AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Spencers Wood: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether your engine has been run since it was put in. Not started yet? Then keep the car that way, wherever the car is — Spencers Wood or Great Lea Common. Ring 0333 366 0103 with your ignition and engine both off. In Spencers Wood, such a case is typically drained and cleaned where it stands. Pull over the moment you safely can then switch off, if it has been run. The job is bigger, yet the first stage is the same.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever across Berkshire it happened.
On a Spencers Wood forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Just now, nozzle still in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you opened was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. Maybe you're at the Murco, perhaps at the BP, perhaps somewhere else around Spencers Wood.
Meaning? Spotting it here is the best it gets. Still in that tank, and nothing drawn through: that is where the AdBlue is.
Next: resist the urge to fire it up only to move away from the pump. Ask the staff to help you push the vehicle into a parking bay, keep your receipt or the bottle, then call us from the forecourt. If it cannot be shifted, it can be emptied at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Spencers Wood drive?
For days the dashboard 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 again at the cap. Driveways close to Basingstoke Road see it as much as anywhere.
Meaning? As long as the vehicle hasn't moved since, it is close to the pump case. Diesel and AdBlue keep apart: the AdBlue settles to the floor of that tank and remains put, however long it waits.
Your move: keys in the house, so nobody drives your vehicle anywhere first thing. After that, ring. We drain the car on your driveway, whether that is in Spencers Wood or out in Three Mile Cross. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
On the road around Spencers Wood with AdBlue in a diesel
Topped up, pulled away, and soon your engine was turning unevenly, blowing smoke, down on power, or flashing up your dash. Maybe it was on Chapel Lane, maybe on the way out towards Winchester, under 50 miles away.
Meaning? The pump has sucked the AdBlue up. Through the filter, through the pipework, and — the further the mileage — on into the high-pressure pump and every injector. It travels deeper with every extra mile covered and every restart.
Your move: pull up anywhere sensible, then turn your engine off. On the M4, under 3 miles from Spencers Wood, that means the next exit, not the services further on. It will not have cleared, and so there is no sense restarting to check. Ring us and say how far you drove.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
It is a vehicle you have had for a week. The AdBlue filler is right alongside the diesel one, which you didn't know, since your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Any driver, anywhere in Berkshire, might do the same.
The point: exactly as above, divided by whether it ran, but with an added step. Plenty of hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
Settling it before the van turn up is quicker, so ring the rental company or your fleet manager, then us. Stranded near Spencers Wood Library or outside Reading Green Park until the firm replies, your vehicle remains turned off throughout.
Spencers Wood: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Occasionally the honest answer is "I think so". The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia round your filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. It might have been at a friend's drive in Swallowfield, or rushing outside Lambs Lane Primary School on the school run.
What it means: a little spilled round the filler does no harm to your motor. Inside your diesel tank, however, AdBlue damages it. Any AdBlue in the tank will be pulled in by firing up the vehicle, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Take it that it went in, and never start your key. Ring and give the details: we'd rather confirm a clean tank than empty one after your motor has run.
What each AdBlue drain in Spencers Wood has in common
Each case gets the same start to the job. Anywhere your vehicle is — The Farriers Arms's car park, a road by Spencers Wood Village Hall, a drive, a forecourt — the van gets there and we ask for the fluid, the quantity, plus whether the engine has turned over. Those answers determine the work, and you get the quote on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Then that tank is emptied and your system rinsed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not rinse out on its own. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
The final step is starting the car. Our test that it runs properly on new diesel comes before our engineers leave. We do the entire job where the car is, and lasting damage is very uncommon when it has been noticed quickly. Nothing is paid upfront, payment is made on the day, and you receive what the insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Worth knowing: lots of insurers offer misfuelling cover, and so a quick look at your policy as we travel pays.
About Spencers Wood itself
Spencers Wood is a village in Berkshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 65 metres, approximately 37 miles from London. Spencers Wood lies near the villages of Three Mile Cross, Ryeish Green, and Grazeley, and is close to the city of Winchester. Spencers Wood has a population of around 1835 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Spencers Wood is a residential community with a mix of local amenities and rural surroundings.
AdBlue drains in Spencers Wood, and across Berkshire too
Ryeish Green and Grazeley get the same teams as Spencers Wood, a rural village, along with further towns throughout RG postcodes. Your location is quickest from a postcode that starts RG7 1.
No towing is required, be it parked in the centre of Spencers Wood or on a lay-by en route to Deardon Field, and so keep it where it is. The van empties it where it stands. If you're somewhere hard to describe, near St Michael and All Angels or close to a border, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Your situation, in one line
If it has not run, ring and keep it that way. Run by now: stop, power down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, within Spencers Wood or anywhere in Berkshire.