AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Rush Green, and What to Do Next
Has your motor run since the AdBlue was put in? That one question settles nearly everything about what comes next. Anywhere your car stands — Ware, Rush Green — don't start a motor that has not been started yet. Normally this is draining and properly rinsing it on the spot around Rush Green — and so leave the ignition and motor off and ring 0333 366 0103. Pull over the moment you safely can and switch off, if it has been run. It's a larger job, though step one doesn't change.
Match what happened to one of the ones below, wherever around Hertfordshire you happen to be.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Rush Green forecourt
Just now, nozzle yet in your hand, you realise that the cap you opened was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. Perhaps you're at the BP, perhaps at the Esso, maybe somewhere else in Rush Green.
Put simply: no better place to be to discover it. Only that tank holds AdBlue; not one part past it has drawn it in.
Next: avoid the urge to fire it up just to free up the petrol pump. Three jobs: a shove into a bay with the attendants assisting, the bottle kept, and a ring to us from the forecourt. If it can't be moved, it can be drained at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
Rush Green, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
For days the dashboard had been warning you. Only at the recycling bin, the empty container in hand, did you look back at the cap you had opened at the drive. Just off Stanstead Road is no different from any other place.
The point: no driving since makes it almost equal to spotting it at the pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of your tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
Keep the keys indoors overnight — or someone may drive it off at breakfast — then phone us. In Pine Hurst or right here around Rush Green, the draining is done on your driveway. Late-night empties outside a house are no problem: the pumps are low-noise.
Drove off with AdBlue in a diesel around Rush Green?
Rough running, smoke, falling power or a lit dashboard started a mile or two beyond the fill. Maybe heading for St Albans, under 15 miles away, or simply along Rush Green Roundabout.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been sucked through your fuel system. It's been through the filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors. Each restart, like every mile, carries it deeper.
Next: find a safe spot, pull in, then turn your engine off. Service stations further along can wait: on the A1(M), under 10 miles out of Rush Green, use the first junction. Don't restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. About how far did it gone? Tell us when you phone.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
Seven days ago, the car was unknown to you. Your own motor either has no AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, and so nothing told you the AdBlue cap was right beside your diesel. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Hertfordshire.
Meaning? Whichever case above applies here — run or not — and one further step. Plenty of hire and fleet agreements need the owner's approval for repairs.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's faster settled before we turn up than after. Waiting for a reply in the car park at Ware, or near Holy Trinity? Keep your engine off throughout.
Unsure about AdBlue in the diesel tank in Rush Green?
At times, "I think so" is the most you can truthfully say. A slight ammonia whiff lingers near your filler, the bottle feels too light, and which cap came off is hard to recall. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Wheatcroft Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Great Amwell.
What it means: a little spilled round your filler does no damage to your engine. A diesel tank with AdBlue inside is a different story. Starting the vehicle cannot tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in that tank it would suck it in.
Do this: behave as if it did, and never start the motor. Ring us and explain what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
What each AdBlue drain around Rush Green has in common
Whichever situation you are in, this job starts the same way. Anywhere the vehicle stands — The Goat's car park, a road beside Scott's Grotto, a driveway, a forecourt — our van gets there and we ask about the liquid, the quantity, plus whether your motor has been run. The price is given on the call, before a van leaves, and the replies shape the work.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to some metals in fuel systems, and so it won't rinse out unaided; that is why a full flush, after this drain, counts much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Clean diesel is put in after the filter has been flushed or replaced, and the car is then checked. Where your engine hasn't been started, expect about half an hour on site, for most jobs.
Finally, we start the car. With new diesel in, it runs while our technicians confirm it's running properly, and then we go. When it is noticed quickly, the car very seldom has permanent damage, and the entire job takes place where it is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies cover misfuelling, so check yours while the van travels.
About Rush Green, for a moment
Rush Green is a small hamlet in Hertfordshire, situated inland at an elevation of 76 metres, approximately 20 miles north of London. Rush Green lies near several other communities, including Pine Hurst, Hertford Heath, and Presdales, and is close to the city of St Albans. Rush Green has a population of around 828 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Rush Green is characterized by its rural setting and proximity to larger urban areas.
Rush Green and Hertfordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Rush Green is a rural hamlet, and the same vans that cover it work the towns around it too, Hertford Heath and Presdales among them, across the SG postcode area. A postcode starting SG13 7 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
No towing is required, be it parked centrally in Rush Green or on a lay-by en route to Chadwell Springs Golf Club, so keep it put. Draining happens on the spot. If you're somewhere hard to explain, close to Section of Ermine Street or close to a boundary, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Your situation, in one line
If it hasn't started, ring and leave it that way. Whichever case fits, Petrol in Diesel handles from there on 0333 366 0103, throughout Hertfordshire and in Rush Green — after you pull over, turn off then ring, if it has run.