AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Prior Park: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: whether the motor has been run since it went in. If it hasn't, keep it that way, whether the vehicle is around Prior Park itself or out in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Ring 0333 366 0103 with the key and engine both off. Across Prior Park, such a case is typically drained and flushed where it stands. Already started? Stop once you safely can, then turn it off. It's a bigger job, though stage one doesn't change.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever in Northumberland it happened.
On a Prior Park forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you only spot it as you're standing at the petrol pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. Anywhere in Prior Park, then — Asda, Tesco, or anywhere else nearby.
Meaning? Finding out here is as good as it gets. The AdBlue is in that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Freeing the petrol pump is no reason to run it — so do not get back in. Ring us from the forecourt once your car sits in a space — the staff will help push it — then keep the receipt. Can't move the car beside the pump? Explosion-proof kit keeps a live forecourt safe, and so we can drain the vehicle in place.
Prior Park, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look once more at the cap. Homes just off Valley View are hit as much as everywhere else.
Meaning? As long as your car hasn't moved since, it is second to the forecourt case. Diesel and AdBlue keep apart: the AdBlue drops to the floor of your tank and remains put, however long the night.
Keep your keys in the house tonight — or someone may drive it away at breakfast — and call us. Tweedmouth or Prior Park: whichever your drive sits, that's where it gets emptied. Late-night empties outside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise.
Prior Park: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power or a glowing dashboard started a short way beyond the top-up. Anywhere on Mansefield Road or else heading towards Edinburgh — under 50 miles away.
What it means: the system has pulled the AdBlue in. The high-pressure pump and every injector see it too on a longer run, after the fuel filter and pipework have had it. More driving, more restarts: deeper it goes.
Stop somewhere safe — that is the next job — then turn everything off. Exit by the next junction — not the services further along — if you are on the M8, over 50 miles from Prior Park. No test starts: clearing is not something AdBlue does. Let us hear the distance driven when you ring.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have only driven the vehicle for days. Unknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel inlets sit side by side here — unlike your own car, which has none or keeps it elsewhere. Wherever you are across Northumberland, every motorist can be caught.
Meaning? Whichever case above applies here — run or unrun — plus one extra stage. The owner often has to sign off the work, under plenty of hire and company agreements.
Next: phone the rental company or your fleet manager first, then us — sorting it before our arrival is faster. If you're stranded in the car park outside Berwick-Upon-Tweed, or by Shielfield Park, while you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, in Prior Park
Sometimes the fair answer is "I think so". The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia about the filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Prior Park Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Scremerston.
In short: a spill near your filler leaves the motor no harm. Inside your diesel tank, however, AdBlue damages it. Firing up the car will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in the tank it would draw it in.
Next: act as though it went in, and keep your motor off. Ring us and describe what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
Prior Park: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Each case has the same opening to the work. Three things are asked when we arrive — on a forecourt, a driveway, a road beside Berwick Sports & Leisure Centre or the car park at The Angel Inn: the liquid, the quantity, and if it has run. Replies set the work; the quote follows by phone whilst nobody has left yet.
A thorough flush follows this drain. With petrol it is routine; with AdBlue it's essential, since deposits form and certain metals corrode, and none of it washes away unaided. Clean diesel goes in after your filter has been flushed or replaced, and the car is finally tested. Most unstarted vehicles are a half-hour job after the moment our technicians turn up.
Our engineers start the engine last. With new diesel in, it runs while our engineers confirm it's running properly, and then we leave. When it is noticed soon, the car very seldom has long-term damage, and the whole job takes place where it is. Payment comes that day, never upfront. For your insurer, you get a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling, so look at yours while the van travels.
About Prior Park
Prior Park is a suburban area in Northumberland, situated near the coast and approximately 41 metres above sea level. Prior Park lies close to the nearby settlements of Tweedmouth, East Ord, and Spittal, and is within commuting distance of the city of Edinburgh. Prior Park is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, reflecting the typical residential development patterns of the region.
AdBlue drains across Northumberland, Prior Park included
Over TD postcodes, the vans serving Prior Park — a residential suburb — reach surrounding towns as well, East Ord and Spittal included. A postcode starting TD15 2 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Parked en route to Old Shielfield Park, or bang in the centre of Prior Park, the vehicle stays where it is — there's no need to move it anywhere. Our van empties it in place. Tricky to explain? By St Bartholomews or a county line? Checking beats guessing, so phone.
Your situation, summed up
Not run yet: keep the car off and ring. Whatever case fits, Petrol in Diesel handles the rest on 0333 366 0103, throughout Northumberland and within Prior Park — once you pull over, turn off then phone, if it has run.