Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Comrie
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, leave the motor off then keep the ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and nothing happens until the motor sucks it through. In Comrie, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before the engine runs usually comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where the car is. No step comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Comrie: the first few minutes
Do:
- Keys out — that way nobody can power anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- The empty bottle or the receipt shows us the fluid and the quantity, so do not throw it away.
- Give us a postcode starting KY12 9, or whichever street lies closest, and our van reaches you straight — so ring wherever you are.
Not to do:
- Do not start the engine, even for a moment to move your car.
- Many diesels run their fuel pump the moment your ignition comes on, and so leave the car off.
- Pouring in extra diesel does not work: AdBlue settles out rather than blending.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short distance down Bickram Crescent.
- Do not try to drain it yourself by the kerbside.
On a forecourt in Comrie, whether it is the Thames Petroleum or another one, ask the staff to help you push the car clear of the pump. Parked on your own driveway? Then it stays just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not the engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. From a dedicated reservoir it goes straight to your exhaust, treating what the engine lets out. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, once tipped in, won't. Its behaviour is not at all like diesel's. Denser than diesel, it sinks and pools underneath it — the same place the pickup sucks from. A car filled on a drive in Cowstrandburn yesterday evening and not started since counts as the straightforward case. Nothing has sucked the AdBlue up so far — but once your engine turns, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of that tank.
After it is sucked in, the damage comes in two forms. It eats at some metals found in fuel systems, working on whatever it reaches till it's removed from your system. And when the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that clog filters and lodge in narrow passages. A vehicle left sitting around Comrie with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank is not. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and each injector as it flows; water offers no lubrication, which is a separate form of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's regularly worse than petrol
A problem of thinned fuel is what you end up with after fuelling a diesel with petrol from the Tesco. It mixes with your diesel, and while it's inside your tank it causes no damage; the damage comes from running the engine on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable liquid. Since it doesn't burn, running it through is not an option. It doesn't stay mixed, so it cannot be thinned. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is 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 Carnock or the middle of Comrie.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Wherever across Fife your car has come to rest, an unstarted motor means the AdBlue still inside the reservoir: the simplest bit of a fuel system to clear.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Comrie: how it ends up there
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many vehicles sits right next to your diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A container bought while driving home and poured in at home, instead of at the filling station, is the usual route.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. The refill is rushed outside the local primary school, because the dash lit up with a warning as the kids were dropped in. Near Dean Acres, a driver pours a bottle in at home in the evening. Otherwise, after dark by The White Gates, your car gets refilled by a driver opening that flap the first time.
Rented vehicles, new cars, company cars, or the spare vehicle in a family with one of each: the least familiar vehicles see it most. Keep it switched off: that's the first response to an identical mistake, anywhere around Comrie or the remainder of Fife you are.
Comrie: started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in that tank. It has been sucked 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.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each may show up, maybe midway across Comrie or returning from Inzievar Wood. When you safely can, stop then switch everything off — with no restarting to test. Each start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the A823(M), under 10 miles from Comrie, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible instead of pressing on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Comrie to the car park by Comrie Community Hall is a very different job from a run towards Dunfermline, under 5 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with each mile. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
There is more to clean out once the motor has run, and our technicians do all of it where the vehicle has come to a stop. Lasting damage is very rare when it's spotted soon.
Comrie: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
We come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped around Comrie: a side street close to Rainbow Bridge, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The work rests on three replies, and we get first — what went in, the quantity, and if your motor has turned over.
On the spot, your tank is then emptied, and all of the contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one. The fuel system is rinsed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Next, your filter: cleaned, or replaced when it has to be. After that clean diesel, then a check of the vehicle. About half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs where your engine has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
New diesel goes in to prime your system, and that is the last step. Then our technicians fire it up and you drive off, whether from a parking bay at Dunfermline City or a drive around Comrie. The check before our technicians go is that it runs smoothly on clean diesel. We do it all wherever your car has ended up, and it never has to go to a workshop. Your insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over once this job is done.
About Comrie itself
Comrie is a small village in Fife, situated near the coast, with a mix of rural and residential areas. Comrie has a relatively low elevation of 84 metres and is located close to the nearby city of Dunfermline. Comrie is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its suburban and rural influences. Comrie is also near several other small settlements, including Oakley and Blairhall.
AdBlue drains across Comrie and Fife
Oakley, Blairhall and Shires Mill are among the places around Comrie that the same teams reach, together with most of Fife further out, over the KY postcode area. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of guessing.
A van that comes to you suits Comrie, a coastal village: there's no need to take the car to us, because our engineers empty it on the spot, on a driveway, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Comrie?
No flat price could be fair, because each job is different. The price changes first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it depends on where the vehicle is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight spot behind Blairwood Park.
For that in mind, every enquiry from Comrie opens by asking the identical trio — which fluid went in, what quantity, if the engine ran — ahead of a quote. When those are known, a range becomes one firm number.
The price is given on the call, before anyone leaves; payment happens on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Look at your insurance whilst we're on the way: plenty include misfuelling cover.
Beside the car in Comrie, right now?
Not touching your car is, then, the most useful thing open to you. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Comrie or anywhere across Fife.