Southfields: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
One thing counts above all once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is whether your motor has been started afterwards. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the car is in Southfields itself or out in Horndon on the Hill. Usually this means emptying and properly rinsing it on the spot in Southfields — and so keep the ignition and motor off and ring 0333 366 0103. Pull over the minute you safely can and turn off, if it has already run. A larger job, yes, but the identical first step.
Wherever across Essex it took place, one of the situations below fits yours.
On a Southfields forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Just now, bottle yet in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, there at the pump. Possibly you're at the BP, perhaps at the Esso, possibly somewhere else in Southfields.
Meaning? Spotting it here is as good as it can be. The AdBlue is in that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has sucked it in.
Do this: stay out of the driver's seat, however much the pump wants freeing. Get the attendants to lend a hand pushing it into a bay, hold on to the receipt, then ring us from there. Our equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a live forecourt, and so a vehicle that can't be pushed clear gets cleared right at the petrol pump.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Southfields drive?
Several days had passed with the dash light on. A bottle bought at the shop, tipped in on the drive — and it was only by the bin that the cap caught a second look. Right off Stanford Road is not different from any other place.
Put simply: if the car has not moved since, it is nearly as good as spotting it at the forecourt. As it is unable to blend, AdBlue drops to the base in your tank and stays. A night standing changes none of that.
Keep the keys in the house tonight — or someone might drive it off first thing — and phone us. Orsett or Southfields: wherever your driveway is, that's where it gets emptied. Even at night, our pumps are quiet enough for a residential street.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel in Southfields?
Topped up, pulled away, and soon your engine was turning unevenly, smoking, down on power, or lighting up the dash. Anywhere along Grosvenor Road or else on the road towards Southend-on-Sea — under 15 miles away.
The point: your system has drawn AdBlue through already. Mileage decides how deep it goes: filter and lines to begin with, then the injection pump and every injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: find a sensible place, stop, then switch the motor off. Exit at the first junction — not the services beyond — if you're on the M25, under 5 miles from Southfields. No test restarts: clearing is not something AdBlue does. Phone, saying how far your car went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company vehicles
Seven days ago, the car was new to you. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is absent or elsewhere. On this one, its inlet is just by your diesel inlet — news to you. Throughout Essex, nobody is immune.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it's run, with one more step. Many hire and company contracts require the owner's approval for work.
Settling it before we arrives is quicker, so ring the rental company or your fleet manager, and then us. Stranded near The Scout Association or outside Stanford-Le-Hope until someone replies, the car remains turned off throughout.
Southfields: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
At times the honest answer is "I think so". Which cap was taken off, you can't say; meanwhile the bottle weighs lighter than it ought to, and ammonia lingers by the filler. A hurried top-up by the gates of Orsett Church of England Primary School, or a call to a friend in Linford: either fits.
What it means: a little spilled round the filler does no damage to the engine. The diesel tank with AdBlue inside is another story. You can't tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so would pull in any AdBlue that is in the tank.
Next: act as though it got in, then leave the motor off. Ring us and explain what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
Southfields: what each AdBlue drain has in common
The work opens identically, whatever your case. Wherever your vehicle is — Orsett Cock's car park, a road beside St Giles and All Saints, Orsett, a drive, a forecourt — our van arrives and asks for the fluid, the amount, and whether the motor has been run. Those answers determine the work, and you get our price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Then that tank is drained and the fuel system purged 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. Clean diesel is put in after the fuel filter has been cleaned or changed, and your car is finally checked. If the motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
The final step is starting the engine. Before our technicians go, it's tested to make sure it runs smoothly on clean diesel. Our engineers do the whole job where the car is, and lasting damage is very uncommon if it has been spotted early. Payment comes that day, never in advance. For your insurer, you get a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer. Worth knowing: many insurers include misfuelling cover, so a quick look at your documents as we travel is worthwhile.
About Southfields, briefly
Southfields is a small village in Essex, situated near the coast and approximately 22 miles from London. Southfields has a population of around 1167 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Southfields is close to nearby places such as Orsett, Orsett Heath, and Baker Street, and is about 14 miles from the city of Southend-on-Sea. Southfields sits at an elevation of 33 metres above sea level, in a gently sloping coastal area.
Southfields and Essex: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout RM postcodes, the vans covering Southfields — a coastal village — work nearby places too, Orsett Heath and Baker Street among them. Quickest of all: a RM16 3 postcode to show your location.
No moving is needed, whether parked centrally in Southfields or on a lay-by heading to Orsett Golf Club, and so keep it put. The drain is done right there. Phone and ask instead of guessing when you're by Orsett Village Hall, on a border, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
Your scenario, in one line
Not run yet: keep it off and call. Started by now? Pull over, turn off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest whatever it is, in Southfields and Essex, on 0333 366 0103.