What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Pye Green
Everything hinges on one detail: if the engine has started after the AdBlue was added — more than anything else. Out in Hednesford or here in Pye Green, an unrun engine should remain unrun. Normally that means draining and thoroughly cleaning it on the spot in Pye Green — and so leave the key and motor off and ring 0333 366 0103. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. A bigger job, then, but the same opening move.
Anywhere across Staffordshire it took place, one of the cases below fits yours.
On a Pye Green forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you just notice it as you're stood at the pump, bottle or nozzle in your hand. Whether the nearest petrol station, Texaco or somewhere else around Pye Green, the case is the same.
What it means: this is the best place to find out. Only that tank has AdBlue; no component past it has taken it in.
What to do: don't get back in and fire it up to clear the pump. Phone us from the forecourt after your car is in a space — the attendants will help roll it — and keep the receipt. The equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt, so a vehicle that cannot be pushed away gets emptied right at the petrol pump.
Pye Green, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Days had passed with the dash light on. Bought a bottle, poured it in outside the house, binned the empty — and only then looked at the cap again, after the fact. Right off Cotton Grove is not different from any other place.
The point: no driving since leaves this almost as good to finding it at the petrol pump. As it is unable to blend, AdBlue drops to the base inside your tank and waits. One night parked alters nothing.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves your car in the morning. Then ring. Our technicians drain it on your driveway, whether that is around Pye Green or out in Green Heath. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
On the road in Pye Green with AdBlue in a diesel
Lumpy running, smoke, falling power or a glowing dashboard started a mile or two beyond the fill. Possibly it was on Croft Avenue, maybe on the way out towards Lichfield, under 10 miles away.
What it means: your fuel system has sucked the AdBlue in. Distance sets how deep it gets: filter and pipework first, then the injection pump and each injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
What to do: pull over where it is safe to do so and switch off. Pye Green sits under 5 miles from the M6 Toll; on it, pull off at the next junction instead of pressing on for the services. No test starts: clearing isn't something AdBlue will do. Phone, saying how far the vehicle went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've only had the vehicle a week. The AdBlue filler sits right next to the diesel filler, which you did not know, since your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Wherever you are across Staffordshire, every motorist could be caught.
Put simply: one extra stage on top of the situations above, which turn on if it has run. The owner frequently needs to sign off the work, under many rental and company contracts.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's quicker settled before our engineers get there than after. Stuck near Pye Green Community Centre or at Hednesford till someone answers, your vehicle stays switched off the whole time.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, around Pye Green
"I think so" is often as honest as it gets. Which cap was taken off, you can't say; meanwhile the bottle weighs lighter than it ought to, and a whiff of ammonia hangs by your filler. A hurried top-up by the gates of Pye Green Academy, or a visit to a friend in High Town: either fits.
The upshot: the motor is not harmed by a little AdBlue splashed around the filler. The diesel tank with AdBlue in it is a different story. Starting your car cannot tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in the tank it will suck it in.
Next: act as though it went in, then leave the motor off. Ring us and explain what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
The common ground in each Pye Green AdBlue drain
The work begins the same way, whatever the situation. Three questions are asked when we reach your car — on a filling station, a drive, a street by Trinity Church or the car park outside Bell and Bottle: the liquid, the quantity, and if it has run. Your price is given on the call, ahead of anyone setting off, and those answers shape the work.
Emptying your tank comes first, then a careful flush — more important after urea than with petrol, since crystals and corrosion will not clear on their own, no matter how long it sits. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Where your motor hasn't been started, allow about half an hour on site, for most jobs.
Starting the engine comes last. Before our engineers go, it is tested to make sure it runs correctly on clean diesel. The whole job is done where your car is, and if it is noticed quickly, lasting damage is very unusual. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth knowing: many insurers include misfuelling cover, and so a check of your policy while you wait pays.
About Pye Green, for a moment
Pye Green is a suburban area in Staffordshire, situated approximately 8 miles north of Lichfield, and is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock. Pye Green sits at an elevation of 226 metres, in a gently undulating landscape of inland Staffordshire. Pye Green is close to nearby places such as Green Heath, West Hill, and the Dogingtree Estate, and is home to a population of around 3606 residents. Pye Green is located about 116 miles northwest of London, in the West Midlands region.
Pye Green and Staffordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
As a residential suburb, Pye Green has the same vans as the nearby places — Dogingtree Estate, West Hill — all the way across WS postcodes. Quickest of all: a WS12 4 postcode to show where you stand.
Whether the vehicle is on a lay-by on the way to Special Area of Conservation or in a car park in the middle of Pye Green, it does not need to move. Draining happens right there. Assuming doesn't help beside Memorial Wall, close to a county line or somewhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
Your situation, summed up
Unstarted? Keep it that way and ring. Run already: stop, power down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, in Pye Green or wherever in Staffordshire.