AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Whaplode: What Now?
Has your engine turned over since the AdBlue was put in? This single question settles nearly everything about what comes next. Over in Moulton Seas End or right in Whaplode, an unrun engine should remain unrun. Keep nothing on, call 0333 366 0103, then count on a thorough flush plus a drain, done just where your vehicle sits in Whaplode. When your engine has been run, pull in somewhere safe straight away, then switch the vehicle off. A larger job, then, yet the same first step.
Wherever around Lincolnshire it happened, one of the cases below fits yours.
On a Whaplode forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
You are at the petrol pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Somewhere in Whaplode, then — Gulf, Texaco, or anywhere else close by.
Meaning? Finding out here is the best it gets. Only your tank has AdBlue; no component past it has taken it in.
Freeing the pump is no excuse to start it — so don't get back in. Ring us from the forecourt after your car sits in a space — the attendants will help push it — then save the bottle. Our equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt, and so a vehicle that can't be pushed clear is cleared where it is at the petrol pump.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home around Whaplode
On the 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 a second time at the cap. Drives close to Malten Lane get it as much as anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of the tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves your car in the morning. Then call. Loosegate or Whaplode: wherever your drive is, that's where it is cleared. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Whaplode?
A short way beyond filling up, your motor started playing up: rough running, smoke, less power, warnings on the dash. Maybe driving to Peterborough, under 25 miles away, or simply down Middle Road.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been pulled into the fuel system. The high-pressure pump and every injector get it as well on a bigger run, after the filter and lines have it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Stop safely — that is the next step — then switch it off. Service stations further along are too far: from the A1(M), under 25 miles out of Whaplode, use the first junction. No test restarts: clearing itself is not something AdBlue will do. Call, saying what distance the vehicle went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have only had the vehicle for days. Your own motor either does without AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, so no one told you the AdBlue inlet was just beside your diesel. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Lincolnshire.
The upshot: just as above, divided by if it ran, only with an added stage. Many hire and fleet agreements require the owner's sign-off for repairs.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is faster settled before our engineers get there than after. Waiting for a reply in the car park at Spalding, or near Whaplode Village Hall? Keep your car off throughout.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Whaplode?
At times, "I think so" is all anyone can honestly say. A faint ammonia whiff hangs near your filler, the bottle feels too light, and the cap you took off is a blur. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Whaplode Church of England Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Saracens Head.
Meaning? Spills outside the inlet never touch the engine at all. Inside your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue damages it. If there is AdBlue in that tank, starting the car would suck it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
Next: act as though it went in, then keep your engine off. Describe what you noticed on the phone. A clear tank checked is a happier outcome than a run one emptied.
The common ground in each Whaplode AdBlue drain
Whichever situation you are in, this job starts the same way. Filling station, driveway, the pub in the village's car park or a road by Saint Mary's Church — our van comes to the car, and three answers follow: what fluid, which quantity, and if it ran. Replies set the job; the quote comes on the call while nobody has left yet.
AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain metals used in fuel systems, so it won't rinse out on its own; that is why the flush, after the drain, counts far more with AdBlue than with petrol. Finally are the filter, cleaned or replaced if necessary; clean diesel; and a test of the vehicle. Where your motor has not run, expect about half an hour once we arrive, for most jobs.
Our engineers start the engine last. Before our technicians leave, it's tested to be sure it runs smoothly on clean diesel. When it's noticed quickly, the vehicle very rarely has permanent damage, and the entire job takes place where it is. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, nothing upfront. It is worth remembering: lots of insurers offer misfuelling cover, and so a check of your policy while we travel pays.
About Whaplode, briefly
Whaplode is a small village in the East Midlands region of England, situated in the county of Lincolnshire. Whaplode lies near the villages of Loosegate, Moulton, and Halesgate, and is approximately 18 miles from the city of Peterborough. Whaplode has a population of around 1049 people and is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock. Whaplode is a low-lying village, with an elevation of just 4 metres above sea level.
AdBlue drains across Lincolnshire, Whaplode included
Whaplode is a rural village, and the same vans that cover it work the places near it too, Moulton and Halesgate among them, across the PE postcode area. A postcode starting PE12 6 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Central Whaplode or a lay-by near Carters Park: wherever it is, your car never needs to move at all for us. The drain happens right there. Ring and ask rather than guess if you are by Moulton Windmill, on a border, or anywhere tricky to explain.
Your scenario, in one line
If it hasn't run, phone then keep it off. Started by now? Stop, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder whichever case, in Whaplode and Lincolnshire, on 0333 366 0103.