Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Craigie
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does your engine. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. As it is water-based, it won't burn and never combines with diesel; trouble only starts when your pump starts pulling it. If the engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally emptied and carefully cleaned where your car stands in Craigie. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Craigie
Do:
- Pull your keys out, and so no one switches the ignition on.
- Close to moving traffic? So put the hazards on.
- Which product, and about what amount? Save the bottle or the till receipt, and our engineers will know.
- Give us a postcode starting PH2 0, or whatever street lies nearest, and the van reaches you straight — so ring wherever you are.
Never do these:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift the vehicle: the motor stays off.
- Your ignition remains off: on lots of diesels, switching it on is enough to run your pump.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel won't thin it.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, including a short distance along Darnhall Drive.
- No draining it yourself, at all, at the roadside.
The staff working at any Craigie forecourt — the Morrisons among them — will normally help rolling it aside if you ask. At home, the car stays just where it was left.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the motor. Stored in a dedicated tank, it's squirted into the exhaust to treat the gases. Neither side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in an injection pump, and a pump can't deal with urea.
It does not combine. Once it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves nothing like fuel. Denser than diesel, it drops and pools below it — the very place the pickup draws from. When the system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Before then it sits underneath your diesel, and that is how a vehicle topped up in Upper Craigie yesterday and not switched on remains the simple case, provided no one turns the key.
It does two kinds of damage from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and narrow passages; and, since it attacks certain metals, each part it reaches suffers for as long as it remains in there. Overnight, a car parked around Craigie with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; where it is just in your tank, nothing changes. Then there is the water: it brings no protection to the components that rely on it the most — the injection pump and every injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's regularly worse than petrol
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Shell's forecourt leaves the fuel watery — that's the whole fault. It mixes with the diesel, and while it's inside that tank it does no damage; the damage comes from running your engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It cannot just be run through, because it does not burn. Nor can it be watered down, since it splits back out — and the following fill won't rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts more with AdBlue, and turning your key "to see", in the heart of Craigie or out in Moncreiffe, costs more than nearly any other mistake.
As with petrol, there is good news. Clearing a tank is the easiest job on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue stays in there — anywhere in Perth and Kinross your car has stopped.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Craigie?
It is not on purpose. Plenty of cars have the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel inlet, now and then under a single flap, and mixing them up is easy in poor light. A bottle picked up when heading home and poured in at home, rather than at the forecourt, is the usual route.
It tends to take place in a couple of familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside the local primary school the refill is hurried. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Clyde Place. Otherwise, after dark outside Ghlas Bar, your vehicle gets topped up by a driver using that flap the first time.
The least familiar vehicles see it most — rentals, new cars, company ones, and the other vehicle of a family with one of each fuels. An identical slip, an identical first response — keep it off — wherever you happen to be around Craigie or the remainder of Perth and Kinross.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Craigie?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. Through your filter, along the pipework, and — given any running time — on to the high-pressure pump and every injector: that's how far it travels.
Perhaps coming back from Duncan Woods, or part way across Craigie, your motor may run rough, smoke, drop power, light up your dash or cut out. Pull over when it is safe. Switch off. Keep the vehicle off rather than testing it again. Each start pulls more of that through.
On the M90, under a mile from Craigie, the first junction is where to exit, and somewhere safe is where to park — not driving on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue further in. That is why crossing Craigie to park near Pitheavlis Castle and a drive of under a mile towards Perth are very distinct jobs. Let us know about how far it had come.
There's more to rinse out once your engine has been run, and our engineers do all of it where your car has stopped. If it's caught soon, lasting damage is very rare.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Craigie?
The vehicle stays put, whether that is a road near Craigie Church, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station in Craigie, and the van comes to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if the engine has run, since those replies settle the work.
Right there, your tank is then emptied, and both the contaminated diesel and the urea come out at once. What remains from AdBlue won't flush out unaided, so the whole system gets a full flush, which matters far more here than for petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once we get there, if the motor has not run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough to spare the street at night.
Lastly, the fuel system is bled with clean diesel. Whether it's a parking space outside Perth or a drive in Craigie, that is where our engineers start it and you head off. The test before we go is that it runs correctly on new diesel. Because the job is done in its entirety where the vehicle is, a garage never comes into it. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers ask for.
About Craigie itself
Craigie is a suburban area located on the riverside in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, with a relatively low elevation of 31 metres. Craigie sits close to the city of Perth, being only 0.5 miles away, and is near other nearby places such as Cherrybank and Woodlands. Craigie is predominantly composed of flat-type housing, which accommodates its population of approximately 4855 residents. Craigie is situated in a scenic area, with the River Tay flowing nearby.
AdBlue drains across Perth and Kinross, Craigie included
Our vans that answer AdBlue calls in Craigie also cover the locations about it, Cherrybank, Perth and Woodlands among them, and most of Perth and Kinross beyond, across the PH postcode area. Close to a boundary, or anywhere tricky to pin down? Checking beats assuming, and so ring.
Craigie is a residential suburb, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it sits, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Craigie
There's no honest single price, because the jobs are not the same. What moves the cost is, first, whether the engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue went in; and then where your car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind 4th Perth Rainbows, Brownies, Guides & Rangers.
What was put in, how much, and if the engine ran: each Craigie call opens with exactly those, ahead of any figure, never after. With those replies, a range shrinks to one fixed number.
Quoted on the call before the engineer heads out, it is paid for on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
In Craigie and still alongside the vehicle?
In that case, do nothing — that is the most helpful move there is. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Say it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Craigie or anywhere within Perth and Kinross.