What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Citadel
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: whether your engine has run since it was put in. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the car is around Citadel itself or out in South Kessock. Normally that is emptying and properly purging it right there around Citadel — and so keep the ignition and motor off then call 0333 366 0103. Stop the minute you safely can then turn off, if it has been run. It is a larger job, yet stage one doesn't change.
Match what happened to a situation from the ones below, anywhere around Highland you are.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Citadel forecourt
Just now, bottle still in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. Somewhere around Citadel, then — Esso, BP, or somewhere else close by.
What it means: this is the best location to find out. Still in the tank, and nothing pulled onwards: that's where the AdBlue is.
Next: resist the urge to start it only to free up the pump. Ask the attendants to help you roll the car into a parking spot, keep your receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. Our equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a live forecourt, so a car that can't be pushed away is cleared right at the petrol pump.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home around Citadel
The warning light had been on for days. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look again at the cap. Homes just off Lotland Place get hit as often as everywhere else.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue stay apart: the AdBlue settles to the base of that tank and remains put, however long the night.
Your move: the keys indoors, so nobody drives the car off at breakfast. After that, ring. Our technicians drain the car on your driveway, whether that is in Citadel or out in Glebe. Night-time clears outside a house are fine: the pumps are quiet.
Drove off with AdBlue in a diesel in Citadel?
Lumpy running, smoke, falling power or a lit dashboard started a mile or two after the top-up. Cromwell Road, say, or the way to Inverness — a run of under a mile.
Meaning? The pump has sucked the AdBlue in. It's been through your filter and your lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors. Every restart, like every mile, carries it on.
Next: find a safe place, pull in, and turn the engine off. On the M90, over 50 miles from Citadel, that means the next exit, not the services further on. No trial restarts: clearing itself is not something AdBlue will do. Call, saying what distance the car went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
It's a vehicle you have had for a week. Unknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel fillers sit next to each other here — not like your own car, which has none or stores it elsewhere. It can happen to anyone, anywhere in Highland.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more step. Plenty of hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
Sorting it before we arrives is quicker, so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, then us. Leave the vehicle switched off as the answer comes, whether you're waiting outside Inverness or near Merkinch Free Church.
Citadel: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
At times, "I think so" is all you can honestly say. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia about the filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. A rushed stop by the gates of the local primary school, or a call to a friend in Millburn: both fits.
The point: your motor is not harmed by a little AdBlue spilled around the filler. The diesel tank with AdBlue in it is another matter. Any AdBlue in the tank would be pulled in by firing up the car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Next: act as though it went in, and leave your engine off. Phone with what you saw: we'd rather find a tank free of AdBlue than empty one once the motor has run.
What every AdBlue drain around Citadel has in common
Every case has the same start to the job. Anywhere the car stands — The Innes's car park, a road beside Inverness Justice Centre, a drive, a forecourt — the van arrives and asks for the liquid, the quantity, plus whether the motor has turned over. Those replies determine this work, and you get the quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to certain metals used in fuel systems, and so it won't rinse out unaided; that's why the flush, after this drain, counts much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Last come the fuel filter, cleaned or replaced as needed; fresh diesel; and a test of your car. Never started? In that case about half an hour on site covers most jobs.
The final step is firing it up. With fresh diesel in, it runs while our engineers make sure it is running properly, and then we leave. If it's noticed quickly, the car very rarely has lasting damage, and the entire job takes place where it is. Paying is on the day, never in advance. For the insurer, you get a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer. Check your insurance before we're en route: cover for misfuelling is built into many policies.
About Citadel and where it is
Citadel is a coastal suburban area in the Highland county of Scotland, situated very close to the city of Inverness. Citadel sits at a low elevation of around 5 metres, looking out over the Moray Firth. Citadel is characterised by its predominantly flat-type housing and is located near other suburban areas such as Glebe and Merkinch.
AdBlue drains round Citadel and across Highland
Citadel is a residential suburb, and the same vans that cover it work the towns around it too, Merkinch and Inverness among them, across the IV postcode area. The location is quickest from a postcode that starts IV1 1.
Centre of Citadel or a lay-by near Northern Meeting Park: either way it is, the vehicle never needs to move an inch for us. The van drains it where it stands. Awkward to pin down? Close to Grant Street Park or a border? Checking beats assuming, so ring.
Your scenario, in one line
Unstarted? Leave it that way and phone. Whichever line applies, Petrol in Diesel handles from there on 0333 366 0103, throughout Highland and in Citadel — once you pull over, switch off and phone, if it's run.