AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Shaw, and What to Do Next
Has your engine run since the AdBlue went in? This single question settles nearly everything about what comes next. Anywhere your vehicle stands — Stone Copse, Shaw — never run an engine that hasn't been started yet. Keep nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, and expect a proper flush plus a drain, carried out just where the vehicle stands in Shaw. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Stage one remains the same, even if the work grows.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever around Berkshire it happened.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Shaw forecourt
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you just notice it as you are stood at the pump, bottle or the nozzle in hand. It might be the BP, or perhaps the Sainsbury's, or a different station around Shaw.
The point: of every spot to find out, this is the best. Only your tank holds AdBlue; no component past it has taken any in.
Freeing the petrol pump is no reason to start it — and so don't get back in. Have the attendants to help pushing it into a space, hold on to the bottle, then phone us from there. Stuck beside the petrol pump? Explosion-proof kit keeps a busy forecourt safe, and so we can drain the vehicle in place.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Shaw drive?
On your dash, a warning had shown all week. 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. Houses just off Stable Court get caught out as much as everywhere else.
The point: no driving since makes this nearly as good to spotting it at the pump. On the floor of your tank sits exactly where AdBlue stays, since it will not blend with diesel — and a night passing changes no difference.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so nobody moves the car in the morning. Then call. Your driveway is where it is emptied, whether in Shaw or Donnington. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Shaw: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Rough running, smoke, falling power or a glowing dashboard arrived a short way after the top-up. Perhaps it was on Love Lane, possibly on the way out towards Oxford, under 25 miles away.
The point: the system has drawn AdBlue in by now. It's been through your filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and your injectors. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: pick a safe place, pull in, then turn the motor off. Exit by the next junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M4, under 3 miles from Shaw. Do not restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. About what distance had it gone? Say so when you phone.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You have had this car barely a week. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is absent or somewhere else. On this one, its inlet is right next to the diesel inlet — a surprise to you. Any driver, anywhere around Berkshire, might do it.
In short: one extra step on top of the situations above, and those depend on if it's run. Plenty of hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the car.
Sorting it before the van turn up is faster, so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, and then us. Leave the vehicle switched off while the answer arrives, whether you're waiting at Newbury or close to St Mary's Shaw.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, in Shaw
Sometimes the fair answer is "I think so". A faint ammonia-like whiff lingers near the filler, the bottle seems too light, and the cap you took off is hard to recall. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at The Winchcombe School, or on a friend's drive in East Fields.
What it means: a little spilled round the filler does no damage to your engine. The diesel tank with AdBlue in it is another matter. You cannot tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so would suck in any AdBlue that is in the tank.
Your move: behave as though it got in, and don't start your motor. Ring us and explain what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
The common ground in each Shaw AdBlue drain
Each case gets the same opening to the job. Three questions come when we reach your car — at a filling station, a driveway, a road beside Shaw Social Club or the car park at The Cock: the fluid, the quantity, and whether the motor has run. Answers shape the work; the price comes by phone whilst no one has left yet.
Then your tank is cleared and the system cleaned thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't rinse out on its own. Last are the filter, cleaned or replaced as needed; fresh diesel; and a check of the car. If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Last, our technicians fire it up. Our test that it runs smoothly on new diesel comes before our technicians go. We do the entire job where the vehicle is, and permanent damage is very uncommon when it has been noticed quickly. Nothing is paid upfront, payment is made on the day, and you receive what the insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Check your insurance before we arrive: misfuelling cover comes included in many policies.
About Shaw and where it is
Shaw is a suburban area in Berkshire, situated near the lakeside and surrounded by nearby places such as Donnington and Speenhamland. Shaw sits at an elevation of 82 metres, within commuting distance of Oxford, which is approximately 23.5 miles away. Shaw has a population of around 2316 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Shaw is also within reach of London, being around 51.6 miles from the capital city.
AdBlue drains about Shaw and across Berkshire
Throughout RG postcodes, the vans covering Shaw — a residential suburb — work surrounding towns too, Speenhamland and Newbury among them. Fastest of all: a RG14 2 postcode for where you stand.
No moving is needed, be it parked centrally in Shaw or in a lay-by en route to Trinity Field, and so leave it put. Our engineers drain the vehicle where it is. If you're somewhere hard to describe, near Newbury Tennis Club or close to a boundary, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Your situation, in one line
Where it hasn't run, ring then leave it off. Whatever case applies, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, across Berkshire and within Shaw — after you stop, switch off and phone, if it has run.