AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Smallwood, and What to Do Next
Has your motor turned over since the AdBlue got in? This single point decides almost everything about what comes next. Over in Southcrest or right in Smallwood, an unstarted engine should remain unrun. Normally this is emptying and properly cleaning it right there around Smallwood — so keep your ignition and motor off then call 0333 366 0103. Already started? Pull over once safe, then turn it off. The job is bigger, yet the first step is the same.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever in Worcestershire it happened.
Smallwood forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Just at this point, bottle yet in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, there at the pump. Whether the nearest petrol station, Sainsbury's or somewhere else around Smallwood, the case is identical.
Put simply: no better spot exists to spot it. Just that tank holds AdBlue; no component past it has drawn any in.
Freeing the petrol pump is no reason to start it — so don't get back in. Ask the attendants to help you push the car into a parking space, keep the receipt or the bottle, then call us from the forecourt. Draining it there at the petrol pump is fine when it cannot be shifted, since the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Smallwood
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 again at the cap. Houses just off Lodge Road are hit as much as anywhere else.
Put simply: if your car has not been driven since, it is nearly as good as spotting it at the pump. As it is reluctant to blend, AdBlue settles to the base in that tank and waits. One night parked alters nothing.
Put your keys indoors overnight — or a person might take it off at breakfast — then call us. Your driveway is where it gets emptied, whether in Smallwood or St Georges. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Smallwood: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
A short way after filling up, your motor began playing up: rough running, smoke, less power, lights on your dash. Maybe it was on Smallwood Street, possibly on the way out towards Birmingham, under 15 miles away.
What it means: your fuel system has drawn the AdBlue in. The high-pressure pump and every injector see it as well on a bigger trip, once the filter and pipework have had it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: find a sensible place, stop, then turn the motor off. On the M42, under 5 miles from Smallwood, that means the next exit, not the services further on. Starting it again to test gets nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear on its own. Roughly how far did it go? Tell us as you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company vehicles
It is a motor you have had for a week. Unbeknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel fillers are side by side here — not like your own car, which has no AdBlue or stores it elsewhere. Anywhere you are across Worcestershire, any motorist can slip up.
Put simply: an extra step on top of the situations above, which turn on whether it has run. The owner often has to approve the work, under plenty of rental and company agreements.
Next: phone the rental company or your fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before our arrival is faster. Waiting for an answer at the car park at Redditch, or beside Masjid AlBirr? Leave your engine off meanwhile.
Smallwood: unsure whether it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Sometimes the fair answer is "I think so". A slight ammonia whiff hangs near your filler, the bottle seems too light, and which cap came off is hard to recall. The gates of St George's CofE First School and Nursery in a rush, say, or a friend's drive out in Lakeside.
Put simply: a spill round the filler leaves your engine no harm. Once it is inside your diesel tank, though, it does. Any AdBlue in your tank would be drawn in by starting the car, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Do not start the vehicle. Describe what you saw on your phone. A clear tank checked counts as a better result than a run one emptied.
Smallwood: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Whichever situation you are in, this job starts the same way. Three things come once our engineers arrive — at a forecourt, a drive, a road beside Redditch Borough Council or the car park outside The Rising Sun: the liquid, the quantity, and if the motor has been started. Those answers decide this work, and you get the quote on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Emptying the tank comes next, then a full flush — more important after urea than after petrol, since crystals and corrosion will not go by themselves, however long it sits. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Never started? In that case about half an hour on site is most jobs.
Last, our technicians fire it up. Our technicians make sure it runs properly on fresh diesel before we go. Our engineers do the whole job where your car is, and lasting damage is very unusual if it has been spotted early. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Smallwood, for a moment
Smallwood is a suburban area in the West Midlands region of England, situated approximately 12 miles south of Birmingham. Smallwood sits at an elevation of around 124 metres, in a gently sloping landscape of inland Worcestershire. Smallwood is characterized by a high proportion of flat housing, which reflects its development as a residential area. Smallwood is close to nearby places such as St Georges and Redditch, and is about 95 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains around Smallwood and across Worcestershire
Redditch and Lodge Park have the same teams as Smallwood, a residential suburb, along with other places throughout B postcodes. Your whereabouts is clearest from a postcode beginning B97 9.
Centre of Smallwood or a lay-by near Church Green: either way it is, your vehicle doesn't need to move an inch for this drain. The van empties it in place. Tricky to explain? By Palace Theatre or a border? Asking beats guessing, and so ring.
Your situation, in one line
Still unrun? Leave the car off then phone. Run by now: pull over, power down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, within Smallwood or anywhere across Worcestershire.