AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Shurdington, and What to Do Next
All of that hinges on one detail: if the motor has been run since the AdBlue was added — far more than anything else. Anywhere your car stands — Badgeworth, Shurdington — never start an engine that has not been started yet. Usually this means emptying and properly flushing it right there around Shurdington — and so keep your ignition and motor off then ring 0333 366 0103. When the engine has run, stop safely first, then turn it off. The job is bigger, but the first stage is the same.
Below: the cases our engineers meet, anywhere in Gloucestershire. Choose yours.
On a Shurdington forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Imagine it: stood by the pump, gripping the bottle, you realise the cap you opened wasn't the right one. It might be the Morrisons, or perhaps the Asda, or another forecourt in Shurdington.
The upshot: of every spot to find out, the forecourt is the best. Still in your tank, and nothing drawn through: that is where the AdBlue sits.
What to do: do not get back in and fire it up to clear the petrol pump. Ask the staff to help you push your car into a parking spot, keep your receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. Our equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt, so a car that can't be pushed clear is emptied right at the petrol pump.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Shurdington drive?
For days the dash had been nagging you. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look a second time at the cap. Homes just off Yarnolds get caught out as often as anywhere else.
The upshot: no driving since leaves this almost equal to spotting it at the petrol pump. Being reluctant to mix, AdBlue drops to the base inside that tank and stays. One night parked alters nothing.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so nobody moves the vehicle in the morning. Then ring. In The Tynings or here around Shurdington, the draining happens on your drive. Night-time clears outside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel around Shurdington?
A mile or two beyond topping up, the engine began playing up: roughness, smoke, lost power, lights on the dash. Maybe it was on Bishop Road, possibly on the way out towards Gloucester, under 10 miles away.
The point: the system has pulled AdBlue through already. Distance decides how far it gets: filter and pipework first, then the injection pump and every injector. It goes further with each mile driven and every restart.
Stop somewhere safe — that's the next job — then turn everything off. Exit at the first junction — not the services beyond — if you are on the M5, under 3 miles from Shurdington. Restarting it to check gets nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear itself. Phone, saying what distance the vehicle went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've just driven this car a week. Your own car either does without AdBlue or puts it somewhere different, and so nothing told you the AdBlue inlet sits just beside the diesel. Anyone, anywhere in Gloucestershire, might do the same.
The upshot: just as above, split by if it ran, but with one added stage. The owner frequently has to approve any work, under plenty of hire and fleet agreements.
Do this: rental firm or fleet manager to begin with, us next, because sorting it beforehand cuts time. If you are stranded in the car park at Cheltenham Spa, or by Shurdington Social Centre, while you wait for an answer, leave your car off.
Shurdington: unsure whether it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Sometimes the fair answer is "I think so". What cap came off, you can't say; meanwhile the bottle feels lighter than expected, and a whiff of ammonia hangs by your filler. Maybe on a friend's drive in Bentham, or rushing by Shurdington Church of England Primary School on the school run.
Meaning? Drips around the inlet don't reach your engine at all. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. If there is AdBlue in that tank, firing up your car will pull it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Take it that it went in, and don't turn the key. Describe what you noticed on the phone. A clean tank checked counts as a better outcome than an already-run one emptied.
Shurdington: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. We come to the vehicle, whether it is at a forecourt, a driveway, the car park at The Cheese Rollers or a side street close to Saint Paul, and ask three things: what was put in, about how much, and if your motor has been run. Those replies settle this work, and you get the price by phone, before anybody sets off.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush — more vital after urea than with petrol, because crystals and corrosion won't clear by themselves, no matter how long you wait. Fresh diesel is put in once the fuel filter has been cleaned or replaced, and your car is then checked. Not started? In that case roughly half an hour on site is most jobs.
We start the car last. Our technicians check it runs properly on clean diesel before we go. The entire job is done where the car is, and when it is caught early, permanent damage is very rare. For your insurer: the engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, no money upfront. Plenty of policies include misfuelling, so check yours while the van travels.
About Shurdington and where it is
Shurdington is a village in Gloucestershire, situated on the banks of the River Churn, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Shurdington sits at an elevation of 66 metres, close to the city of Gloucester, and is surrounded by nearby places such as The Tynings and Chargrove. Shurdington has a population of approximately 1039 residents, living in a variety of homes, predominantly semi-detached. Shurdington is located near Little Shurdington, a smaller settlement in the same area.
AdBlue drains across Gloucestershire, Shurdington included
Shurdington is a village, and the same vans that cover it work the places around it too, Chargrove and Little Shurdington among them, across the GL postcode area. Quickest of all: a GL51 4 postcode for where you stand.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to King George V Field or in a car park in the middle of Shurdington, it doesn't need to move. Wherever it sits, that is where it gets drained. Phone and ask instead of guessing when you're close to Shurdington Church Hall, near a border, or somewhere tricky to explain.
Your scenario, summed up
Unstarted? Leave it off then phone. Run already? Pull over, turn off, ring. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder whatever case, in Shurdington and Gloucestershire, on 0333 366 0103.