AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Shelly, and What to Do Next
Everything hinges on a single fact: whether your engine has started after the AdBlue went in — more than anything else. If it hasn't, keep it that way, whether the vehicle is in Shelly itself or out in Sticklepath. Ring 0333 366 0103 with your ignition and engine both off. In Shelly, that is generally drained and cleaned on the spot. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Stage one stays the same, even if the job grows.
Further down: the situations our technicians see, wherever in Devon. Pick yours.
On a Shelly forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Only now, bottle yet in your hand, you realise that the cap you took off was the wrong one, there at the pump. Be it BP, Esso or anywhere else in Shelly, the situation is the same.
In short: there is no better place to be to spot it. Still inside the tank, and no fuel pulled through: that's where the AdBlue is.
Do this: keep out of the driver's seat, however much the queue wants freeing. Ring us from the forecourt after your vehicle sits in a bay — the attendants will help push it — then save the receipt. Draining it there at the petrol pump is possible when it can't be moved, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
Shelly, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Several days had passed with the warning light on. A bottle bought at the garage, tipped in at the driveway — and it was just by the bin that the cap caught your eye. Right off Shelly Road is no different from any other place.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. On the floor of that tank is exactly where AdBlue stays, because it will not blend with diesel — and a night going by changes no difference.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so nobody moves your car in the morning. Then call. Your driveway is where it gets emptied, whether around Shelly or South Zeal. Late-night drains outside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Shelly?
A short way beyond filling up, the engine started misbehaving: roughness, smoke, less power, warnings on the dash. Maybe it was on The Croft, possibly on the way out towards Exeter, under 25 miles away.
What it means: the system has drawn the AdBlue in. Past your filter, along the lines, and — the more the mileage — deeper into the injection pump and each injector. Every restart, like every mile, carries it deeper.
Next: find a safe place, stop, and turn your engine off. Services further along are too far: on the M5, under 25 miles out of Shelly, use the next junction. No test starts: clearing isn't something AdBlue will do. Roughly what distance had it gone? Tell us when you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have just driven this car for days. Unknown to you, the two fillers are side by side here — not like your own car, which has none or keeps it elsewhere. Wherever you are across Devon, any motorist could be caught.
Meaning? Whichever applies above applies too — run or unrun — plus one further step. Work on your vehicle frequently requires the owner's approval under hire or company terms.
Your move: rental firm or fleet manager to begin with, us next, since sorting it early cuts time. Keep the vehicle switched off as the reply comes, whether you're waiting at Okehampton or close to Saint Mary's.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Shelly?
Sometimes the honest answer is "I think so". Which cap was taken off, you can't recall; meanwhile the bottle feels lighter than expected, and a whiff of ammonia hangs by the filler. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at South Tawton Primary School, or on a friend's drive in East Week.
What it means: a little spilled round the filler does no harm to your motor. The diesel tank with AdBlue inside is a different matter. You can't tell which by turning the key, and doing so would pull in any AdBlue that is in your tank.
Next: act as though it got in, and keep the motor off. Describe what you saw on the phone. A clean tank looked at counts as a better outcome than an already-run one drained.
Shelly: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. Forecourt, driveway, The Oxenham Arms's car park or a street by Victory Hall — the van comes to the vehicle, and three questions come next: which liquid, which amount, and if it ran. Those answers determine the work, and you hear the quote on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Then your tank is emptied and the fuel system flushed thoroughly, which counts 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. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Never started? Then about half an hour once we are there covers most jobs.
Our technicians start the car at the end. With new diesel in, it runs while our engineers confirm it is running properly, and then we go. When it is caught early, the car very seldom has permanent damage, and the entire job happens where it is. 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 offer misfuelling cover, and so a check of your documents as we travel pays.
About Shelly and where it is
Shelly is a suburban area in Devon, situated inland at an elevation of 214 metres, approximately 16 miles from Exeter. Shelly sits near the villages of South Zeal, Ramsley, and South Tawton, in a region of rolling hills and countryside. Shelly has a population of around 886 people, with a predominance of semi-detached housing. Shelly is located about 173 miles west of London, in the South West of England.
AdBlue drains around Shelly and across Devon
As a residential suburb, Shelly shares its vans with the surrounding places — South Tawton, Ramsley — all the way across EX postcodes. Telling us a EX20 2 postcode pins you quickest of all.
No towing is needed, whether stopped in the centre of Shelly or on a layby en route to Dishcombe Wood, so keep it where it is. Our engineers drain the car where it is. Tricky to explain? By Chimney or a county line? Asking is better than assuming, so phone.
Your scenario, in one line
Not run yet: keep the car off and ring. Already run: stop, switch off and ring. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there around Shelly and anywhere around Devon on 0333 366 0103.