AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Shorne: What Now?
One thing matters above all once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if your engine has been started afterwards. Anywhere your car stands — Thong, Shorne — don't run an engine that has not been started yet. Call 0333 366 0103 with the ignition and engine both off. In Shorne, that is generally emptied and flushed where it stands. Where your engine has been run, stop safely first, then switch the car off. A bigger job, then, yet the identical first move.
Match what happened to a situation from the ones below, anywhere in Kent you happen to be.
At the petrol pump around Shorne: AdBlue in a diesel
Just at this point, bottle yet in your hand, you realise that the cap you opened was the wrong one, there at the pump. Be it Esso, Asda Express or anywhere else in Shorne, the case is the same.
Meaning? Spotting it here is the best it can be. The AdBlue is inside the tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Next: avoid the temptation to fire it up only to free up the pump. Ask the staff to help you roll the car into a parking spot, keep the till receipt or the bottle, then phone us from the forecourt. If it can't be shifted, it can be drained at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Shorne
Days had gone by with the warning light on. Bought a bottle, tipped it in outside the house, recycled the empty — and only then looked at the cap again, after the fact. It takes place on drives just off Malthouse Lane as frequently as anywhere.
Meaning? As long as the vehicle hasn't been driven since, it's close to the forecourt case. At the bottom of that tank sits exactly where AdBlue stays, since it will not mix with diesel — and a night going by makes nothing of the difference.
Next: keys in the house, so nobody drives your vehicle off first thing. After that, phone. Your drive is where it gets emptied, be it in Shorne or Upper Ifield. The pumping kit works quietly enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Drove off with AdBlue in a diesel in Shorne?
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power or a lit dashboard started a mile or two beyond the top-up. Somewhere along Cob Drive or else on the road to Southend-on-Sea — under 15 miles away.
The point: the system has drawn AdBlue in by now. Past the fuel filter, through the pipework, and — the more the distance — on into the injection pump and each injector. Each restart, like every mile, carries it deeper.
Your move: stop anywhere safe, then switch the engine off. Service stations farther on are too far: on the M2, under 3 miles out of Shorne, use the first junction. No trial starts: clearing isn't something AdBlue will do. Roughly what distance had it gone? Say so when you phone.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
It's a motor you have had for a week. The AdBlue filler sits right next to the diesel filler, which you didn't know, because your own car either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Wherever you are in Kent, any driver can slip up.
Meaning? Whatever applies above counts here — run or not — and one extra stage. Many hire and company agreements need the owner's approval for repairs.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's quicker settled before our technicians arrive than after. Waiting for a reply in the car park outside Higham, or beside Shorne Village Hall? Leave the engine off throughout.
Shorne: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
"I think so" is sometimes the most honest as it gets. A faint ammonia-like whiff lingers near the filler, the bottle seems too light, and the cap you took off is a blur. The gates of Shorne Church of England Primary School in a hurry, perhaps, or someone's drive over in Gadshill.
Meaning? Drips outside the inlet don't touch your engine at all. Once it's inside the diesel tank, though, it does. If there is AdBlue in the tank, turning on the car would draw it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Assume it got in, and never turn the engine. Describe what you saw on the phone. A clear tank looked at is a happier outcome than a run one emptied.
The common ground in every Shorne AdBlue drain
The work begins identically, whatever your situation. We come to the car, whether it is on a forecourt, a drive, the car park at Rose and Crown or a side street close to Shorne Parish Church, and ask three things: what went in, about how much, and if your engine has run. Those answers decide this work, and you get our price on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a careful flush — more important with urea than with petrol, since crystals and corrosion will not clear on their own, no matter how long it sits. Last are the fuel filter, cleaned or replaced as needed; clean diesel; and a test of your car. If the engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
Our technicians fire it up last. With fresh diesel in, it runs while we make sure it is running smoothly, and then we head off. Permanent damage is very rare when it's caught quickly, and the whole job is done where the car is. For your insurer: the engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, no money upfront. Check your insurance before we arrive: cover for misfuelling comes included in many policies.
About Shorne and where it is
Shorne is a village in north Kent, situated near the Thames estuary at an elevation of around 66 metres. Shorne lies within commuting distance of London, approximately 25 miles to the west, and is also close to the seaside town of Southend-on-Sea. Shorne has a mix of rural and suburban characteristics, with predominantly detached housing and a small population of around 1000 residents.
AdBlue drains in Shorne, and across Kent too
Being a coastal village, Shorne has the same vans as the surrounding places — Higham, Shorne Ridgeway — right through DA postcodes. The whereabouts is clearest from a postcode beginning DA12 3.
Centre of Shorne or a lay-by near The Warren: wherever it is, your car never needs to move at all for us. The van drains it where it stands. Ring and check instead of guessing when you are close to St Mary the Virgin, near a border, or somewhere tricky to explain.
In one line: your scenario
Engine never started: phone, leaving it switched off. Run by now: stop, switch down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, within Shorne or anywhere in Kent.