AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Tottenham Green: What Now?
All of it hinges on a single fact: if your engine has been run since the AdBlue was added — far more than anything else. Anywhere your vehicle stands — South Tottenham, Tottenham Green — never start a motor that hasn't run yet. Leave your engine and your ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103; it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Tottenham Green. When the motor has been run, pull in safely straight away, then switch it off. Stage one remains the same, even though the job is bigger.
Below: the cases our technicians see, wherever in Greater London. Choose the one that fits.
At the pump in Tottenham Green: AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you just notice it while you're standing at the pump, bottle or nozzle in your hand. Be it Esso, Shell or anywhere else in Tottenham Green, the situation is identical.
What it means: this is the best place to find out. The AdBlue is in that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
Next: avoid the temptation to fire it up just to free up the petrol pump. Get the attendants to help rolling it into a bay, save the bottle, then ring us from there. Stuck beside the petrol pump? Our explosion-proof equipment makes a live forecourt sensible, and so it can be drained in place.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home in Tottenham Green
For days the dashboard had been warning you. Picked up a bottle, poured it in at home, recycled the empty — and only then looked at the cap again, too late. Driveways close to Portland Place get it as much as anywhere.
The point: no miles since makes this almost equal to spotting it at the petrol pump. Being unable to blend, AdBlue drops low in the tank and waits. One night standing alters nothing.
Put your keys in the house tonight — or a person might drive it away first thing — and phone us. Tottenham or Tottenham Green: wherever your drive is, that is where it is cleared. Our pumping kit runs quiet enough that it won't wake the street at night.
On the road in Tottenham Green with AdBlue in a diesel
A mile or two after topping up, the engine started playing up: roughness, smoke, less power, lights on the dash. Maybe it was on High Road, maybe on the way out towards London, under 10 miles away.
What it means: the fuel system has pulled the AdBlue in. Past your filter, through the lines, and — the more the mileage — on into the injection pump and every injector. More miles, more restarts: deeper it travels.
Next: find a sensible place, stop, then turn your motor off. On the M11, under 5 miles from Tottenham Green, that means the next exit, not the services further on. No trial starts: clearing itself is not something AdBlue does. Let us know the distance driven as you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
Seven days ago, it was new to you. Your own car either does without AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, and so no one told you the AdBlue inlet sits right beside the diesel. Throughout Greater London, no one is immune.
Meaning? Whatever case above applies too — run or unrun — plus one further step. The owner frequently needs to sign off the work, under many rental and company agreements.
Next: ring the rental company or your fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before we arrive is quicker. Hanging on for an answer in the car park outside Seven Sisters, or beside Tottenham Town Hall? Leave the engine off meanwhile.
Tottenham Green: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Honestly, the best answer might be that you think so. Which cap came off, you can't recall; but the bottle weighs lighter than it ought to, and ammonia lingers by the filler. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Earlsmead Primary School, or on a friend's drive in West Green.
The upshot: your engine is not hurt by a little AdBlue splashed around the outside. In your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue harms it. Any AdBlue in your tank would be drawn in by turning on the car, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
What to do: treat it as if it went in. Don't start the car. Ring us and describe what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
Every AdBlue drain in Tottenham Green shares these steps
No matter the situation, one opening applies. Three questions are asked when our engineers arrive — at a filling station, a driveway, a street beside Bernie Grant Arts Centre or the car park at The Post Bar: the fluid, the amount, and whether the motor has been started. Your price comes on the call, ahead of anyone setting off, and those answers shape the job.
A thorough flush comes after the drain. With petrol it's routine; with AdBlue it's essential, because crystals form and certain metals corrode, and none of it washes away unaided. Fresh diesel goes in after the filter has been cleaned or changed, and the car is then tested. The majority of unrun vehicles are a half-hour job from the moment we arrive.
Lastly, our technicians start the engine. We check it runs correctly on clean diesel before we leave. Permanent damage is very uncommon if it's spotted early, and the whole job is done where the car is. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, nothing upfront. Many policies include misfuelling, so check yours while the van travels.
About Tottenham Green itself
Tottenham Green is a suburban area in north London, situated near the River Lea and close to the centres of Tottenham and Seven Sisters. Tottenham Green sits at a low elevation of around 18 metres, reflecting its riverside location. Tottenham Green is characterized by a high proportion of flat dwellings, typical of many London suburban areas.
AdBlue drains across Greater London, Tottenham Green included
Tottenham Green is a residential suburb, and the same vans that cover it work the towns around it too, Seven Sisters and Tottenham Hale among them, across the N postcode area. Your whereabouts is clearest from a postcode beginning N15 4.
Whether the vehicle is on a lay-by on the way to Sycamore Gardens or in a car park in the middle of Tottenham Green, it doesn't need to move. Wherever it stands, that's where it is cleared. Phone and check rather than guess when you are by Marcus Garvey Library, on a border, or anywhere awkward to explain.
The one-line version
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off and call. Already run: stop, switch off then call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Tottenham Green and anywhere across Greater London on 0333 366 0103.