Sawston: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
Has your motor run since the AdBlue went in? This one point decides nearly everything about what comes next. Not started so far? Then keep it like that, wherever your car sits — Sawston or Stapleford. Leave the motor and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103; it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Sawston. Already started? Pull over when you safely can, then turn it off. It's a larger job, though step one does not change.
Match what happened to one of the list below, wherever around Cambridgeshire you are.
At the pump in Sawston: AdBlue in a diesel
Only at this point, bottle still in hand, you realise that the cap you opened was the wrong one, there at the pump. Possibly you are at the BP, possibly at the Esso, perhaps somewhere else in Sawston.
Put simply: there is no better spot to be to discover it. Still in the tank, and no fuel drawn onwards: that's where the AdBlue sits.
Freeing the petrol pump is no excuse to run it — and so do not get back in. Ask the attendants to help you roll the car into a parking spot, keep the till receipt or the bottle, and call us from the forecourt. If it can't be shifted, it can be drained at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
At home in Sawston with AdBlue in the diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look once more at the cap. It occurs on drives just off Mill Lane as often as anywhere.
Meaning? Provided your car has not been driven since, it is second to the forecourt case. Diesel and AdBlue keep separate: the AdBlue drops to the base of the tank and stays there, however long it waits.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves the vehicle in the morning. Then ring. Out in Pampisford or right here around Sawston, the drain is done on your drive. Our pumping kit runs quiet enough that it won't wake the street at night.
On the road in Sawston with AdBlue in a diesel
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power or a glowing dashboard arrived a mile or two after the top-up. Anywhere along Orchard Road or else on the road towards Cambridge — under 10 miles away.
The point: the system has drawn AdBlue in by now. Past the fuel filter, through the lines, and — the more the distance — on into the injection pump and every injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: pick a sensible spot, pull in, then switch your engine off. Service stations farther on can wait: from the M11, under 3 miles out of Sawston, take the first junction. It won't have cleared, so there is no point restarting to check. Ring us and say how far you travelled.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
A week back, the car was new to you. Unknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel inlets sit next to each other here — unlike your own car, which has none or keeps it in another spot. Anyone, anywhere across Cambridgeshire, could make the same.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more step. Plenty of rental and fleet contracts need the owner's approval for repairs.
Next: ring the hire company or your fleet manager first, then us — sorting it before our arrival is quicker. If you are stranded in the car park at Whittlesford Parkway, or by Challis House, while you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
Sawston: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
"I think so" is sometimes as honest answer there is. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia around your filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. Maybe at a friend's drive in Great Abington, or in a rush by The Bellbird Primary School on the school run.
The upshot: your motor isn't harmed by some AdBlue splashed on the outside. Inside your diesel tank, however, AdBlue harms it. Any AdBlue in that tank would be drawn in by firing up the vehicle, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
Next: act as though it got in, then leave the engine off. Ring and give the details: we would rather find a tank free of AdBlue than empty one once the motor has run.
Sawston: what each AdBlue drain has in common
The job begins the same way, whichever the case. Anywhere the vehicle is — Kings Head's car park, a road beside Sawston War Memorial, a drive, a forecourt — our van gets there and we ask about the liquid, the quantity, plus whether your engine has turned over. Those replies settle the work, and you get our quote on the phone, before anyone heads out.
A thorough flush follows the drain. With petrol it's routine; with AdBlue it is essential, since crystals build up and certain metals are attacked, and neither washes away unaided. Finally come your filter, cleaned or replaced as needed; fresh diesel; and a test of the vehicle. If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Our engineers fire it up last. Before our engineers go, it is checked to confirm it runs properly on new diesel. The entire job is done where your car is, and when it's noticed quickly, long-term damage is very rare. Payment comes on the day, never in advance. For your insurer, there is a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer. Worth remembering: many insurers include misfuelling cover, and so a check of your policy as we travel pays.
About Sawston itself
Sawston is a village in Cambridgeshire, situated on the River Granta, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Sawston lies close to the city of Cambridge, about 6 miles to the south, and is surrounded by other villages such as Pampisford and Whittlesford. Sawston has a population of around 2428 people and is located at an elevation of approximately 25 metres above sea level. Sawston is also within commuting distance of London, being about 44 miles from the capital.
AdBlue drains about Sawston and across Cambridgeshire
Being a village, Sawston has the same vans as the surrounding places — Babraham, Whittlesford — right through CB postcodes. Giving us your CB22 3 postcode pins you fastest of all.
Centre of Sawston or a lay-by near Challis Garden: either way it is, your vehicle doesn't need to move at all for us. The van drains it where it stands. Awkward to explain? By Sawston Parish Council or a county line? Asking is better than assuming, so ring.
In one line: your situation
If it hasn't run, phone then keep it off. Started by now? Pull over, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest whichever case, across Sawston and Cambridgeshire, on 0333 366 0103.