AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Three Mile Cross: What Now?
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. Wherever your car stands — Whitley Wood, Three Mile Cross — never start an engine that hasn't run yet. Leave the motor and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103; it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Three Mile Cross. Already started? Stop once safe, then turn everything off. Step one remains the same, even though the work grows.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever in Berkshire it happened.
At the pump around Three Mile Cross: AdBlue in a diesel
Imagine it: standing by the petrol pump, holding the bottle, you spot the filler you took off wasn't the right one. Be it BP, Shell or anywhere else in Three Mile Cross, the situation is identical.
The upshot: of every spot to notice, the forecourt is the best. No pump has pulled it through, so the AdBlue sits only inside that tank.
Freeing the petrol pump is no reason to run it — so don't get back in. Get the attendants to lend a hand pushing it to a space, hold on to the receipt, then phone us right there. The equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a live forecourt, so a vehicle that cannot be pushed clear is emptied where it is at the pump.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home around Three Mile Cross
For days the dashboard had been warning you. Only by the recycling, the empty container in hand, did you glance back at the cap you'd opened on the driveway. It happens on driveways just off Basingstoke Road as commonly as anywhere.
Meaning? As long as the car has not moved since, it's close to the pump case. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of your tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves the vehicle in the morning. Then call. Our engineers drain the vehicle on your drive, whether that's in Three Mile Cross or out in Great Lea Common. Night-time empties outside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet.
Drove off with AdBlue in a diesel in Three Mile Cross?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your engine began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Maybe driving to Oxford, under 50 miles away, or simply along Grazeley Road.
Meaning? The pump has sucked the AdBlue up. It has been through the filter and the lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and your injectors. More miles, more starts: further it goes.
Pull in safely — that is the first step — then switch it off. Service stations farther along are too far: from the M4, under a mile out of Three Mile Cross, use the next junction. No trial starts: clearing itself isn't something AdBlue will do. Call, saying how far the vehicle went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company cars
You have only driven the car a week. Your own motor either does without AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, so no one told you the AdBlue cap was just beside your diesel. Wherever you happen to be around Berkshire, any driver can be caught.
In short: an extra step on top of the cases above, and those turn on whether it has run. The owner often needs to sign off the work, under plenty of rental and fleet contracts.
Your move: hire firm or fleet manager first, us next, since sorting it early cuts time. If you are stuck in the car park at Reading Green Park, or by Mary Russell Mitford, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
Three Mile Cross: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
"I think so" is often as honest as it gets. Which cap came off, you cannot recall; but the bottle weighs lighter than it ought to, and a whiff of ammonia lingers by your filler. A rushed top-up by the gates of Alder Grove Church of England Primary School, or a visit to a friend in Schoolgreen: either fit.
The point: your engine is not hurt by some AdBlue splashed around the filler. Once it's inside your diesel tank, though, it does. You cannot tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so would pull in any AdBlue that is in your tank.
Assume it got in, and don't turn the key. Call us and describe what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
What each AdBlue drain in Three Mile Cross has in common
The job begins the same way, whichever the situation. Our technicians come to the vehicle, whether it is at a forecourt, a drive, the car park outside The Swan Inn or a side street near St Michael and All Angels, and ask three things: what went in, roughly how much, and whether the engine has run. Replies set the work; the quote comes by phone whilst nobody has set off yet.
A thorough flush follows this drain. With petrol it is routine; with AdBlue it is crucial, because crystals form and certain metals are attacked, and neither washes away unaided. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Never started? Then about half an hour once we are there is most jobs.
Last, our technicians fire it up. Our test that it runs correctly on new diesel comes before our engineers head off. Lasting damage is very rare when it's spotted quickly, and the whole job is done where the vehicle is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling, and so check yours while the van travels.
About Three Mile Cross, briefly
Three Mile Cross is a village in Berkshire, situated inland at an elevation of 44 metres, and is located near several other small settlements including Great Lea Common and Spencers Wood. Three Mile Cross has a population of around 1607 people, and is characterized by predominantly detached housing. Three Mile Cross is also close to the larger city of Oxford, which is approximately 26.9 miles away, and is within commuting distance of London, which is 37.1 miles to the east.
AdBlue drains across Berkshire, Three Mile Cross included
Ryeish Green and Spencers Wood get the same vans as Three Mile Cross, a rural village, plus other places over RG postcodes. Your whereabouts comes quickest from a postcode beginning RG7 1.
Stopped heading to South Whitley Park, or bang in the heart of Three Mile Cross, the car remains put — there's no need to shift it anywhere. Our technicians drain it where it sits. If you are somewhere hard to explain, close to Spencers Wood Village Hall or close to a border, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Your situation, summed up
Engine never started: phone, leaving it alone. Whichever case applies, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, throughout Berkshire and within Three Mile Cross — after you pull over, switch off and phone, if it has run.