Whitehall: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
Everything turns on a single fact: if your engine has been run since the AdBlue was added — more than anything else. Over in Strand or here around Whitehall, an unstarted engine must stay that way. Leave the motor and the ignition off then call 0333 366 0103; it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Whitehall. Already run? Pull over once safe, then switch everything off. It's a bigger job, though stage one doesn't change.
Wherever in Greater London it happened, one of the situations below matches yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Whitehall forecourt
Picture it: standing by the petrol pump, gripping the nozzle, you realise the cap you took off was not the correct one. Be it BP, Esso or anywhere else around Whitehall, the situation is the same.
Meaning? Spotting it here is the best it gets. Nothing has drawn it through, and so the AdBlue stays only in your tank.
Next: resist the urge to fire it up only to move away from the petrol pump. Ask the attendants to help you push your car into a parking bay, keep your receipt or the bottle, then call us from the forecourt. Draining it there at the petrol pump is fine if it cannot be moved, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Whitehall drive?
For days the dashboard had been nagging you. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look a second time at the cap. It happens on drives just off Spring Gardens as commonly as anywhere.
The point: no miles since makes this almost as good to spotting it at the petrol pump. Being reluctant to blend, AdBlue drops low inside the tank and waits. A night standing changes none of that.
Next: the keys in the house, so no one drives the car anywhere at breakfast. Then, phone. Out in Charing Cross or right here in Whitehall, the draining happens on your drive. The equipment works quiet enough that it won't wake the neighbours at night.
On the road in Whitehall with AdBlue in a diesel
Topped up, pulled away, and soon your motor was turning roughly, smoking, losing power, or flashing up your dash. Maybe heading for Westminster, under a mile away, or simply down King Charles I Island.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been pulled through the fuel system. The injection pump and each injector see it as well on a longer trip, once your filter and pipework have had it. Every restart, like every mile, carries it deeper.
Stop safely — that's the next job — then turn it off. Services further on can wait: on the M1, under 10 miles out of Whitehall, use the first junction. No trial restarts: clearing is not something AdBlue will do. Roughly what distance did it gone? Say so as you phone.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You have had the vehicle hardly a week. Unknown to you, the two inlets are next to each other here — not like your own vehicle, which has none or stores it elsewhere. Any driver, anywhere around Greater London, could do the same.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it's run, with one more stage. Many rental and fleet contracts need the owner's approval for work.
Settling it before we turn up is faster, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. Keep the vehicle switched off while the answer arrives, whether you are parked at London Charing Cross or close to Charles I.
Whitehall: unsure whether it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
At times, "I think so" is all you can truthfully say. A faint ammonia smell hangs around the filler, the bottle feels too light, and the cap you took off is a blur. The gates of Soho Parish CofE Primary School in a rush, say, or someone's drive out in St Jamess.
What it means: a little spilled round your filler does no damage to the engine. Once it's inside the diesel tank, though, that changes. Turning on the car cannot tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in your tank it will suck it in.
Next: act as though it went in, then leave your engine off. Describe what you saw on your phone. A clean tank checked counts as a better result than a run one drained.
What every AdBlue drain in Whitehall has in common
The job begins the same way, whichever your case. Anywhere your car stands — The Admiralty's car park, a street beside Mileage Central Point of London Plaque, a drive, a filling station — the van arrives and we ask for the fluid, the quantity, plus whether your engine has been run. Your price comes over the phone, before a van leaves, and those replies shape the job.
A thorough flush follows this drain. With petrol it is standard; with AdBlue it is crucial, since deposits form and certain metals are attacked, and none of that washes away unaided. Clean diesel goes in after the filter has been flushed or changed, and the car is then checked. If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Firing it up comes at the end. Before our engineers head off, it is checked to confirm it runs properly on new diesel. Permanent damage is very rare if it is noticed soon, and the whole job is done where the vehicle is. For your insurer: the engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, nothing in advance. Check your insurance before we're en route: misfuelling cover comes included in many policies.
About Whitehall
Whitehall is a suburban area in central London, situated near the River Thames and overlooking several small lakes and water features. Whitehall sits at a low elevation of around 20 metres, and its proximity to major landmarks like Charing Cross and Chinatown makes it a desirable residential location. Whitehall is characterized by a high concentration of flat dwellings, which house a population of approximately 3203 residents. Whitehall is also close to the heart of British politics, with Westminster just 0.4 miles away.
Whitehall and Greater London: AdBlue drains across the area
Over WC2N postcodes, the vans serving Whitehall — a residential suburb — work nearby places as well, Chinatown and Westminster included. Giving us your WC2N 5 postcode pins you quickest of all.
No moving is needed, whether stopped centrally in Whitehall or on a layby heading to Waterloo Place East Garden, and so keep it where it is. Wherever it stands, that is where it gets emptied. Guessing won't help beside Trafalgar Theatre, on a border or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and ask.
Your situation, in one line
Motor not started: ring, and leave it switched off. Run by now: stop, switch down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Whitehall or wherever in Greater London.