AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Winterfield: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if the engine has run since it was put in. Out in Brittens or right in Winterfield, an unrun engine must stay that way. Leave your motor and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103; it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Winterfield. Where the motor has been run, stop safely first, then turn the car off. Stage one stays the same, even though the job grows.
Wherever in Somerset it happened, one of the cases below fits yours.
Winterfield forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Picture it: standing by the pump, holding the nozzle, you realise the cap you took off wasn't the correct one. It could be the Tesco, or the Murco Fual, or a different forecourt in Winterfield.
What it means: this is the ideal place to find out. Still in the tank, and nothing pulled through: that's where the AdBlue is.
Freeing the petrol pump is no reason to run it — and so do not get back in. A few jobs: a shove into a bay with the staff helping, the receipt saved, and a ring to us from the forecourt. If it can't be moved, it can be drained at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home around Winterfield
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 once more at the cap. Driveways near Phillis Hill see it as much as anywhere.
Meaning? As long as the car has not been driven since, it's second to the forecourt case. Being unable to blend, AdBlue drops low inside the tank and stays. A night parked alters none of that.
Next: prevent any early move by keeping the keys indoors, then phone us. We drain the car on your driveway, whether that's around Winterfield or out in Monger. Late-night empties beside a house are no problem: the pumps are low-noise.
On the road around Winterfield with AdBlue in a diesel
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the engine began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Clover Close, say, or the route to Bath — a trip of under 10 miles.
What it means: the fuel system has drawn the AdBlue in. Through the fuel filter, through the lines, and — the further the distance — on into the injection pump and each injector. Every restart, like each mile, carries it on.
Pull in safely — that's the next step — then switch it off. Services further along are too far: on the M32, under 15 miles out of Winterfield, use the first junction. Don't restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Call, saying how far the car went.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You have had the vehicle hardly a week. The AdBlue filler is right beside the diesel filler, which you did not know, because your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Any driver, wherever around Somerset, might do it.
In short: an extra step on top of the cases above, and those depend on if it has run. Work on your vehicle frequently requires the owner's go-ahead under hire or company agreements.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is quicker settled before our engineers turn up than after. Keep the car off while the reply comes, even if you're waiting outside Oldfield Park or close to Paulton Baptist Church.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, around Winterfield
"I think so" is often as honest as it gets. Lighter, that bottle; a hint of ammonia near your filler; a hazy memory of which cap. Look familiar? A rushed top-up by the gates of Paulton Infant School, or a call to a friend in Hayes Park: both fits.
The point: the engine is not hurt by some AdBlue spilled on the filler. A diesel tank with AdBlue inside is a different matter. If there is AdBlue in the tank, firing up the vehicle will suck it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Do not start it. Tell us what you noticed on your phone. A clean tank looked at is a better outcome than a run one drained.
Winterfield: what every AdBlue drain has in common
The work begins the same way, whatever your case. Three questions are asked once our engineers arrive — at a filling station, a driveway, a street by Scouts, Guides & Community Hall or the car park at Lamb Inn: the liquid, the quantity, and whether the motor has been started. Those replies decide the work, and you hear our price by phone, before anyone heads out.
Emptying that tank comes first, followed by a careful flush — more vital with urea than after petrol, since crystals and corrosion will not clear on their own, however long you wait. Fresh diesel is put in after the filter has been flushed or replaced, and the car is finally checked. The majority of unstarted cars are a half-hour job from the moment our technicians get there.
The last step is starting the engine. Our check that it runs correctly on fresh diesel comes before our engineers go. When it's caught early, the car very seldom has lasting damage, and the entire job takes place where it is. Nothing is taken upfront, payment is made on the day, and you get what the insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Winterfield and where it is
Winterfield is a locality in Somerset, situated on the riverside in the South West of England, with an elevation of around 138 metres. Winterfield lies approximately 8 miles from the city of Bath and is surrounded by nearby places such as Monger, Thicket Mead, and Greenhill. Winterfield has a population of around 1290 residents, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Winterfield is also relatively distant from London, at a distance of around 103 miles.
AdBlue drains across Somerset, Winterfield included
Winterfield is a small village, and the same teams that cover it work the towns around it too, Thicket Mead and Greenhill among them, across the BS postcode area. Giving us your BS39 7 postcode pins you fastest of all.
Stopped heading to Paulton Rovers Football Club, or bang in the heart of Winterfield, the vehicle stays where it is — there is no need to move it at all. Our van empties it in place. Guessing doesn't help near Double Hills Memorial, on a border or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
The one-line version
If it hasn't started, phone and keep it that way. Started already? Pull over, switch off, phone. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder whichever case, in Winterfield and Somerset, on 0333 366 0103.