AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Tetchill, and What to Do Next
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: whether your engine has been run since it went in. Anywhere your car is — Ellesmere, Tetchill — don't start a motor that hasn't been started yet. Usually that is draining and properly flushing it right there in Tetchill — so keep your key and engine off and phone 0333 366 0103. When your engine has been run, stop somewhere safe straight away, then switch the vehicle off. A larger job, then, yet the same opening move.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever across Shropshire it happened.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Tetchill forecourt
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you just notice it while you are standing at the petrol pump, bottle or the nozzle in your hand. Somewhere in Tetchill, then — Texaco, Swan Petroleum, or somewhere else close by.
The point: of all places to find out, this is the best. Still inside the tank, and nothing drawn onwards: that's where the AdBlue sits.
Next: resist the urge to fire it up only to move away from the pump. Three things: a push into a bay with the staff assisting, the receipt saved, and a ring to us from where you stand. The equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt, so a car that cannot be pushed away gets cleared right at the petrol pump.
At home around Tetchill with AdBlue in your diesel tank
Days had gone by with the warning light on. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look once more at the cap. Driveways near Ellesmere Road get it as much as any other street.
Put simply: if your car has not been driven since, it's almost equal to spotting it at the pump. As it is unable to blend, AdBlue drops to the base inside your tank and stays. One night standing changes none of that.
Next: the keys indoors, so no one drives the car off at breakfast. After that, phone. Our engineers drain it on your drive, whether that is in Tetchill or out in Lee. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Drove off with AdBlue in a diesel in Tetchill?
Filled up, drove away, and before long the motor was turning roughly, smoking, down on power, or lighting up the dash. Maybe driving for Wrexham, under 15 miles away, or just along Hordley Road.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been pulled into the fuel system. Mileage sets how far it gets: filter and pipework first, then the high-pressure pump and each injector. More driving, more restarts: deeper it travels.
Stop somewhere safe — that is the first job — then switch everything off. On the M54, under 25 miles from Tetchill, that means the next exit, not the services further on. Restarting it to check achieves nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear on its own. Call, and say how far the vehicle was driven.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've only driven the vehicle a week. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is absent or elsewhere. On this one, the cap is just next to your diesel cap — news to you. Anyone, wherever across Shropshire, might do the same.
In short: an extra step on top of the situations above, which depend on whether it has run. The owner often has to sign off any work, under many hire and company agreements.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's faster settled before our engineers turn up than after. Keep it switched off while the answer arrives, even if you're waiting outside Gobowen or near St Mary the Virgin.
Tetchill: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
At times, "I think so" is all you can honestly say. Too light, the bottle; a trace of ammonia near your filler; a hazy memory of which cap. Look familiar? It might have been on a friend's driveway in Lower Frankton, or rushing by Ellesmere Primary School on the school run.
What it means: a little spilled about your filler does no harm to your engine. A diesel tank with AdBlue in it is another story. If there is AdBlue in your tank, starting the vehicle will suck it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Take it that it was put in, and don't turn your engine. Ring and give what you saw: we would sooner confirm a tank free of AdBlue than empty one after your motor has run.
What each AdBlue drain around Tetchill has in common
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Three things are asked when we arrive — at a forecourt, a driveway, a road by Ellesmere Market Hall or the car park at the pub in the village: the liquid, the quantity, and if the motor has been started. Your price comes over the phone, before a van leaves, and those answers set the job.
AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain metals in fuel systems, and so it does not rinse out unaided; that's why the flush, after this drain, matters much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Clean diesel goes in once the fuel filter is cleaned or replaced, and the car is then tested. Never started? In that case about half an hour on site is most jobs.
We fire it up at the end. Before our technicians go, it is checked to make sure it runs properly on new diesel. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, and if it is caught early, long-term damage is very rare. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Dig out your insurance before we arrive: cover for misfuelling is built into many policies.
About Tetchill
Tetchill is a small village in Shropshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 92 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Tetchill lies near the villages of Lee, Newnes, and Hordley, and is approximately 11.6 miles from Wrexham. Tetchill has a population of around 544 people and is located in a rural area of the West Midlands region. Tetchill is also relatively distant from London, at a distance of 151.5 miles.
AdBlue drains around Tetchill, and across Shropshire too
Over SY postcodes, the teams covering Tetchill — a village — reach surrounding places too, Newnes and Hordley included. Your whereabouts is quickest from a postcode beginning SY12 9.
No towing is required, be it stopped in the centre of Tetchill or in a lay-by en route to Stapeley Wood, so leave it put. Draining happens on the spot. Phone and check instead of guessing if you're close to Ellesmere Library, on a boundary, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
The one-line version
Where it has not run, phone and leave it that way. Whatever case fits, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, throughout Shropshire and within Tetchill — after you pull over, turn off then phone, if it's run.