Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Alloa
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and no harm starts until your engine pulls it round. In Alloa, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before your engine runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush, right where the vehicle is. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Alloa: the first few minutes
Do:
- Remove your keys, which prevents anyone turning the power on.
- If you are anywhere close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Which fluid, and roughly what volume? Save the bottle or the till receipt, and our engineers will see.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting FK10 1, or the name of the nearest street, gets the van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift your vehicle: your motor stays off.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue won't mix, and so it's wasted.
- Do not drive the car anywhere, not even a short way along Drysdale Street.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself by the roadside.
The attendants on duty at any Alloa filling station — the Asda among them — will usually help pushing it clear if you ask. Parked on your own driveway? Then it remains exactly as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. Its own tank holds it, and from there it's fed into your exhaust, where it cleans the fumes. A fuel pump isn't made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It does not mix in. Denser than diesel, it drops and collects below it — the very spot the pickup draws from. When the system runs, the AdBlue is first to go through. Until then it sits beneath your diesel, which is how a vehicle filled in Fairfield yesterday and never switched on stays the straightforward one, provided nobody touches the key.
From there it does two kinds of harm. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that crystallises in filters and tiny passages; meanwhile, because it attacks certain metals, each part it touches suffers for as long as it remains inside. Lines holding AdBlue mean harm by morning for a car sitting around Alloa. Only inside your tank, it stays the same. Then there is the water: it offers no lubrication to the parts that rely on it the most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's regularly worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Tesco and you have a fault of thin fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it is inside that tank it does no damage; the harm comes from running the engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Whether your vehicle is in Sauchie or the centre of Alloa, turning it over "to see" costs more with AdBlue than almost any other mistake, and the flush matters more. Why: it won't remain mixed, so diluting it is impossible; and crystals and corrosion outlast the next fill.
As with petrol, there's good news. Anywhere around Clackmannanshire the car has stopped, an unstarted motor leaves the AdBlue yet in the tank: the easiest bit of a fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Alloa?
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, occasionally behind a single flap — can appear the same. No one means it; plenty of designs allow it. It usually takes place at home, from a container grabbed en route home, not at the filling station.
A couple of familiar ways cover the majority of them. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside the local primary school. Someone pours the bottle in at home, just off Primrose Street, as the day ends. Or the car is topped up in the car park at The Bobbing John, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It takes place most in the vehicles motorists know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Keep it switched off: that is the first response to an identical mistake, wherever around Alloa or the remainder of Clackmannanshire you are.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Alloa, and the engine started?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. The fuel filter and pipework have had it sucked through, and any running takes it on to the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Watch for rough running, smoke, lost power, lights on the dash, or a stall — returning from Greenfield leisure park, perhaps, or midway across Alloa. No restarting to test: stop once it is safe, then switch it off. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
If you were on the M876, under 5 miles from Alloa, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
A quick hop across Alloa to the car park by Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service is one matter; driving for Stirling, under 10 miles away, is something else, because each mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So mileage counts. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Once the engine has been started, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where your car has stopped. When it is caught soon, long-term damage is very rare.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Alloa?
Our engineers come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Alloa: a side street close to Speirs Centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The work depends on three replies, which we ask for before all else — which fluid got in, the quantity, and if your motor has turned over.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out together when your tank is emptied, right there. Residue from AdBlue will not wash out unaided, so the fuel system gets a full flush, which matters far more here than for petrol. Clean diesel goes in after the fuel filter is cleaned — or replaced, if it needs to be — and after that the vehicle is tested. If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our technicians are there. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
Finally, the fuel system is bled with new diesel. At that point our technicians fire it up and you head off, whether from a parking bay by the nearest station or a driveway in Alloa. Our engineers check it runs properly on fresh diesel before we leave. No garage is required at any point, with the entire job done then and there. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Alloa
Alloa is a coastal town in Clackmannanshire, situated near the Firth of Forth, with a mix of flat housing and other residential areas. Alloa sits at a relatively low elevation of 24 metres, close to the Ochil Hills and the city of Stirling. Alloa is part of a wider urban area that includes nearby neighbourhoods such as Hallpark and Branshill. Alloa has a population of around 15191 people, making it a significant settlement in the region.
AdBlue drains across Clackmannanshire, Alloa included
Our teams that answer AdBlue call-outs in Alloa also cover the locations around it, Hallpark, Keilarsbrae and Branshill among them, and most of Clackmannanshire beyond, across the FK postcode area. Near a boundary, or anywhere tricky to explain? Checking is better than assuming, and so phone.
Wherever your vehicle sits — a driveway at home, a residential street, a parking area, a filling station — our engineers empty it there, with no need to take it to us; which suits Alloa, a coastal town, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Alloa
Not one flat figure would be fair, since each job is different. Three things change the price: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the car is. That last one comes down to whether our van can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight spot behind Moncreiff United Free Church.
That's why each call from Alloa starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it's run. Those replies turn a range into a straight quote.
Before a van heads out, you hear the price on the phone. Then you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your insurance whilst we're on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
Alloa: still alongside the vehicle?
Right now, the best thing to do with your vehicle is to not touch it. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Alloa or anywhere in Clackmannanshire.