AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Blairgowrie and Rattray? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has got into your diesel tank, keep the motor off then leave your ignition off. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the fuel system draws it in. In Blairgowrie and Rattray, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, right where your car is. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Blairgowrie and Rattray: the first few minutes
Do:
- Pull the keys out, and so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you're anywhere near moving traffic.
- Which product, and roughly what amount? Hang on to the bottle or the receipt, and our technicians will know.
- Our van locates you fastest with a postcode starting PH10 6, or just the name of a street close by, so call from the car.
Things not to do:
- Shifting your car just a short way is no reason to fire up the motor.
- Plenty of diesels run their fuel pump the instant your ignition comes on, so leave it off.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue won't mix, so it is wasted.
- Don't drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short stretch down High Street.
- By the road, do not attempt emptying it yourself.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you roll your vehicle off the island if you are at a forecourt around Blairgowrie and Rattray, whether it is the JET or somewhere else. If you're on your own drive, leave it precisely where it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not your motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Neither side fits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and a pump cannot take urea.
Poured in with the diesel, it stays apart instead of mixing — quite unlike fuel. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and pools below it — the same spot the intake draws from. A motor topped up on a drive in Muirton of Ardblair yesterday evening and left unstarted counts as the simple case. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though once your engine runs, that's what goes first, directly from the bottom of the tank.
From there it does two kinds of damage. 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, and so it keeps working on the parts it reaches for as long as it remains there. Overnight, a car sitting around Blairgowrie and Rattray with AdBlue through its pipework grows worse; if it's just inside that tank, it doesn't. And there is the water: it offers no protection to the components that need it the most — the injection pump and every injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is commonly worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Tesco and you have a fault of thin fuel. Harm just comes from running on it. Mixed into the diesel and left inside your tank, it does none.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable liquid. It cannot just be run through, because it does not burn. It does not stay mixed, so it can't be diluted. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether your car is in Rosemount or the middle of Blairgowrie and Rattray.
As with petrol, there is good news. Not started? Then the AdBlue sits just in that tank, the simplest section of the entire system to empty, wherever your car has stopped across Perth and Kinross.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Blairgowrie and Rattray?
Many cars place the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, now and then under one flap, and after dark the two may appear the same. No one intends it. A bottle bought while driving home and tipped in at home, instead of at the forecourt, is the usual route.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside the local primary school. A driver tips the bottle in outside their house, just off Croft Lane, as the day ends. Or someone new to that flap tops up the car in dim light, stopped in the car park by Fair O'Blair.
It occurs most in the motors people know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Leave it switched off: that's the first step to an identical mistake, anywhere in Blairgowrie and Rattray or the rest of Perth and Kinross you are.
Started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Blairgowrie and Rattray?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in your tank. Given any running, it travels to the injection pump and each injector, after passing through the fuel filter and lines.
Perhaps coming back from Wellmeadow, or midway across Blairgowrie and Rattray, the engine might run rough, smoke, lose power, light up your dash or stall. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the car to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
If you were on the M90, under 15 miles from Blairgowrie and Rattray, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
A quick hop across Blairgowrie and Rattray to the car park by Blairgowrie Town Hall is one thing; heading for Perth, under 15 miles away, is something else, because each mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So distance matters. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
There is more to rinse out once the motor has run, and we do all of it where the car has stopped. When it is noticed soon, permanent damage is very uncommon.
Blairgowrie and Rattray: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
Our engineers come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Blairgowrie and Rattray: a side street near St. Catharine's, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. What went in, roughly the quantity, plus if your engine has been run: our technicians ask before all else, because those shape the job.
Then that tank is drained where the vehicle sits, so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. What remains from AdBlue will not flush out by itself, so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which counts much more here than with petrol. Testing your vehicle comes last, once fresh diesel goes in and the fuel filter is flushed or, where necessary, replaced. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour job once our engineers get there, provided the motor hasn't run. The equipment is explosion-proof, so a live filling station is no issue, and it is quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
Finally, the fuel system is bled with clean diesel. At that point we start it and you head off, whether from a parking space at Dunkeld & Birnam or a drive around Blairgowrie and Rattray. It's tested on clean diesel to make sure it runs correctly before our technicians head off. We do it all wherever the vehicle has stopped, and it never has to go to a workshop. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers want.
About Blairgowrie and Rattray itself
Blairgowrie and Rattray is a town situated on the River Ericht in Perth and Kinross, with a mix of detached housing and other residential properties. Blairgowrie and Rattray has a population of around 7991 people and is located near the city of Perth, about 14 miles away. Blairgowrie and Rattray sits at an elevation of 78 metres, in a scenic riverside setting. Blairgowrie and Rattray is also close to smaller neighbouring communities, including Blairgowrie and Rattray's own districts of Blairgowrie, Rattray, and Westfields of Rattray.
AdBlue drains across Perth and Kinross, Blairgowrie and Rattray included
Throughout the PH postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue jobs in Blairgowrie and Rattray reach most of Perth and Kinross too, Blairgowrie, Rattray and Westfields of Rattray included. Close to a boundary, or somewhere awkward to explain? Asking is better than assuming, and so phone.
Blairgowrie and Rattray is a riverside town, and a mobile drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it sits, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Blairgowrie and Rattray?
No single price could be honest, since every job is different. The price moves first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it turns on where your car is and whether our van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind St. Andrews Church.
That is why every call from Blairgowrie and Rattray starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it has run. Once those are known, a range becomes a single firm number.
Before anyone heads out, you hear our quote by phone. Then payment is on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
Still next to your car in Blairgowrie and Rattray?
Then, touch nothing — that's the most helpful move available. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Tell us it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, in Blairgowrie and Rattray or anywhere within Perth and Kinross.