AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Witton-le-Wear: What Now?
Everything hinges on a single detail: if the motor has started after the AdBlue was added — more than anything else. Not started so far? Then leave it like that, whether the car is — Witton-le-Wear or Witton Park. Keep nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, then count on a thorough flush after a drain, carried out just where your vehicle sits around Witton-le-Wear. Already run? Stop once you safely can, then turn it off. A bigger job, then, yet the identical first step.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever around Durham it happened.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Witton-le-Wear forecourt
Picture it: stood by the pump, holding the bottle, you spot the cap you opened wasn't the right one. Be it the nearest petrol station, Jet or somewhere else around Witton-le-Wear, the case is identical.
In short: there is no better place to be to spot it. Still inside your tank, with nothing pulled through: that is where the AdBlue is.
Next: avoid the urge to fire it up just to free up the pump. Have the staff to help pushing it to a space, hold on to the receipt, then ring us right there. If it can't be moved, it can be cleared at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Witton-le-Wear drive?
For days the dash had been warning you. A bottle bought at the garage, emptied in at the driveway — and it was only by the bin that the cap got a second look. Houses just off St James Gardens get hit as much as everywhere else.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. Being reluctant to mix, AdBlue drops to the base in the tank and waits. A night standing alters nothing.
Next: stop any early drive by keeping your keys in the house, then ring us. Out in Howden-le-Wear or here in Witton-le-Wear, the draining happens at your drive. Late-night drains outside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet.
On the road around Witton-le-Wear with AdBlue in a diesel
A short way after filling up, your motor began misbehaving: roughness, smoke, less power, warnings on your dash. Castle View, perhaps, or the route to Durham — a run of under 15 miles.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked through the fuel system. The high-pressure pump and every injector get it as well on a longer trip, once the fuel filter and lines have it. Each restart, like each mile, pushes it on.
Do this: stop somewhere sensible, then turn the motor off. Service stations farther on are too far: on the A1(M), under 15 miles out of Witton-le-Wear, take the first junction. No trial restarts: clearing itself is not something AdBlue does. Let us hear the distance driven when you ring.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
A week ago, the car was unknown to you. The AdBlue filler sits right next to the diesel filler, which you didn't know, since your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Anyone, wherever in Durham, could do the same.
In short: an extra step on top of the cases above, which depend on whether it has run. Many hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
Sorting it before the van turn up is quicker, and so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. Hanging on for an answer in the car park outside Bishop Auckland, or near St Philip & St James? Keep the engine off throughout.
Witton-le-Wear: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
At times, "I think so" is the most you can truthfully say. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia round your filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at Witton-le-Wear Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Fir Tree.
Meaning? Drips outside the inlet never touch your motor at all. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. Any AdBlue in that tank will be sucked in by turning on your car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Do this: act as if it did, and never start the engine. Describe what you noticed on the phone. A clean tank checked is a better outcome than an already-run one drained.
Witton-le-Wear: what each AdBlue drain has in common
The work begins the same way, whichever the situation. Forecourt, drive, The Victoria's car park or a road beside Witton-le-Wear Methodist Chapel — our van reaches your vehicle, and three questions follow: what fluid, what quantity, and whether it has run. Answers set the work; the quote comes on the call whilst nobody has left yet.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to certain metals in fuel systems, and so it does not rinse out unaided; that is why the flush, after the drain, matters much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Then comes your filter — cleaned, or swapped when needed — followed by clean diesel, and a test of the car. Where the engine has not been started, allow roughly half an hour once we arrive, in most cases.
Firing it up comes last. Before we leave, it is checked to be sure it runs smoothly on fresh diesel. When it's caught early, the car very seldom has permanent damage, and the entire job happens where it is. Nothing is taken upfront, payment is made on the day, and you receive what the insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Check your insurance while we arrive: misfuelling cover comes included in many policies.
About Witton-le-Wear itself
Witton-le-Wear is a village in County Durham, situated on the banks of the River Wear, with a mix of rural and riverside scenery. Witton-le-Wear has a population of around 571 people, living in predominantly detached housing, and is located about 10 miles from the city of Durham. Witton-le-Wear sits at an elevation of 140 metres, in a setting that combines rolling countryside with the nearby river. Witton-le-Wear is part of a network of small villages and hamlets, including nearby Howden-le-Wear and High Grange.
AdBlue drains about Witton-le-Wear and across Durham
Witton-le-Wear is a village, and the same teams that cover it work the places near it too, High Grange and North Bitchburn among them, across the DL postcode area. The whereabouts comes clearest from a postcode beginning DL14 0.
Centre of Witton-le-Wear or a lay-by towards Low Barns Nature Reserve: either way it is, your car doesn't need to shift at all for us. Our van drains it in place. Ring and ask instead of guessing when you're by Witton-Le-Wear Community Centre, near a boundary, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
Your scenario, summed up
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off then call. Already run: stop, switch off and ring. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Witton-le-Wear and anywhere across Durham on 0333 366 0103.