AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in The Common: What Now?
Has your engine turned over since the AdBlue was put in? That single question decides nearly everything else from here. Over in Colton or here around The Common, an unrun motor must stay that way. Leave your motor and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103; it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around The Common. When your motor has been run, pull in safely straight away, then turn it off. A bigger job, yes, but the identical opening move.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever in Norfolk it happened.
On a The Common forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you only spot it while you're stood at the pump, bottle or the nozzle in hand. Be it Hocking Motor Services, Sainsbury's or somewhere else in The Common, the situation is the same.
In short: no better place to be to discover it. The AdBlue is inside your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has sucked it in.
Next: avoid the urge to fire it up just to free up the petrol pump. Ask the staff to help you push the vehicle into a parking spot, keep your receipt or the bottle, then call us from the forecourt. If it cannot be moved, it can be drained at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a The Common drive?
Several days had passed 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 again at the cap. Drives close to Bull Close get it as much as anywhere.
Put simply: if the car hasn't been driven since, it is almost as good as spotting it at the forecourt. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of that tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves your car in the morning. Then call. Your drive is where it gets emptied, whether in The Common or East Tuddenham. Even at night, our pumps stay quiet enough for a driveway.
The Common: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
A short way after topping up, the motor began misbehaving: rough running, smoke, lost power, lights on the dash. Maybe it was on The Street, perhaps on the way out towards Norwich, under 10 miles away.
Meaning? Your fuel pump has taken the AdBlue in. Mileage decides how far it goes: filter and pipework first, then the high-pressure pump and every injector. More miles, more restarts: further it goes.
Pull in safely — that is the first step — then switch it off. Exit by the first junction — not the services further along — if you are on the M11, over 50 miles from The Common. No trial starts: clearing itself isn't something AdBlue does. Phone us and say how far you went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
Seven days back, it was unknown to you. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is missing or elsewhere. On this one, the cap is just by your diesel inlet — a surprise to you. Wherever you happen to be around Norfolk, any motorist can be caught.
Put simply: one extra stage on top of the cases above, and those turn on if it's run. The owner often needs to approve any work, under plenty of hire and company agreements.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's quicker settled before our technicians get there than after. Stuck near East Tuddenham Village Sign or outside Wymondham until the firm replies, your car stays turned off throughout.
The Common: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Occasionally the fair answer is "I think so". What cap came off, you can't recall; meanwhile the bottle weighs lighter than it ought to, and ammonia lingers by your filler. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Hockering Church of England Primary Academy, or on a friend's drive in South Green.
Meaning? Spills around the filler don't reach the engine at all. In your diesel tank, however, AdBlue damages it. Turning on the car won't tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in that tank it will draw it in.
Assume it went in, and never turn the engine. Phone with the details: we'd sooner confirm a clean tank than drain one once your engine has run.
Every AdBlue drain around The Common shares these stages
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. We come to your car, whether it is at a forecourt, a drive, the car park at the pub in the village or a side street near East Tuddenham Jubilee Hall and Community Centre, and ask three things: what got in, about how much, and if your motor has run. Your price comes over the phone, before a van leaves, and the replies set the job.
A thorough flush comes after the drain. With petrol it's standard; with AdBlue it's crucial, since crystals form and some metals are attacked, and neither washes out unaided. Finally are the filter, flushed or renewed as needed; clean diesel; and a test of your car. Where the motor hasn't been started, expect roughly half an hour once we arrive, for most jobs.
Finally, our technicians fire it up. Before our technicians leave, it is tested to be sure it runs correctly on fresh diesel. If it is caught quickly, the vehicle very seldom has permanent damage, and the entire job takes place where it is. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, no money in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About The Common itself
The Common is a small hamlet in Norfolk, situated inland at an elevation of 52 metres, approximately 9 miles west of Norwich. The Common lies near the villages of East Tuddenham, Welborne, and Honingham, in a rural area of the Eastern region. The Common has a population of around 516 people, predominantly living in detached houses.
AdBlue drains around The Common, and across Norfolk too
Being a rural hamlet, The Common shares its vans with the nearby towns — Honingham, Welborne — right across NR postcodes. A postcode starting NR20 3 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Centre of The Common or a layby towards Barnham Broom: wherever it is, your car never needs to shift at all for us. The van drains it in place. Ring and check rather than guess when you're by All Saints' Church, near a boundary, or anywhere tricky to explain.
Your situation, summed up
Still unrun? Keep the vehicle off then phone. Started by now? Stop, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder whichever case, across The Common and Norfolk, on 0333 366 0103.