AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Walbottle, and What to Do Next
One thing counts most when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is whether the engine has run afterwards. Wherever your car stands — Stella, Walbottle — never start an engine that hasn't run yet. Call 0333 366 0103 with your key and motor both off. In Walbottle, such a case is generally drained and flushed on the spot. Already started? Pull over once safe, then switch it off. A bigger job, then, but the same opening step.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever around Tyne and Wear it happened.
Walbottle forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you just notice it while you're standing at the petrol pump, bottle or the nozzle in your hand. Whether Gulf, Shell or somewhere else in Walbottle, the situation is the same.
What it means: this is the ideal spot to find out. Only your tank has AdBlue; no part beyond it has taken it in.
What to do: don't get back in and fire it up to clear the petrol pump. A few jobs: a shove into a space with the attendants helping, the receipt kept, and a call to us from where you stand. Stuck by the petrol pump? Our explosion-proof equipment keeps a busy forecourt safe, so it can be drained where it is.
At home in Walbottle with AdBlue in your diesel tank
On the dash, a reminder had shown 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 again at the cap. It occurs on driveways just off The Green as frequently as anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue keep separate: the AdBlue settles to the floor of your tank and remains put, no matter how long the night.
Next: keys in the house, and so nobody takes the vehicle anywhere at breakfast. After that, ring. Your driveway is where it gets drained, be it in Walbottle or Newburn. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
On the road in Walbottle with AdBlue in a diesel
A mile or two after topping up, your engine started playing up: roughness, smoke, lost power, warnings on the dash. Walbottle Road, say, or the way towards Newcastle upon Tyne — a run of under 10 miles.
The point: the system has pulled AdBlue in by now. It's been through the fuel filter and your lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure pump and the injectors. Every restart, like each mile, pushes it on.
Next: pick a safe place, stop, and switch your engine off. On the Central Motorway East, under 5 miles from Walbottle, that means the next exit, not the services further on. Restarting it to check achieves nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear itself. Tell us know the distance covered when you ring.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've had this vehicle barely a week. The AdBlue filler sits right next to the diesel one, which you didn't know, since your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Tyne and Wear.
The point: just as above, divided by whether it ran, only with one added step. Plenty of hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on your car.
Sorting it before we arrives is faster, and so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, and then us. Leave it off while the reply comes, whether you are waiting outside Blaydon or near Newburn Hall Motor Museum.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Walbottle?
At times, "I think so" is the most anyone can honestly say. A slight ammonia smell hangs around your filler, the bottle feels too light, and which cap came off is a blur. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Walbottle Village Primary School, or on a friend's drive in West Denton.
Meaning? Drips outside the filler never reach your engine at all. Inside your diesel tank, however, AdBlue harms it. You cannot tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so would pull in any AdBlue that is in your tank.
Do this: behave as though it got in, and don't start your engine. Ring us and explain what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
The common ground in every Walbottle AdBlue drain
No matter the case, one start is used. Three things are asked when our engineers reach the car — at a forecourt, a driveway, a street by Blucher Methodist Church or the car park at The Percy Arms: the liquid, the amount, and whether it has been started. On the phone, before dispatch, you are told our quote, and those answers decide the job too.
Emptying your tank comes first, then a careful flush — more important after urea than with petrol, because crystals and corrosion will not clear on their own, however long it sits. Finally come the filter, cleaned or replaced as needed; fresh diesel; and a test of your car. If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Finally, our technicians start the engine. Our test that it runs properly on new diesel comes before we go. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, and when it is caught quickly, permanent damage is very unusual. Nothing is taken upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you receive what your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many policies include misfuelling, so check yours as we head over.
About Walbottle and where it is
Walbottle is a small village in Tyne and Wear, situated approximately 5 miles west of Newcastle upon Tyne. Walbottle sits at an elevation of 61 metres, in a predominantly inland area of the North East region. Walbottle has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by terraced homes. Walbottle is close to nearby places such as Newburn and Throckley, and is about 249 miles north of London.
Walbottle and Tyne and Wear: AdBlue drains across the area
Walbottle is a rural village, and the same teams that cover it work the towns around it too, Throckley and North Walbottle among them, across the NE postcode area. Giving us a NE15 8 postcode finds you quickest of all.
Stopped en route to Walbottle Dene, or right in the heart of Walbottle, your vehicle stays where it is — there's no need to shift it anywhere. Wherever it sits, that's where it is drained. Guessing doesn't help near Kingdom Hall, close to a border or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
In one line: your situation
Not run yet: keep the car off and ring. Started by now? Pull over, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest whichever case, in Walbottle and Tyne and Wear, on 0333 366 0103.