What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Redruth
Has the motor turned over since the AdBlue went in? That single question decides nearly everything about what comes next. Out in Mount Ambrose or here in Redruth, an unstarted motor must remain that way. Switch nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, and expect a thorough flush after a drain, done just where the car sits around Redruth. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The job is bigger, yet the first step is the same.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever around Cornwall it happened.
Redruth forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
You are at the pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. It could be the Opie Oils, or the Tesco, or another station in Redruth.
The point: of all places to notice, the forecourt is the best. Nothing has pulled it in, and so the AdBlue sits just inside the tank.
Freeing the pump is no reason to start it — and so do not get back in. Get the attendants to lend a hand pushing it to a bay, hold on to the bottle, then phone us from there. Our equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a live forecourt, so a vehicle that can't be pushed clear is emptied right at the pump.
At home in Redruth with AdBlue in your diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. A bottle bought at the garage, emptied in at the driveway — and it's just by the bin that the cap got your eye. Right off Higher Fore Street is not less likely from any other place.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue keep apart: the AdBlue settles to the base of your tank and remains put, no matter how long the night.
Put the keys indoors tonight — or someone might take it away at breakfast — and phone us. Plain-an-Gwarry or Redruth: wherever your driveway is, that's where it is emptied. Night-time clears outside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise.
Redruth: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the engine began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. It might have been heading to Truro, under 10 miles away, or simply down Station Road.
The upshot: your system has pulled AdBlue in already. It's been through your filter and your lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: find a sensible spot, pull in, and turn your motor off. Exit by the next junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M5, over 50 miles from Redruth. Restarting it to test achieves nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear on its own. Phone us and say how far you drove.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You have had the vehicle hardly a week. On your own car, AdBlue is missing or somewhere else. On this one, the cap is just next to the diesel inlet — a surprise to you. Across Cornwall, no one is immune.
Meaning? Whatever applies above counts too — run or not — plus one extra step. Plenty of hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
Next: phone the rental company or your fleet manager first, and then us — settling it before we arrive is quicker. If you are stranded in the car park at the nearest station, or by Redruth Methodist Church (Wesley Chapel), while you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
Redruth: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Now and then, "I think so" is the most anyone can honestly say. A slight ammonia whiff hangs near the filler, the bottle feels too light, and the cap you took off is hard to recall. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Pennoweth Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Treleigh.
What it means: a little spilled around your filler does no harm to the engine. The diesel tank with AdBlue in it is a different matter. Starting the car won't tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in that tank it would draw it in.
Do this: act as though it did, and don't start the engine. Call us and explain what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
Every AdBlue drain in Redruth shares these stages
Every case gets the same start to the job. Anywhere your vehicle is — Collins Arms's car park, a street by St. Andrew's Church, a driveway, a filling station — our van gets there and asks for the fluid, the quantity, plus if your motor has been run. The price is given over the phone, before a van leaves, and the answers shape the work.
Then that tank is cleared and your system rinsed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't rinse out on its own. Next is the fuel filter — flushed, or replaced where needed — then clean diesel, and a test of your car. Where the motor has not been started, allow roughly half an hour on site, in most cases.
Last, we fire it up. Our test that it runs smoothly on fresh diesel comes before our technicians head off. The whole job is done where the car is, and if it's noticed soon, long-term damage is very unusual. Paying is on the day, never in advance. For your insurer, there is a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer. Dig out your insurance while we're en route: misfuelling cover is included in plenty of policies.
About Redruth, for a moment
Redruth is a town in Cornwall, situated on the banks of the River Cober, at an elevation of around 130 metres. Redruth lies near the centre of the Cornish mining district, with nearby settlements including Plain-an-Gwarry and Church Town. Redruth has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by terraced homes. Redruth is located approximately 7.9 miles from the city of Truro, and about 239 miles west of London.
Redruth and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
Redruth is a riverside town, and the same teams that cover it work the towns near it too, Church Town and Carn Brea Village among them, across the TR postcode area. Your whereabouts comes clearest from a postcode beginning TR15 2.
Centre of Redruth or a lay-by near East End Park: wherever it sits, your car never needs to move at all for us. Our engineers drain it where it is. Ring and check instead of guessing when you are by Redruth Library, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down.
Your scenario, summed up
Motor not started: phone, and leave it alone. Already run: stop, switch off then ring. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Redruth and anywhere around Cornwall on 0333 366 0103.