AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Potton: What Now?
One thing counts above all once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if your motor has run since. Not run yet? Then leave the car that way, wherever the vehicle sits — Potton or Little Heath. Keep nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, and expect a proper flush after a drain, carried out right where your car stands around Potton. Where the motor has been run, pull in safely first, then turn it off. It's a bigger job, yet step one does not change.
Anywhere in Bedfordshire it took place, one of the situations below matches yours.
At the petrol pump around Potton: AdBlue in a diesel
Only at this point, nozzle still in hand, you realise that the cap you took off was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. Anywhere around Potton, then — BP, Gulf, or somewhere else close by.
What it means: this is the best spot to find out. Just the tank has AdBlue; no part past it has drawn any in.
Next: resist the urge to start it just to free up the petrol pump. Ask the attendants to help you push the car into a parking spot, keep your receipt or the bottle, then call us from the forecourt. Draining it right at the petrol pump is possible when it cannot be moved, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
Potton, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Days had gone by with the dash light on. Only by the recycling, the empty container in your hand, did you look back at the cap you had opened at the drive. Driveways near King Street get it as much as anywhere.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. As it is reluctant to mix, AdBlue drops to the base in the tank and waits. A night standing changes none of that.
Keep your keys indoors tonight — or a person might drive it away at breakfast — and call us. Snow Hill or Potton: wherever your drive is, that's where it is cleared. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Potton?
Topped up, pulled away, and before long your motor was running unevenly, smoking, down on power, or flashing up your dash. Market Square, perhaps, or the route towards Cambridge — a trip of under 25 miles.
Meaning? The pump has taken the AdBlue up. It's been through the fuel filter and your lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors. More miles, more restarts: further it goes.
Stop safely — that's the next job — then turn everything off. Potton sits under 10 miles from the A1(M); on it, come off at the first junction rather than pressing on to the services. Do not restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Call, and say what distance your vehicle went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've only had this vehicle a week. The AdBlue filler sits right alongside the diesel one, which you didn't know, because your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Bedfordshire.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it's run, with one more step. The owner often needs to sign off the work, under plenty of hire and company agreements.
Your move: hire firm or fleet manager first, us next, since settling it beforehand cuts time. Hanging on for an answer at the car park outside Sandy, or near Potton Library? Leave your car off meanwhile.
Unsure about AdBlue in the diesel tank in Potton?
"I think so" is sometimes the most honest answer there is. Which cap came off, you can't say; but the bottle feels lighter than it ought to, and a whiff of ammonia lingers by the filler. A hurried top-up by the gates of Potton Primary School, or a visit to a friend in Dennis Green: both fit.
What it means: a little spilled about your filler does no harm to the engine. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. If there is AdBlue in your tank, starting the vehicle would suck it in, and it would not tell you which either.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Do not crank it. Checking a tank that turns out free of AdBlue is better than draining one once it has been run — so ring and tell us what you saw.
The common ground in every Potton AdBlue drain
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. Anywhere the car stands — The Coach House's car park, a street beside Potton Town Council Community Centre, a drive, a filling station — the van gets there and we ask about the liquid, the amount, and if your engine has been run. Answers set the work; the price comes on the call whilst no one has set off yet.
Draining your tank comes next, then a careful flush — more vital after urea than after petrol, because crystals and corrosion won't go on their own, however long you wait. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Where your motor hasn't run, expect roughly half an hour on site, for most jobs.
Our technicians fire it up at the end. Before our technicians head off, it's checked to confirm it runs correctly on clean diesel. Lasting damage is very unusual when it's spotted early, and the whole job is done where the car is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of policies cover misfuelling, and so check yours as we head over.
About Potton
Potton is a small town in Bedfordshire, situated on the banks of the River Great Ouse at an elevation of around 39 metres. Potton lies approximately 43 miles north of London and 15 miles west of Cambridge, with nearby villages including Snow Hill, Sutton, and Gamlingay Great Heath. Potton has a population of around 5728 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Potton remains a residential community with a mix of old and new buildings.
AdBlue drains across Bedfordshire, Potton included
Sutton and Gamlingay Great Heath have the identical teams as Potton, a riverside town, along with other towns over SG postcodes. Quickest of all: a SG19 2 postcode for your location.
Parked en route to Henry Smith Playing Fields, or right in the centre of Potton, your car stays where it is — there is no need to shift it at all. We drain it where it is. Ring and ask rather than guess if you are close to Potton Salvation Army, near a border, or anywhere awkward to explain.
The one-line version
Unstarted? Leave it off and phone. Run by now? Stop, turn off, ring. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest whatever case, across Potton and Bedfordshire, on 0333 366 0103.