What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Sutton St Nicholas
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if your motor has been run since it was put in. Anywhere your car stands — Sutton Lakes, Sutton St Nicholas — don't run a motor that has not run yet. Leave your engine and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103; it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Sutton St Nicholas. When your motor has run, stop somewhere safe straight away, then turn it off. It is a bigger job, though step one does not change.
Match your case to a situation from the ones below, anywhere around Herefordshire you are.
Sutton St Nicholas 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 opened was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. Anywhere around Sutton St Nicholas, then — Asda Express, Texaco, or somewhere else close by.
The point: of every spot to notice, this is the best. The AdBlue is inside your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Do this: keep out of the driver's seat, even if the pump wants clearing. Ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle into a parking spot, keep your receipt or the bottle, then ring us from the forecourt. Emptying it there at the petrol pump is fine if it cannot be shifted, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Sutton St Nicholas drive?
On the dash, a warning had been lit for days. A bottle bought at the garage, emptied in on the driveway — and it's just by the recycling that the cap caught your eye. Driveways close to Fieldway get it as much as any other street.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. At the bottom of that tank is exactly where AdBlue stays, since it will not blend with diesel — and a night going by makes no difference.
Your move: keys in the house, and so no one takes the car off at breakfast. Then, phone. Your drive is where it is drained, whether in Sutton St Nicholas or Sutton St Michael. Night-time empties outside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise.
On the road in Sutton St Nicholas with AdBlue in a diesel
Topped up, drove away, and before long your motor was turning roughly, blowing smoke, losing power, or flashing up the dash. Somewhere along Orchard Close or on the road towards Hereford — under 5 miles away.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been sucked into your fuel system. The injection pump and every injector see it too on a longer run, once the filter and lines have it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Your move: stop somewhere safe, then turn the motor off. Service stations farther on can wait: on the M50, under 15 miles out of Sutton St Nicholas, use the next junction. No trial restarts: clearing is not something AdBlue does. Phone, and say what distance the vehicle went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
A week back, it was new to you. Unknown to you, the two inlets sit side by side here — not like your own car, which has none or keeps it elsewhere. Wherever you are around Herefordshire, every driver could be caught.
The upshot: exactly as above, divided by whether it ran, but with an added stage. The owner often has to approve the work, under many rental and company contracts.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's quicker settled before our engineers get there than after. Waiting for an answer in the car park at Hereford, or near St Nicholas? Leave the engine off throughout.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, around Sutton St Nicholas
Truthfully, the best answer might be that you think so. A slight ammonia-like whiff hangs around your filler, the bottle feels too light, and the cap you took off is a blur. A rushed top-up by the gates of Sutton Primary Academy, or a call to a friend in Fromington: both fits.
What it means: a little spilled round your filler does no harm to the engine. The diesel tank with AdBlue in it is another story. Turning on the car cannot tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in the tank it would suck it in.
Next: act as though it went in, and keep the engine off. Ring with the details: we would sooner confirm a clean tank than drain one after the motor has run.
What each AdBlue drain around Sutton St Nicholas has in common
Whatever the situation, a single opening is used. Wherever the vehicle stands — The Golden Cross's car park, a street beside St Michael, a driveway, a forecourt — the van gets there and asks about the fluid, the amount, plus if your motor has turned over. Your price comes on the call, before a van leaves, and the answers set the job.
AdBlue crystallises and eats at certain metals in fuel systems, and so it does not rinse out on its own; that's why the flush, after this drain, counts much more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
The last step is starting it. Before we leave, it's checked to confirm it runs correctly on fresh diesel. The whole job is done where your car is, and if it's caught quickly, lasting damage is very unusual. Paying comes that day, never upfront. For the insurer, there is a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Sutton St Nicholas, for a moment
Sutton St Nicholas is a village in Herefordshire, situated on the banks of the River Lugg at an elevation of 62 metres. Sutton St Nicholas lies close to the city of Hereford, approximately 3.8 miles to the northwest, and is surrounded by other small settlements such as Sutton St Michael and Franklands Gate. Sutton St Nicholas has a population of around 636 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Sutton St Nicholas is located in a rural area, with the nearest major city being Hereford and London being 116.8 miles to the southeast.
AdBlue drains about Sutton St Nicholas and across Herefordshire
Sutton St Nicholas is a village, and the same vans that cover it work the places near it too, Franklands Gate and Burmarsh among them, across the HR postcode area. Telling us a HR1 3 postcode pins you quickest of all.
Stopped en route to Marden Playing fields, or bang in the heart of Sutton St Nicholas, your car stays where it is — there's no need to move it at all. Our van empties it where it stands. Ring and ask rather than guess when you're by Sutton Walls (camp), on a border, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
Your situation, summed up
Engine not started: phone, and leave it alone. Whichever line fits, Petrol in Diesel handles the rest on 0333 366 0103, throughout Herefordshire and within Sutton St Nicholas — once you stop, turn off and ring, if it's run.