AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Tavistock: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if your motor has been run since it went in. Over in Lumburn or right around Tavistock, an unstarted engine should remain unrun. Keep nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, then expect a proper flush plus a drain, done just where your vehicle sits around Tavistock. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. It is a bigger job, though step one does not change.
Wherever around Devon it took place, one of the cases below fits yours.
Tavistock forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Picture it: stood by the pump, gripping the nozzle, you spot the filler you opened was not the right one. It might be the Texaco, or the Morrisons, or another forecourt in Tavistock.
Put simply: no better place to be to spot it. Still inside the tank, with nothing drawn onwards: that's where the AdBlue sits.
What to do: don't get back in and start it to clear the pump. A few jobs: a push into a bay with the attendants helping, the receipt saved, and a call to us from where you stand. Emptying it there at the petrol pump is possible when it can't be moved, since the equipment is explosion-proof.
At home around Tavistock with AdBlue in the diesel tank
On your dash, a warning had shown all week. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look again at the cap. Houses just off Duke Street get hit as often as anywhere else.
Meaning? As long as the vehicle hasn't been driven since, it is close to the pump case. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of the tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
Your move: the keys in the house, and so nobody drives the vehicle anywhere first thing. Then, phone. In Whitchurch or here around Tavistock, the draining is done at your drive. Late-night empties outside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Tavistock?
Rough running, smoke, falling power or a lit dashboard started a mile or two after the top-up. Perhaps it was on Drake Road, possibly on the way out towards Plymouth, under 15 miles away.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been sucked through the fuel system. Through the filter, along the pipework, and — the further the distance — on into the high-pressure pump and every injector. More miles, more restarts: deeper it goes.
Next: find a sensible place, stop, then turn your motor off. Services further along are too far: from the M5, under 50 miles out of Tavistock, take the next junction. It will not have cleared, so there is no point starting it again to find out. Call us and say how far you drove.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've had this car hardly a week. Your own vehicle either does without AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere, and so nothing warned you the AdBlue cap was just beside the diesel. Any driver, wherever across Devon, could make the same.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more step. The owner frequently needs to approve any work, under many hire and company agreements.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's quicker settled before our technicians get there than after. If you are stranded in the car park outside Gunnislake, or by St Eustachius Church, while you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
Unsure about AdBlue in the diesel tank in Tavistock?
Sometimes the fair answer is "I think so". A slight ammonia-like smell lingers near the filler, the bottle feels too light, and which cap came off is hard to recall. The gates of St Rumon's Church of England (VC) Infants School in a hurry, perhaps, or someone's drive over in Grenofen.
In short: spillage near the filler does the motor unharmed. In your diesel tank, however, AdBlue harms it. If there is AdBlue in that tank, turning on the car would suck it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Take it that it got in, and never start your key. Ring with the details: we'd sooner find a clean tank than drain one after your motor has been run.
The common ground in every Tavistock AdBlue drain
The job begins identically, whichever the situation. Forecourt, driveway, Drake's Wine Bar & Café's car park or a street by Tavistock Town Hall — our van comes to your vehicle, and three questions come next: what fluid, which quantity, and whether it has run. The price is given over the phone, ahead of anyone setting off, and the replies set the work.
Then that tank is emptied and the system flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not rinse out on its own. Next comes your filter — flushed, or replaced when necessary — followed by clean diesel, and a test of your car. The majority of unstarted cars are a half-hour job after the moment we get there.
The final step is starting it. Our technicians confirm it runs properly on clean diesel before we go. Long-term damage is very uncommon when it is spotted soon, and the entire job is done where the car is. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, no money in advance. Worth remembering: many insurers include misfuelling cover, and so a quick look at your documents while we travel is worthwhile.
About Tavistock
Tavistock is a town situated in the west of Devon, on the banks of the River Tavy, at an elevation of around 86 metres. Tavistock lies near the Dartmoor National Park and is close to the cities of Plymouth and Exeter, with the town itself having a mix of housing types, although predominantly detached. Tavistock is surrounded by smaller settlements, including Whitchurch, Middlemoor, and Wilminstone, and is approximately 186.6 miles from London. Tavistock has a population of around 10475 people.
AdBlue drains about Tavistock and across Devon
Middlemoor and Wilminstone get the identical teams as Tavistock, a riverside town, plus further places over PL postcodes. Quickest of all: a PL19 0 postcode for your location.
Stopped en route to Tavy Gardens, or right in the centre of Tavistock, the vehicle remains put — there is no need to move it at all. We drain the car where it is. If you're somewhere hard to explain, close to Tavistock Museum or close to a border, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Your scenario, summed up
Unstarted? Keep it off then phone. Whichever line applies, Petrol in Diesel handles the rest on 0333 366 0103, throughout Devon and in Tavistock — after you stop, turn off and phone, if it's run.