AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Woodford, and What to Do Next
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: if the engine has been run since it went in. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the car is in Woodford itself or out in Bow. Switch nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, and count on a proper flush plus a drain, carried out right where your vehicle stands around Woodford. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. A bigger job, yes, but the same opening move.
Wherever around Devon it took place, one of the cases below matches yours.
On a Woodford forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Just now, nozzle still in hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. Be it BP, TotalEnergies or anywhere else in Woodford, the situation is the same.
The upshot: of every spot to find out, this is the best. Just the tank holds AdBlue; not one part beyond it has drawn it in.
Next: avoid the temptation to fire it up just to move away from the pump. Phone us from the forecourt after the vehicle sits in a bay — the attendants will help push it — then save the receipt. Draining it there at the petrol pump is fine when it cannot be shifted, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Woodford drive?
On the dash, a warning had been lit all week. A bottle from the garage, tipped in at the drive — and it's only at the recycling that the cap caught a second look. Homes just off Millcombe Corner are caught out as often as anywhere else.
The point: zero miles since makes this almost as good to finding it at the petrol pump. At the bottom of that tank sits exactly where AdBlue waits, because it will not blend with diesel — and a night going by makes nothing of the difference.
Put your keys in the house tonight — or someone might drive it off first thing — and call us. Blackawton or Woodford: whichever your drive sits, that is where it gets drained. Even at night, our pumps are quiet enough for a residential street.
On the road in Woodford with AdBlue in a diesel
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your engine began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. It might have been heading for Plymouth, under 25 miles away, or simply along Cheavestone Lea.
The point: the system has drawn AdBlue in already. The injection pump and each injector get it too on a longer run, once the filter and pipework have had it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: pick a sensible spot, stop, and switch the engine off. On the M5, under 25 miles from Woodford, that means the next exit, not the services further on. It won't have cleared, and so there is no sense restarting to find out. Call, and say what distance your vehicle was driven.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company vehicles
You've had the car barely a week. Your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or puts it somewhere different, and so nothing warned you the AdBlue cap was just beside your diesel. Anyone, anywhere across Devon, could make the same.
Meaning? Whichever case above applies here — run or unrun — and one extra step. Work on your vehicle often needs the owner's go-ahead under rental or company agreements.
Your move: hire firm or fleet manager to begin with, us next, because settling it early cuts time. Keep it off as the answer comes, whether you are parked outside Totnes or near Blackawton Village Hall.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Woodford?
"I think so" is sometimes as honest answer there is. A slight ammonia whiff lingers around the filler, the bottle seems too light, and which cap came off is a blur. A hurried stop by the gates of Blackawton Primary School, or a call to a friend in Halwell: both fit.
In short: a spill near the filler does the engine unharmed. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. If there is AdBlue in that tank, starting the vehicle will draw it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
Assume it was put in, and never turn your key. Ring us and describe what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
Every AdBlue drain around Woodford shares these stages
Every situation has the same opening to the work. Three questions come when our technicians reach the car — at a forecourt, a driveway, a street beside St Michael's or the car park at The George Inn: the liquid, the amount, and whether it has been started. On the phone, ahead of dispatch, you are told our price, and those answers shape the work too.
Then your tank is emptied and the system purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not rinse out on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Where the motor hasn't been started, expect about half an hour on site, for most jobs.
We start it last. Our test that it runs smoothly on new diesel comes before our engineers leave. The whole job is done where the car is, and if it is spotted early, lasting damage is very uncommon. Nothing is paid upfront, payment is made on the day, and you get what your insurer wants: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling, and so check yours while the van travels.
About Woodford
Woodford is a small hamlet in Devon, situated inland at an elevation of 84 metres, and is located near the villages of Blackawton and Millcombe. Woodford lies within the South West region of England, approximately 19.9 miles from Plymouth and 174.7 miles from London. Woodford has a population of around 511 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing.
AdBlue drains in Woodford, and across Devon too
Being a rural hamlet, Woodford has the same vans as the nearby places — Hutcherleigh, Millcombe — right through TQ postcodes. Quickest of all: a TQ9 7 postcode for your location.
No moving is needed, whether stopped centrally in Woodford or in a lay-by en route to Bow Wood, and so keep it put. Our technicians drain it where it stands. If you are somewhere hard to explain, near Woodlands Family Theme Park or close to a boundary, ring and ask rather than guessing.
The one-line version
Motor not started: ring, and leave it switched off. Run by now: pull over, power down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, in Woodford or anywhere across Devon.