What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in St Stephens
Everything hinges on a single detail: if the engine has started after the AdBlue was added — more than anything else. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the vehicle is in St Stephens itself or out in Trematon Castle. Phone 0333 366 0103 with the ignition and engine both off. In St Stephens, such a case is generally drained and cleaned on the spot. Where the motor has been run, stop safely straight away, then switch the car off. Stage one stays the same, even though the job grows.
Compare your case to a situation from the ones below, wherever across Cornwall you happen to be.
St Stephens forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you just notice it while you are standing at the pump, bottle or the nozzle in your hand. It could be the Shell, or the BP, or another station around St Stephens.
In short: there is no better spot to be to spot it. No pump has drawn it in, and so the AdBlue stays only inside your tank.
Next: avoid the urge to fire it up only to move away from the pump. Ask the staff to help you push your car into a parking bay, keep the receipt or the bottle, and phone us from the forecourt. The equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt, so a vehicle that can't be pushed away is emptied where it is at the pump.
At home in St Stephens with AdBlue in your diesel tank
For days the dashboard had been nagging you. Only at the recycling bin, the empty bottle in your hand, did you glance back at the cap you had opened at the drive. Drives close to St Stephen's Hill get it as much as any other street.
Meaning? Provided your vehicle has not moved since, it is second to the pump case. At the floor of your tank sits exactly where AdBlue stays, because it won't mix with diesel — and a night passing makes nothing of the difference.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves the car in the morning. Then call. Your drive is where it gets emptied, be it in St Stephens or Forder. Night-time empties beside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet.
Drove off with AdBlue in a diesel around St Stephens?
Topped up, pulled away, and soon your engine was turning unevenly, blowing smoke, losing power, or flashing up the dash. Possibly it was on St Stephens Road, maybe on the way out towards Plymouth, under 5 miles away.
What it means: the system has sucked the AdBlue in. Through the fuel filter, along the lines, and — the further the distance — on into the high-pressure pump and every injector. Each restart, like each mile, carries it on.
Pull in safely — that is the next step — then switch it off. On the M5, under 50 miles from St Stephens, that means the next exit, not the services further on. No test restarts: clearing itself is not something AdBlue will do. Tell us know the distance covered as you ring.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You have only had this vehicle for days. The AdBlue filler is right next to the diesel filler, which you didn't know, since your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Throughout Cornwall, no one is immune.
The point: exactly as above, divided by whether it ran, only with one added step. Many hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's quicker settled before our engineers get there than after. Stuck near St Stephen's Church or at Saltash till someone replies, the car stays turned off the whole time.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, in St Stephens
"I think so" is sometimes the most honest answer there is. Lighter, that bottle; a trace of ammonia round your filler; a hazy memory of which cap. Sound familiar? The gates of St Stephens (Saltash) Community Primary School & Nursery in a rush, say, or a friend's drive out in Antony Passage.
The point: the motor isn't hurt by some AdBlue spilled on the filler. Inside your diesel tank, however, AdBlue damages it. Any AdBlue in that tank would be drawn in by firing up your car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Next: assume it went in, then leave your engine off. Checking a tank that proves free of AdBlue beats emptying one once it has been run — so phone then tell us what you noticed.
What every AdBlue drain in St Stephens has in common
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Wherever the car stands — Cecil Arms's car park, a road by Forder Community Centre, a drive, a filling station — our van gets there and asks for the liquid, the quantity, and if your motor has been run. Those answers determine this work, and you get the price on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Then your tank is emptied and the fuel system purged 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 doesn't rinse out on its own. Then is the filter — cleaned, or swapped when necessary — followed by clean diesel, and a test of the car. Never started? In that case roughly half an hour once we are there is most jobs.
Starting the engine comes last. Our check that it runs correctly on clean diesel comes before our technicians head off. The whole job is done where the car is, and when it's caught quickly, permanent damage is very uncommon. For your insurer: the engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, no money in advance. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About St Stephens itself
St Stephens is a suburban area in Cornwall, situated near the coast and approximately 4.5 miles from Plymouth. St Stephens has a relatively low elevation of around 60 metres and is close to nearby places such as Forder and Burraton Coombe. St Stephens is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, which reflects the area's residential nature. St Stephens is located within the South West region of England, about 194 miles from London.
St Stephens and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, St Stephens shares its vans with the nearby towns — Wearde, Burraton Coombe — all the way across PL postcodes. Your whereabouts comes quickest from a postcode that starts PL12 4.
Whether the vehicle is on a lay-by on the way to Tincombe Nature Reserve or in a car park in the middle of St Stephens, it doesn't need to move. Draining happens on the spot. Phone and check instead of guessing when you're close to Trematon Castle, on a border, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
Your scenario, summed up
Unstarted? Leave it that way then phone. Whichever case applies, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, throughout Cornwall and in St Stephens — once you stop, switch off then phone, if it's run.