Wrotham: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
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. Over in Fairseat or right in Wrotham, an unrun motor must stay that way. Switch nothing on, call 0333 366 0103, and count on a thorough flush after a drain, done just where your car sits in Wrotham. Stop the moment you safely can then switch off, if it has been run. Stage one remains the same, even though the work grows.
Match your case to one of the ones below, anywhere across Kent you happen to be.
At the pump in Wrotham: AdBlue in a diesel
Picture it: standing by the pump, gripping the nozzle, you spot the cap you took off wasn't the correct one. Maybe you are at the Shell, possibly at the Esso, perhaps somewhere else in Wrotham.
Meaning? Spotting it here is as good as it gets. Only your tank holds AdBlue; not one component past it has taken it in.
Next: resist the urge to fire it up just to move away from the pump. Phone us from the forecourt after your car is in a space — the attendants will lend a hand to roll it — then save the bottle. If it cannot be moved, it can be drained at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt.
Wrotham, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. A bottle from the shop, emptied in on the driveway — and it's just by the bin that the cap caught your eye. Houses just off West Street are caught out as much as anywhere else.
Put simply: if your vehicle has not been driven since, it is almost as good as spotting it at the pump. Being reluctant to blend, AdBlue drops low in the tank and stays. One night standing alters nothing.
Keep the keys in the house overnight — or a person might take it away at breakfast — and phone us. In Labour-in-vain or here around Wrotham, the drain happens on your driveway. Late-night empties beside a house are no problem: the pumps are low-noise.
On the road in Wrotham with AdBlue in a diesel
Rough running, smoke, falling power or a lit dashboard started a short way after the top-up. Somewhere on High Street or else on the road to London — under 25 miles away.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been pulled through your fuel system. It has been through the filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors. It goes further with each extra mile covered and each restart.
What to do: pull over where it's safe then switch off. Leave by the next junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M20, under a mile from Wrotham. Do not restart the vehicle to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Roughly how far did it gone? Tell us as you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company vehicles
It's a vehicle you have had for a week. Unbeknown to you, the two fillers sit side by side here — unlike your own vehicle, which has no AdBlue or stores it in another spot. Throughout Kent, nobody is safe from it.
The upshot: just as above, split by whether it ran, only with one added step. Many hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
Sorting it before we turn up is quicker, so ring the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. If you are stranded in the car park outside Borough Green & Wrotham, or by St George's, whilst you wait for an answer, leave your car off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, in Wrotham
"I think so" is often as honest as it gets. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia round the filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. A hurried top-up by the gates of St George's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, or a visit to a friend in Wrotham Heath: both fits.
The upshot: the motor is not harmed by a little AdBlue splashed on the outside. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. Turning on the vehicle will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in your tank it would suck it in.
Next: act as though it went in, then keep your engine off. Ring with the details: we would rather find a tank free of AdBlue than drain one once the engine has been run.
Each AdBlue drain in Wrotham shares these stages
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. Anywhere the vehicle stands — The Bull Hotel's car park, a road by Catholic Church of St Joseph, a driveway, a filling station — the van arrives and asks for the liquid, the amount, plus whether your engine has been run. Replies shape the work; the price comes by phone while nobody has left yet.
A thorough flush follows this drain. With petrol it's standard; with AdBlue it's crucial, because crystals build up and some metals are attacked, and neither washes out unaided. Clean diesel goes in after the fuel filter has been flushed or changed, and your car is then tested. If the motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
Lastly, we start it. We make sure it runs smoothly on fresh diesel before we leave. Long-term damage is very rare if it is caught early, and the entire job is done where your car is. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, no money upfront. Many policies include misfuelling, so look at yours as we head over.
About Wrotham, for a moment
Wrotham is a village in Kent, situated inland at an elevation of around 135 metres, approximately 23 miles from London. Wrotham has a population of around 1571 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Wrotham is close to nearby places such as Labour-in-vain, Borough Green, and Platt, and is within commuting distance of London.
AdBlue drains about Wrotham and across Kent
Throughout TN postcodes, the vans serving Wrotham — a rural village — reach nearby towns as well, Borough Green and Platt included. Fastest of all: a TN15 7 postcode to show your location.
Whether the car is on a lay-by on the way to Wrotham Cricket Ground or in a car park in the middle of Wrotham, it doesn't need to shift. The van empties it in place. If you're somewhere hard to describe, near Borough Green Library or close to a boundary, ring and ask instead of assuming.
In one line: your situation
Unstarted? Keep the car that way then phone. Already run: stop, switch off and call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there in Wrotham and anywhere around Kent on 0333 366 0103.