Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Alyth
If AdBlue has got into your diesel tank, keep the motor off and leave your ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and nothing happens until your motor pulls it through. If the motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally drained and thoroughly purged where the car sits around Alyth. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Alyth, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do right away
Do these:
- Keys out — that way no one can power anything on.
- Near moving traffic? So put your hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt tells us the product and the amount, so don't throw it out.
- Ring right where you are. Say a PH11 8 postcode or the nearest street sign, and no one has to search for you.
Do not do these:
- Not even briefly, and not to roll your vehicle: the motor stays off.
- Plenty of diesels power their pump the instant your ignition comes on, and so keep the vehicle off.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue won't blend, so it's wasted.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short distance up James Street.
- Don't try to drain the car yourself by the kerbside.
On a forecourt in Alyth, whether it's the Tesco or another one, ask the staff to help you roll your car clear of the pump. At home, the vehicle stays exactly where it was left.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your motor. From a dedicated tank it is fed directly to the exhaust, cleaning what the motor lets out. A fuel pump is not made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It sinks, because it is denser than diesel, and settles down where the intake takes its fuel from. Once the system runs, the AdBlue is first to be pulled through. Before then it sits underneath the diesel, and that is why a car topped up in Bridge of Craigisla yesterday and not started stays the simple one, provided no one touches your key.
After it is pulled in, the harm comes in two forms. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps labouring on the components it gets to for as long as it remains there. Where the AdBlue has reached the lines, leaving it overnight in Alyth makes it worse. In your tank only, time costs nothing. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and every injector as it flows; water gives no lubrication, which is a separate form of damage.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Petrol put into a diesel on JET's forecourt makes your fuel thin — that is the main problem. No damage comes as long as it sits unused, mixed into the diesel — only once the engine works on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is simply the wrong one. It doesn't burn, so it cannot just be run through. Nor can it be thinned, because it splits back out — and the following tankful will not rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters for more here, and trying the engine "to see", in the centre of Alyth or out in Longleys, does more harm than almost any other slip.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the easiest job on a fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever around Perth and Kinross your car has stopped.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Alyth
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, occasionally under one flap — may appear the same. No one means it; plenty of designs allow it. Mostly it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
A couple of familiar ways cover most cases. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside the local primary school. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Victoria Street. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap refills your car in dim light, parked in the car park by Losset Inn.
Rented vehicles, new motors, fleet cars, or the second vehicle in a family with both fuels: the least familiar vehicles get it the most. An identical mistake, same first step — keep it off — anywhere you happen to be in Alyth or the rest of Perth and Kinross.
Alyth: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then that tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. It's been pulled through the fuel filter and your lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors.
You may see your engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Diamond Jubilee Park or halfway across Alyth. No restarting to check: pull over once safe, then switch everything off. Each start pulls more of it through.
Alyth lies under 25 miles from the M90; if you were on it, exit at the first junction and pull up somewhere safe instead of driving on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into your system. That is why a hop across Alyth to park beside South African War Memorial and a drive of under 15 miles towards Dundee are such different jobs. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out once the motor has been started. Spotted quickly, it very rarely leaves long-term damage.
Alyth: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
The vehicle remains where it is, whether that is a street near St Luan Church, a drive, a layby or a filling station in Alyth, and our van travels to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether your engine has been run, because those answers determine this work.
Next, emptying the tank right there takes out the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. The system is purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. A test of the car follows at the end, after fresh diesel is added and the filter gets cleaned or, where necessary, swapped. Not run? In that case expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Priming your system with new diesel comes last. After that our technicians start it and you set off, whether from a parking bay outside the nearest station or a drive around Alyth. Before we leave, we confirm it is running smoothly with new diesel in. We do it all wherever your car has ended up, and it never has to go to a garage. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both afterwards.
About Alyth
Alyth is a town situated on the banks of the River Isla in Perth and Kinross, with a mix of detached housing and other residential properties. Alyth sits at an elevation of around 100 metres, looking out over the surrounding countryside. Alyth is located near several smaller communities, including New Alyth, Leitfie, and Ruthven, and is close to the city of Dundee. Alyth has a population of approximately 2630 people.
Alyth and Perth and Kinross: AdBlue drains across the area
New Alyth, Leitfie and Ruthven are among the places near Alyth that the same vans serve, together with most of Perth and Kinross further out, throughout the PH postcode area. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than assuming.
A van that comes to you fits Alyth, a riverside town: you have no need to bring your vehicle to us, because we empty it on the spot, in a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Alyth: the cost of fixing it
Since the jobs differ, a single figure wouldn't be honest. What moves the cost is, first of all, whether the engine has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue went in; and then where the car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind St Ninians.
Before any quote, not after, each enquiry from Alyth opens with the same three checks: the liquid, the amount, and whether it ran. With those replies, a range narrows to one fixed figure.
The price is given during the call, before anyone leaves; settling up happens on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
Alyth: still alongside the car?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with the vehicle is to leave it. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, across Alyth or wherever within Perth and Kinross, after you call 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether it ran.