AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Upper Upnor, and What to Do Next
One thing matters above all when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if your motor has been started since. Anywhere your car is — Noke Street, Upper Upnor — don't start an engine that has not run yet. Usually this means emptying and properly rinsing it on the spot in Upper Upnor — so keep your key and engine off then phone 0333 366 0103. Already run? Stop when you safely can, then switch everything off. Step one stays the same, even if the job grows.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever around Kent it happened.
At the petrol pump in Upper Upnor: AdBlue in a diesel
You are at the pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Perhaps you're at the Co-op, maybe at the JET, perhaps somewhere else in Upper Upnor.
What it means: this is the ideal spot to find out. The AdBlue is inside your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
What to do: do not get back in and start it to clear the petrol pump. Get the staff to help rolling it to a space, save the receipt, then phone us from there. If it cannot be shifted, it can be emptied at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home in Upper Upnor
On your dash, a reminder had been lit all week. 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. Homes just off Castle Street get hit as often as everywhere else.
The upshot: no miles since makes this nearly as good to spotting it at the petrol pump. Diesel and AdBlue keep separate: the AdBlue drops to the floor of your tank and stays there, however long the night.
Your move: the keys indoors, and so no one drives your vehicle off first thing. After that, ring. We drain the car on your driveway, whether that is in Upper Upnor or out in Lower Upnor. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Upper Upnor?
A short way beyond filling up, the motor started misbehaving: rough running, smoke, less power, lights on the dash. Somewhere on High Street or on the road towards Southend-on-Sea — under 15 miles away.
The upshot: the system has pulled AdBlue through already. Mileage sets how far it gets: filter and pipework first, then the injection pump and every injector. It goes deeper with every extra mile covered and each restart.
Do this: stop anywhere safe, then turn your motor off. Service stations farther on are too far: from the M2, under 3 miles out of Upper Upnor, take the next junction. Starting it again to test gets nothing — AdBlue never clears on its own. Call, saying how far the car went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've just had this vehicle for days. On your own car, AdBlue is absent or elsewhere. On this one, its cap is just next to your diesel cap — a surprise to you. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Kent.
Meaning? Whichever case above applies too — run or not — plus one further stage. Many hire and fleet contracts need the owner's approval before repairs.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That's quicker settled before our technicians arrive than after. Keep the car off while the reply arrives, even if you are parked at Strood or near Frindsbury Cricket Club.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, in Upper Upnor
Truthfully, the best answer might be that you think so. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia round your filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. The gates of Wainscott Primary School in a hurry, perhaps, or a friend's driveway over in Brompton.
The point: your engine is not harmed by a little AdBlue spilled around the filler. If it is inside your diesel tank, though, it does. You can't tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so would suck in any AdBlue that is in your tank.
Do this: behave as though it got in, and don't start your motor. Tell us what you saw on your phone. A clear tank looked at is a happier result than a run one drained.
The common ground in each Upper Upnor AdBlue drain
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. Three questions are asked once our technicians reach your car — at a forecourt, a driveway, a street beside Frindsbury Tennis Club or the car park at Kings Arms: the fluid, the quantity, and whether the motor has been started. Replies shape the job; the price comes by phone while no one has left yet.
Emptying the tank comes first, followed by a full flush — more important after urea than with petrol, because crystals and corrosion won't go by themselves, however long it sits. Clean diesel is put in once the filter is flushed or replaced, and your car is finally checked. Not started? In that case about half an hour on site is most jobs.
Starting the car comes at the end. Our technicians check it runs smoothly on clean diesel before we leave. The whole job is done where your car is, and if it is caught quickly, long-term damage is very unusual. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Worth remembering: many insurers include misfuelling cover, and so a check of your policy as we travel is worthwhile.
About Upper Upnor
Upper Upnor is a small village on the north bank of the River Medway in Kent, with a population of around 577 residents. Upper Upnor sits at a low elevation of 23 metres, close to the Thames Estuary and near the villages of Lower Upnor and Chattenden. Upper Upnor is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock and its proximity to the coast, with Southend-on-Sea just 12 miles away. Upper Upnor is also within commuting distance of London, at 28 miles to the west.
Upper Upnor and Kent: AdBlue drains across the area
As a coastal village, Upper Upnor has the same vans as the surrounding towns — Wainscott, Chattenden — right through ME postcodes. A postcode starting ME2 4 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Whether the car is on a lay-by on the way to Liberty Park or in a car park in the middle of Upper Upnor, it doesn't need to move. Our van drains it in place. Awkward to pin down? By Upnor Castle or a county line? Checking is better than assuming, so ring.
In one line: your situation
Not run yet: keep it off then ring. Started by now? Pull over, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest whichever it is, across Upper Upnor and Kent, on 0333 366 0103.