AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Woodside Park: What Now?
All of it turns on one detail: whether the motor has started since the AdBlue was added — far more than anything else. Anywhere the car stands — Oakleigh Park, Woodside Park — don't start an engine that has not run yet. Leave the engine and your ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103; it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Woodside Park. Where your engine has been run, stop somewhere safe first, then switch the car off. It's a bigger job, yet step one doesn't change.
Below: the cases our technicians see, wherever in Greater London. Pick yours.
At the petrol pump around Woodside Park: AdBlue in a diesel
Just at this point, nozzle yet in hand, you realise that the cap you took off was the wrong one, right at the pump. It might be the Esso, or the BP, or a different forecourt around Woodside Park.
What it means: this is the best location to find out. The AdBlue is inside that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
Do this: keep out of the driver's seat, even if the pump wants clearing. Ring us from the forecourt after your car sits in a bay — the attendants will lend a hand to roll it — then keep the bottle. Draining it right at the petrol pump is possible when it can't be shifted, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
Woodside Park, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
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 a second time at the cap. Right off Northiam is not different from anywhere.
Put simply: if the vehicle has not moved since, it is almost equal to finding out at the pump. Being reluctant to blend, AdBlue drops to the base inside your tank and stays. A night parked alters nothing.
Keep the keys indoors tonight — or a person might take it off at breakfast — then phone us. Our technicians drain it on your drive, whether that is around Woodside Park or out in Totteridge. Late-night drains beside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise.
On the road around Woodside Park with AdBlue in a diesel
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the motor began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Framfield Close, perhaps, or the way to London — a trip of under 10 miles.
Meaning? Your pump has sucked the AdBlue up. Through your filter, along the lines, and — the further the mileage — deeper into the high-pressure pump and each injector. It travels further with every extra mile covered and every restart.
Next: find a safe place, stop, and turn your engine off. Service stations further along are too far: on the M1, under 3 miles out of Woodside Park, use the first junction. Don't restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Let us hear the distance driven as you ring.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
A week back, the car was new to you. On your own car, AdBlue is missing or somewhere else. On this one, the inlet is right next to your diesel cap — news to you. Any driver, wherever across Greater London, might make it.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more step. The owner often needs to approve any work, under plenty of hire and company contracts.
Your move: rental firm or your fleet manager to begin with, us next, since sorting it early saves time. Hanging on for a reply at the car park outside Oakleigh Park, or near Totteridge Union URC Church? Leave your car off meanwhile.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Woodside Park?
At times the honest answer is "I think so". The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia about the filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. A rushed stop by the gates of Woodridge Primary School, or a call to a friend in Church End: both fits.
Put simply: a spill round your filler leaves your engine no harm. If it is inside your diesel tank, though, it does. You cannot tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so would draw in any AdBlue that is in that tank.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Do not fire it up. Ring and give the details: we would rather find a clean tank than drain one after the engine has been run.
What each AdBlue drain in Woodside Park has in common
Each situation has the same start to the job. Our technicians come to the car, whether it is at a forecourt, a driveway, the car park outside Malt and Hops or a side street close to Old Finchleians Memorial Ground, and ask three things: what went in, roughly how much, and if the engine has run. Those answers decide this work, and you get our price on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Then your tank is cleared and your system cleaned 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 doesn't rinse out on its own. Last come the filter, cleaned or replaced as needed; fresh diesel; and a check of your car. If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Starting it comes last. Before our engineers leave, it is checked to be sure it runs properly on new diesel. Long-term damage is very uncommon when it's caught soon, and the entire job is done where your car is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Worth knowing: many insurers include misfuelling cover, and so a quick look at your documents while you wait is worthwhile.
About Woodside Park, briefly
Woodside Park is a suburban area in north London, situated near the River Brent and close to the neighbouring areas of Totteridge, Whetstone, and North Finchley. Woodside Park has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are particularly prevalent in the area. Woodside Park sits at an elevation of around 76 metres, about 8.4 miles from central London.
AdBlue drains around Woodside Park, and across Greater London too
Being a residential suburb, Woodside Park shares its vans with the nearby towns — North Finchley, Whetstone — right across N postcodes. The location is clearest from a postcode beginning N12 7.
Parked en route to Finchley Catholic School Playing Field, or right in the centre of Woodside Park, the car remains where it is — there is no need to shift it anywhere. Wherever it stands, that's where it gets emptied. If you are somewhere hard to describe, near Spike Milligan or close to a boundary, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Your scenario, in one line
Unstarted? Leave it off then ring. Run already: stop, switch down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, within Woodside Park or wherever across Greater London.