What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Woodhorn Demesne
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether the engine has run since it got in. If it hasn't, keep it that way, whether the vehicle is around Woodhorn Demesne itself or out in Hirst. Leave your engine and your ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103; it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Woodhorn Demesne. Pull over the minute you safely can and switch off, if it has been run. It's a larger job, yet stage one does not change.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever across Northumberland it happened.
On a Woodhorn Demesne forecourt with 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. Perhaps you are at the BP, perhaps at the Shell, possibly somewhere else in Woodhorn Demesne.
The point: of every spot to find out, this is the best. The AdBlue is inside that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Clearing the petrol pump is no excuse to run it — and so don't get back in. Three jobs: a shove into a bay with the staff assisting, the bottle saved, and a ring to us from where you stand. Emptying it there at the pump is fine if it cannot be moved, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Woodhorn Demesne drive?
For days the dashboard had been nagging you. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look again at the cap. Driveways close to Memorial Square see it as much as anywhere.
The point: no driving since makes it nearly as good to finding it at the petrol pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of your tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
Next: keys indoors, so no one drives the car anywhere first thing. After that, ring. Newbiggin-by-the-Sea or Woodhorn Demesne: wherever your driveway is, that is where it gets emptied. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Woodhorn Demesne: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Topped up, drove away, and before long your motor was running unevenly, blowing smoke, down on power, or flashing up the dash. Maybe heading to Newcastle upon Tyne, under 15 miles away, or simply down Brentwood Avenue.
Meaning? Your pump has taken the AdBlue up. The high-pressure pump and every injector get it too on a longer trip, once the filter and lines have had it. Every restart, like each mile, pushes it on.
Pull in somewhere safe — that's the first job — then switch it off. Leave at the first junction — not the services further along — if you're on the A167(M), under 15 miles from Woodhorn Demesne. It won't have cleared, so there's no point restarting to find out. Roughly how far had it go? Say so as you call.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've only driven the car for days. Your own vehicle either does without AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, so no one told you the AdBlue cap sits just beside your diesel. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across Northumberland.
The upshot: exactly as above, split by if it ran, only with an added stage. The owner frequently has to approve any work, under plenty of rental and company agreements.
Settling it before the van turn up is faster, so ring the rental company or your fleet manager, and then us. Stuck near Newbiggin War Memorial or outside Ashington till someone replies, the vehicle stays turned off the whole time.
Woodhorn Demesne: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Occasionally the fair answer is "I think so". What cap was taken off, you cannot say; meanwhile the bottle feels less than expected, and a whiff of ammonia hangs by the filler. Maybe it happened in a hurry at the school gates at NCEA Grace Darling CofE Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Lynemouth.
In short: a spill round the filler leaves your motor no harm. The diesel tank with AdBlue in it is another matter. If there is AdBlue in that tank, turning on your car will pull it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
Next: assume it went in, and keep your engine off. Inspecting a tank that proves clean beats draining one after it's been run — so phone then tell us what you noticed.
What each AdBlue drain around Woodhorn Demesne has in common
No matter the case, a single opening is used. Wherever the car is — The Ink Spot Craft Ale Bar's car park, a road by Newbiggin by the Sea Sports Centre, a drive, a forecourt — our van gets there and asks about the liquid, the quantity, and if your motor has turned over. Those replies settle this work, and you get our price by phone, before anybody heads out.
Draining the tank comes first, then a careful flush — more important after urea than after petrol, since crystals and corrosion will not clear on their own, no matter how long it sits. Clean diesel is put in once your filter has been cleaned or replaced, and your car is then checked. Most unrun cars are a half-hour job from the moment our engineers turn up.
The final step is firing it up. With clean diesel in, it runs while we confirm it's running correctly, and then we go. Long-term damage is very unusual when it is noticed early, and the whole job is done where the car is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Check your insurance before we arrive: misfuelling cover is included in many policies.
About Woodhorn Demesne, for a moment
Woodhorn Demesne is a suburban area in Northumberland, situated near the coast and approximately 14.9 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne. Woodhorn Demesne lies close to the villages of Newbiggin-by-the-Sea and Woodhorn, and is characterised by its terraced housing. Woodhorn Demesne is relatively low-lying, with an elevation of around 16 metres above sea level.
Woodhorn Demesne and Northumberland: AdBlue drains across the area
Over NE postcodes, the teams covering Woodhorn Demesne — a residential suburb — reach nearby places as well, Woodhorn and North Seaton among them. Fastest of all: a NE64 6 postcode to show where you stand.
No moving is required, whether stopped in the centre of Woodhorn Demesne or in a layby en route to Memorial Park, and so keep it put. The van drains it in place. Tricky to explain? Close to Woodhorn and Newbiggin Womens Institute or a county line? Asking is better than assuming, and so phone.
The one-line version
Not run yet: keep the car off then call. Whatever case applies, Petrol in Diesel handles the rest on 0333 366 0103, across Northumberland and in Woodhorn Demesne — once you stop, turn off and phone, if it's run.