Wicken: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
Has your engine turned over since the AdBlue got in? That single point settles almost everything about what comes next. Wherever your vehicle is — Soham Cotes, Wicken — never start a motor that hasn't been started yet. Leave the motor and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103; it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Wicken. When the engine has run, stop somewhere safe first, then turn the car off. Step one stays unchanged, even if the job is bigger.
Wherever around Cambridgeshire it happened, one of the cases below fits yours.
At the petrol pump in Wicken: AdBlue in a diesel
You're 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. It could be the Esso, or the Asda, or another forecourt around Wicken.
What it means: this is the best location to find out. Still inside that tank, and no fuel pulled through: that's where the AdBlue is.
Next: avoid the urge to fire it up just to free up the petrol pump. A few jobs: a push into a space with the staff assisting, the receipt kept, and a ring to us from the forecourt. If it can't be shifted, it can be drained at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
Wicken, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
On your dash, a reminder had shown for days. Bought a container, poured it in outside the house, binned the empty — and at that point looked at the cap again, too late. Driveways near Butts Lane get it as much as any other street.
The point: no miles since leaves it nearly as good to spotting it at the petrol pump. At the floor of your tank sits where AdBlue stays, since it will not mix with diesel — and a night going by changes nothing of the difference.
Next: keys in the house, and so nobody drives the car off first thing. Then, ring. Your drive is where it gets drained, be it in Wicken or Soham. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Wicken?
A short way beyond filling up, the engine started misbehaving: roughness, smoke, less power, lights on the dash. Maybe it was on Pond Green, possibly on the way out towards Ely, under 10 miles away.
Meaning? Your pump has sucked the AdBlue up. Through the fuel filter, along the lines, and — the further the mileage — deeper into the injection pump and every injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: pick a sensible spot, stop, then turn your engine off. On the M11, under 15 miles from Wicken, that means the next exit, not the services further on. Restarting it to test achieves nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear itself. Roughly what distance had it gone? Tell us as you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
You have had this car hardly a week. Unbeknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel fillers are next to each other here — unlike your own car, which has none or keeps it elsewhere. Anywhere you are across Cambridgeshire, any driver could slip up.
Meaning? Whichever applies above counts here — run or not — and one further stage. Any work on your car often needs the owner's go-ahead under rental or fleet terms.
Settling it before the van turn up is quicker, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, and then us. Stuck near Wicken Village Sign or at Soham until someone answers, your car remains switched off throughout.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, in Wicken
Now and then, "I think so" is the most you can truthfully say. Too light, the bottle; a hint of ammonia near the filler; no clear memory of which cap. Look familiar? A rushed stop by the gates of St Andrew's CofE Primary School, or a call to a friend in Down Field: either fits.
The point: the motor is not hurt by some AdBlue spilled on the filler. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. Firing up the vehicle won't tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in that tank it will suck it in.
Assume it went in, and never start the key. Checking a tank that turns out free of AdBlue beats draining one once it has been run — so ring and describe to us what you saw.
Wicken: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Every situation gets the same start to the job. Filling station, drive, Maid's Head's car park or a street beside Wicken Village Hall — the van reaches your vehicle, and three answers follow: which liquid, what quantity, and if it ran. Those replies settle this work, and you get the price on the phone, before anybody sets off.
AdBlue crystallises and eats at certain metals used in fuel systems, so it does not wash out unaided; that's why a full flush, after the drain, matters much more here than with petrol. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The majority of unstarted vehicles are a half-hour job after the moment our engineers arrive.
Finally, our engineers fire it up. Our technicians confirm it runs properly on fresh diesel before we go. When it's caught early, the vehicle very seldom has long-term damage, and the whole job happens where it is. Nothing is taken upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you get what the insurer wants: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Check your insurance while we arrive: misfuelling cover is built into plenty of policies.
About Wicken itself
Wicken is a small village in Cambridgeshire, situated on the riverside at a low elevation of around 9 metres. Wicken lies near the city of Ely and other nearby places such as Soham, Upware, and Newnham. Wicken has a population of approximately 745 people and predominantly consists of detached housing. Wicken is located about 58.6 miles from London, making it a rural community in the Eastern region.
AdBlue drains about Wicken and across Cambridgeshire
Wicken is a village, and the same vans that cover it work the places near it too, Upware and Newnham among them, across the CB postcode area. Giving us your CB7 5 postcode pins you quickest of all.
No moving is needed, be it parked centrally in Wicken or on a layby en route to Wicken Fen, so keep it where it is. Wherever it stands, that's where it is emptied. Awkward to pin down? By Wicken Methodist Church or a county line? Asking is better than assuming, so ring.
Your scenario, summed up
Not run yet: keep it off then ring. Run already? Stop, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest whichever case, in Wicken and Cambridgeshire, on 0333 366 0103.