What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Town End
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether your engine has been run since it was put in. If it hasn't, keep it that way, whether your car is in Town End itself or out in Park Side. Phone 0333 366 0103 with your key and motor both off. Across Town End, that is typically drained and flushed where it stands. Already run? Stop when you safely can, then turn it off. Step one remains unchanged, even though the job grows.
Wherever around South Yorkshire it happened, one of the situations below fits yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Town End forecourt
Imagine it: standing by the petrol pump, holding the nozzle, you realise the cap you opened was not the correct one. Be it JET, Morrisons or anywhere else around Town End, the situation is identical.
Put simply: there is no better place exists to spot it. Still inside that tank, and nothing pulled through: that is where the AdBlue is.
Your move: keep out of the car, however much the pump wants freeing. Ask the attendants to help you push the car into a parking spot, keep the receipt or the bottle, then ring us from the forecourt. If it cannot be moved, it can be emptied at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a working forecourt.
Town End, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Several days had passed with the warning light on. Picked up a container, poured it in at home, recycled the empty — and at that point checked the cap again, after the fact. Homes just off Oldfield Road are caught out as much as everywhere else.
Meaning? As long as the car hasn't been driven since, it's second to the pump case. Diesel and AdBlue stay separate: the AdBlue settles to the base of the tank and remains there, however long it waits.
Next: the keys in the house, so no one drives the car anywhere first thing. Then, phone. In Liberty Hill or here in Town End, the drain happens at your drive. Even at night, the pumps are quiet enough for a driveway.
Town End: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
A mile or two after topping up, the motor started misbehaving: rough running, smoke, lost power, warnings on the dash. It might have been heading for Sheffield, under 3 miles away, or just along Stannington Road.
In short: the AdBlue has been pulled through your fuel system. Distance decides how far it gets: filter and lines first, then the high-pressure pump and every injector. It travels further with every extra mile driven and each restart.
Next: find a sensible place, stop, then switch your motor off. Exit by the first junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M1, under 10 miles from Town End. It will not have cleared, so there is no point restarting to check. Roughly how far had it go? Say so as you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
It is a vehicle you have had for a week. The AdBlue filler sits right alongside the diesel filler, which you did not know, because your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Any driver, anywhere in South Yorkshire, could do the same.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it's run, with one more stage. Plenty of hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on your car.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is faster settled before our engineers turn up than after. Leave the car switched off while the answer comes, even if you're parked at Sheffield or near Stannington Cross.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, around Town End
At times, "I think so" is the most anyone can truthfully say. Too light, that bottle; a trace of ammonia near the filler; a hazy recollection of the cap. Look familiar? A hurried stop by the gates of Shooter's Grove Primary School, or a visit to a friend in Knowle Top: either fit.
The upshot: the engine isn't hurt by a little AdBlue spilled around the outside. In your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue harms it. Any AdBlue in the tank would be pulled in by starting your car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Do this: behave as if it got in, and don't start your motor. Describe what you saw on your phone. A clear tank checked is a better outcome than an already-run one emptied.
The common ground in every Town End AdBlue drain
The work begins the same way, whichever the case. Wherever the car stands — The Peacock Inn's car park, a street by Rivelin Valley Chair, a drive, a filling station — our van gets there and we ask for the fluid, the quantity, and whether your motor has turned over. Answers shape the job; the price comes on the call while nobody has left yet.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to some metals in fuel systems, so it won't wash out unaided; that's why a full flush, after this drain, matters much more with AdBlue than with petrol. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Most unstarted vehicles are a half-hour job after the moment we get there.
Last, our engineers fire it up. Before our technicians head off, it's tested to make sure it runs smoothly on clean diesel. Our technicians do the whole job where the vehicle is, and lasting damage is very unusual when it has been noticed quickly. Nothing is paid upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you get what the insurer asks for: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. It is worth knowing: lots of insurers include misfuelling cover, so a quick look at your documents while you wait is worthwhile.
About Town End
Town End is a suburban area situated on the outskirts of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, with a riverside setting that offers scenic views. Town End has a mix of semi-detached housing and is located near other residential areas such as Liberty Hill and Stannington. Town End sits at an elevation of 186 metres, providing a vantage point over the surrounding landscape. Town End is close to the city of Sheffield, being only 2.7 miles away from the city centre.
AdBlue drains across South Yorkshire, Town End included
Town End is a residential suburb, and the same teams that cover it work the places around it too, Stannington and Park Head among them, across the S postcode area. Quickest of all: a S6 5 postcode to show your location.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to Deer Park or in a car park in the middle of Town End, it doesn't need to move. Our engineers drain the car where it is. If you are somewhere hard to describe, close to Stannington Library or close to a border, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The one-line version
Not run yet: keep it off and call. Whatever case fits, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, across South Yorkshire and in Town End — once you pull over, turn off and phone, if it has run.