What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in St Stephens Place
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: whether the engine has been run since it went in. Not run so far? Then keep it that way, whether your car sits — St Stephens Place or Underwood. Ring 0333 366 0103 with your key and motor still off. Across St Stephens Place, that is typically emptied and flushed where it stands. Where the engine has been run, stop somewhere safe first, then turn the vehicle off. A bigger job, then, but the same first move.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever across Devon it happened.
St Stephens Place forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Only now, nozzle yet in your hand, you realise that the cap you opened was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. Whether Texaco, Esso or somewhere else around St Stephens Place, the situation is identical.
Meaning? Finding out here is the best it can be. Nothing has drawn it through, and so the AdBlue sits just in your tank.
Your move: keep out of the driver's seat, even if the queue needs freeing. Phone us from the forecourt once your car is in a space — the attendants will lend a hand to push it — then save the bottle. Can't move the car by the petrol pump? Explosion-proof equipment makes a busy forecourt sensible, and so it can be drained in place.
At home in St Stephens Place with AdBlue in your diesel tank
On your dash, a warning had been lit 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 once more at the cap. Drives near St Stephen's Place see it as much as anywhere.
Put simply: if your car has not been driven since, it is almost equal to finding out at the pump. Diesel and AdBlue keep apart: the AdBlue settles to the base of the tank and stays there, however long it waits.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves the vehicle in the morning. Then ring. Our engineers drain the car on your driveway, whether that's around St Stephens Place or out in Plympton. Even at night, our pumps stay quiet enough for a residential street.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in St Stephens Place?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the engine began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Possibly it was on Mudge Way, maybe on the way out towards Plymouth, under 5 miles away.
The point: the system has drawn AdBlue in already. It's been through the fuel filter and the lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors. More driving, more restarts: deeper it goes.
Next: find a safe place, pull in, and switch the engine off. Exit at the next junction — not the services beyond — if you are on the M5, under 50 miles from St Stephens Place. It will not have cleared, and so there's no sense starting it again to check. About how far did it go? Tell us as you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company cars
It's a car you have had for a week. On your own car, AdBlue is missing or somewhere else. On this one, its inlet is right next to the diesel cap — a surprise to you. Across Devon, nobody is safe from it.
Meaning? Whatever case above applies here — run or unrun — plus one further step. Work on the vehicle frequently needs the owner's go-ahead under hire or fleet agreements.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is faster settled before we arrive than after. Stranded near Living Well Church or outside Plymouth till someone answers, the car remains turned off the whole time.
St Stephens Place: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Occasionally the honest answer is "I think so". A slight ammonia whiff hangs near your filler, the bottle seems too light, and which cap came off is a blur. A rushed stop by the gates of Old Priory Junior Academy, or a call to a friend in Chaddlewood: both fits.
The upshot: your motor isn't harmed by a little AdBlue splashed around the filler. Once it is inside your diesel tank, though, it does. Firing up the car cannot tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in the tank it would pull it in.
What to do: treat it as if it went in. Don't start the vehicle. Ring with the details: we'd rather confirm a clean tank than drain one once your engine has run.
Every AdBlue drain around St Stephens Place shares these steps
Whichever situation you are in, this job starts the same way. Wherever your vehicle stands — The Stannary Court's car park, a street beside Rees Centre Wellbeing Hub, a driveway, a forecourt — our van gets there and we ask about the fluid, the amount, plus whether the engine has turned over. On the phone, before dispatch, you hear our price, and those answers decide the job too.
A thorough flush comes after the drain. With petrol it is standard; with AdBlue it's crucial, because deposits form and some metals corrode, and neither rinses away unaided. Last are your filter, flushed or replaced if necessary; fresh diesel; and a check of the car. Not started? Then about half an hour once we are there covers most jobs.
Our engineers fire it up at the end. Our test that it runs properly on clean diesel comes before our technicians head off. We do the whole job where the vehicle is, and permanent damage is very uncommon when it has been caught early. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, nothing in advance. Worth remembering: lots of insurers offer misfuelling cover, so a check of your documents while we travel is worthwhile.
About St Stephens Place, briefly
St Stephens Place is a coastal locality in Devon, situated near the city of Plymouth and close to the nearby places of Plympton, Plympton St Maurice, and Colebrook. St Stephens Place has a population of approximately 3035 residents and is characterised by predominantly semi-detached housing. St Stephens Place is located at an elevation of 27 metres, with the city of Plymouth just 4.2 miles away. St Stephens Place is also relatively distant from London, at a distance of 187.5 miles.
AdBlue drains around St Stephens Place, and across Devon too
Throughout PL postcodes, the vans serving St Stephens Place — a coastal area — work nearby places too, Plympton St Maurice and Colebrook among them. A postcode starting PL7 2 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Parked en route to Hardwick Wood, or right in the heart of St Stephens Place, your car stays put — there's no need to move it anywhere. We drain the vehicle where it sits. If you're somewhere hard to explain, close to Plympton Library or close to a border, ring and ask rather than guessing.
In one line: your situation
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off and ring. Whatever case fits, Petrol in Diesel handles from there on 0333 366 0103, across Devon and in St Stephens Place — once you pull over, switch off then phone, if it has run.