with every mile driven and each restart.
Pull in safely — that is the first step — then turn everything off. On the A1(M), under 3 miles from Pin Green, that means the next junction, not the services further on. It will not have cleared, so there's no sense starting it again to find out. About what distance did it gone? Say so when you call.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
It's a vehicle you have had for a week. The AdBlue filler sits right alongside the diesel filler, which you didn't know, because your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Wherever you are across Hertfordshire, any motorist could slip up.
The upshot: exactly as above, divided by if it ran, but with one added step. Many hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is quicker settled before we get there than after. If you are stuck in the car park outside Stevenage, or by Hampson Park Community Centre, while you wait for an answer, leave your car off.
Unsure about AdBlue in the diesel tank around Pin Green?
Now and then, "I think so" is all anyone can truthfully say. Lighter, the bottle; a trace of ammonia round the filler; a hazy recollection of which cap. Look familiar? The gates of Moss Bury Primary School and Nursery in a rush, perhaps, or a friend's driveway over in Stevenage.
The upshot: your motor is not harmed by some AdBlue splashed around the outside. A diesel tank with AdBlue inside is a different story. You cannot tell which by turning the key, and doing so would suck in any AdBlue that is in your tank.
Next: assume it got in, and keep the motor off. Tell us what you saw on your phone. A clean tank looked at is a happier result than a run one drained.
Pin Green: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Whatever the case, a single opening applies. Three questions are asked once our engineers reach the car — at a forecourt, a driveway, a street by Stevenage Muslim Community Centre and Mosque or the car park outside The Almond Tree: the fluid, the amount, and if it has run. Answers set the job; the quote follows on the call whilst nobody has left yet.
AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some metals in fuel systems, so it does not wash out on its own; that is why the flush, after the drain, matters much more here than with petrol. Next comes your filter — flushed, or swapped when needed — then clean diesel, and a test of the vehicle. Where the engine hasn't been started, allow about half an hour once we arrive, for most cases.
Our engineers start it at the end. Before our engineers go, it's checked to be sure it runs smoothly on new diesel. If it's noticed soon, the vehicle very rarely has lasting damage, and the whole job takes place where it is. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, no money upfront. Check your insurance before we arrive: misfuelling cover is built into many policies.
About Pin Green itself
Pin Green is a suburban area in Hertfordshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 138 metres. Pin Green lies approximately 28 miles north of London and 13 miles southeast of St Albans, within a network of similar residential areas including Chells, Bedwell, and Rooks Nest. Pin Green is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock, which accommodates a population of around 8259 residents.
AdBlue drains about Pin Green and across Hertfordshire
Bedwell and Rooks Nest get the same teams as Pin Green, a residential suburb, along with further towns throughout SG postcodes. Telling us your SG1 5 postcode pins you quickest of all.
Centre of Pin Green or a lay-by near Hampson Park: either way it sits, the car never needs to move at all for us. Wherever it sits, that's where it gets emptied. If you're somewhere hard to explain, near The Lytton Theatre or close to a boundary, ring and ask instead of guessing.
In one line: your scenario
Motor never started: phone, leaving it alone. Run by now: pull over, switch down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, in Pin Green or wherever across Hertfordshire.