AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Crosshill, and What to Do Next
Everything turns on one detail: if your engine has been run since the AdBlue was added — more than anything else. If it hasn't, keep it that way, whether your car is around Crosshill itself or out in Lochgelly. Keep nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, and expect a thorough flush after a drain, done right where the vehicle sits around Crosshill. Stop the minute you safely can and switch off, if it has already run. It's a bigger job, though stage one doesn't change.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever in Fife it happened.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Crosshill forecourt
You are at the pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Be it Thames, Gulf or anywhere else around Crosshill, the case is identical.
Put simply: no better place to be to spot it. Still inside the tank, with no fuel drawn through: that's where the AdBlue is.
Your move: stay out of the driver's seat, however much the queue wants clearing. A few things: a shove into a bay with the attendants helping, the receipt saved, and a call to us from the forecourt. Our equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt, and so a car that can't be pushed away is cleared where it is at the pump.
Crosshill, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
On your dash, a warning had been lit 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 once more at the cap. Drives close to Inchgall Avenue get it as much as anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue keep apart: the AdBlue drops to the base of the tank and remains there, however long the night.
Next: prevent any early move by keeping your keys indoors, then phone us. Glencraig or Crosshill: wherever your driveway is, that is where it is drained. Our pumping kit works quietly enough that it won't wake the neighbours at night.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Crosshill?
A short way after filling up, your motor began misbehaving: roughness, smoke, lost power, warnings on your dash. Maybe it was on Main Street, maybe on the way out towards Dunfermline, under 10 miles away.
Meaning? Your fuel pump has sucked the AdBlue in. Through your filter, along the lines, and — the further the mileage — deeper into the injection pump and every injector. More miles, more starts: further it goes.
Stop somewhere safe — that is the first job — then switch everything off. Exit at the first junction — not the services beyond — if you are on the M90, under 3 miles from Crosshill. It will not have cleared, and so there's no sense starting it again to find out. Phone us and say how far you drove.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
It's a vehicle you have had for a week. Your own motor either does without AdBlue or keeps it somewhere different, and so nothing warned you the AdBlue inlet sits just next to your diesel. Anywhere you happen to be across Fife, every motorist can slip up.
Meaning? Whichever applies above applies too — run or unrun — plus one further step. The owner often needs to approve any work, under many hire and fleet contracts.
Settling it before the van turn up is quicker, so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, then us. Stranded by Mining Memorial or at Lochgelly until the firm replies, your vehicle remains turned off throughout.
Crosshill: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Honestly, the only answer might be that you think so. Lighter, the bottle; a trace of ammonia round your filler; no clear recollection of which cap. Look familiar? The gates of the local primary school in a hurry, say, or a friend's drive out in Jamphlars.
Meaning? Spills outside the filler never reach your engine at all. Inside your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue damages it. Any AdBlue in the tank would be sucked in by firing up your car, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
Your move: behave as though it did, and never start the engine. Describe what you noticed on your phone. A clear tank looked at is a better result than an already-run one emptied.
Crosshill: what every AdBlue drain has in common
Whichever scenario you are in, this job starts the same way. Anywhere the car is — the pub in the village's car park, a street beside Glencraig Gospel Hall, a driveway, a forecourt — our van arrives and we ask about the liquid, the amount, and if the motor has been run. Those answers decide this work, and you hear the quote by phone, before anyone heads out.
Then that tank is emptied and the system flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't rinse out on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Starting the engine comes last. Before our engineers head off, it is tested to make sure it runs smoothly on fresh diesel. Our technicians do the whole job where the vehicle is, and lasting damage is very unusual if it has been spotted early. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, nothing upfront. It is worth knowing: lots of insurers include misfuelling cover, so a check of your policy as we travel is worthwhile.
About Crosshill, for a moment
Crosshill is a village in Fife, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 97 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Crosshill lies near several other communities, including Glencraig, Lochore, and Ballingry, and is approximately 7.6 miles from the city of Dunfermline. Crosshill has a population of around 831 residents, making it a small but distinct community in the area. Crosshill is also relatively distant from major cities like London, being around 346.2 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Fife, Crosshill included
Crosshill is a village, and the same vans that cover it work the towns around it too, Lochore and Ballingry among them, across the KY postcode area. Fastest of all: a KY5 8 postcode for where you stand.
No towing is required, whether parked in the centre of Crosshill or in a layby en route to Central Park, and so keep it put. Our van drains it in place. Phone and check instead of guessing when you are by Lochore Castle, near a border, or anywhere tricky to explain.
The one-line version
Unstarted? Keep the car off and phone. Run already: pull over, switch down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, in Crosshill or wherever in Fife.