What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Plymstock
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether your motor has run since it went in. Not started yet? Then keep the vehicle that way, whether the car sits — Plymstock or Staddiscombe. Usually that means emptying and properly flushing it on the spot around Plymstock — and so keep your key and engine off then ring 0333 366 0103. Already run? Pull over once safe, then switch it off. It's a bigger job, yet step one doesn't change.
Anywhere in Devon it happened, one of the situations below fits yours.
Plymstock forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
You are at the petrol pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Possibly you are at the Asda, perhaps at the Morrisons, maybe somewhere else around Plymstock.
The upshot: of every spot to notice, this is the best. Just that tank holds AdBlue; no component beyond it has taken it in.
What to do: do not get back in and start the vehicle to clear the petrol pump. Ask the staff to help you push the car into a parking space, keep your receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. If it can't be moved, it can be emptied at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a working forecourt.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Plymstock drive?
For days the dashboard had been warning you. Picked up a container, tipped it in at home, binned the empty — and only then looked at the cap again, after the fact. Driveways near Furzehatt Road get it as much as anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. On the bottom of the tank sits exactly where AdBlue stays, because it will not blend with diesel — and a night going by changes nothing of the difference.
Keep the keys indoors overnight — or a person might take it off at breakfast — then call us. Goosewell or Plymstock: whichever your drive sits, that's where it is drained. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel around Plymstock?
A mile or two after filling up, your engine began misbehaving: roughness, smoke, less power, warnings on the dash. Maybe heading to Plymouth, under 3 miles away, or simply along Morrish Park.
Meaning? The pump has taken the AdBlue in. The injection pump and each injector get it too on a bigger trip, after the filter and pipework have had it. Each restart, like every mile, pushes it on.
Your move: stop anywhere safe, then turn the engine off. On the M5, under 50 miles from Plymstock, that means the next junction, not the services further on. No test starts: clearing itself isn't something AdBlue does. Let us hear the distance driven as you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
A week ago, it was new to you. The AdBlue filler sits right alongside the diesel filler, which you did not know, because your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Anywhere you happen to be in Devon, every motorist can be caught.
The upshot: just as above, divided by whether it ran, only with one added stage. Many hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the car.
Sorting it before the van arrives is quicker, so ring the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. Stuck near Plymstock Parish Hall or at Plymouth till the firm replies, your car remains switched off the whole time.
Unsure about AdBlue in the diesel tank in Plymstock?
Sometimes the fair answer is "I think so". The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia about the filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. The gates of Goosewell Primary Academy in a hurry, say, or someone's drive over in Oreston.
In short: spillage near the filler leaves the engine unharmed. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Turning on your car cannot tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in your tank it will draw it in.
Take it that it got in, and don't start the engine. Phone with the details: we would sooner find a tank free of AdBlue than drain one after the engine has run.
Each AdBlue drain in Plymstock shares these stages
The job begins identically, whatever the situation. We come to the vehicle, whether it is at a forecourt, a driveway, the car park outside The Plymstock Inn or a side street near St Mary and All Saints Church, and ask three things: what went in, about how much, and whether the motor has been run. Those answers settle the work, and you get our price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
A thorough flush comes after the drain. With petrol it's routine; with AdBlue it's essential, because crystals form and some metals are attacked, and none of it washes out unaided. Fresh diesel is put in after the filter has been cleaned or changed, and your car is then checked. Most unstarted vehicles are a half-hour job after the moment we get there.
Our technicians fire it up last. Our engineers confirm it runs properly on new diesel before we leave. If it is spotted soon, the car very seldom has lasting damage, and the entire job takes place where it is. Nothing is paid upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you get what the insurer wants: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Dig out your insurance before we're en route: cover for misfuelling is built into plenty of policies.
About Plymstock and where it is
Plymstock is a coastal locality in Devon, situated approximately 2.6 miles east of Plymouth, with nearby places including Goosewell, Billacombe, and Pomphlett. Plymstock sits at an elevation of around 52 metres, overlooking the coastline of the South West region. Plymstock has a population of around 2866 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Plymstock is located about 189.8 miles west of London, making it a relatively distant suburb of the city of Plymouth.
AdBlue drains across Devon, Plymstock included
As a coastal area, Plymstock shares its vans with the nearby towns — Pomphlett, Billacombe — right across PL postcodes. Telling us a PL9 9 postcode pins you quickest of all.
No towing is needed, be it parked in the centre of Plymstock or on a lay-by en route to Burrow Hill, so keep it put. Wherever it stands, that is where it is cleared. If you are somewhere hard to describe, close to Plymstock Community Center or close to a boundary, ring and ask instead of guessing.
In one line: your scenario
Still unrun? Leave the car that way and phone. Already run: stop, switch off and call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Plymstock and anywhere in Devon on 0333 366 0103.