What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Cuminestown
One fact counts most when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is if your engine has run afterwards. Anywhere the vehicle is — Idoch, Cuminestown — don't start an engine that has not run yet. Leave the motor and your ignition off and call 0333 366 0103; it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Cuminestown. Pull over the minute you safely can then turn off, if it has been run. It's a larger job, though stage one doesn't change.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever around Aberdeenshire it happened.
At the pump around Cuminestown: AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you only spot it as you're stood at the petrol pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. Be it Turriff Service Station, another forecourt nearby or somewhere else around Cuminestown, the case is identical.
What it means: this is the best spot to find out. The AdBlue is in that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has sucked it in.
Your move: stay out of the car, even if the queue wants clearing. Have the staff to help pushing it into a bay, save the receipt, then ring us right there. Draining it right at the pump is possible if it cannot be moved, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home around Cuminestown
The warning light had been on for days. A bottle bought at the shop, tipped in on the drive — and it's just by the recycling that the cap got a second look. Driveways close to Thornhill Road see it as much as anywhere.
The point: zero driving since leaves this nearly equal to finding it at the petrol pump. Diesel and AdBlue stay separate: the AdBlue drops to the floor of your tank and stays put, however long it waits.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves the vehicle in the morning. Then call. Teuchar or Cuminestown: wherever your drive sits, that's where it gets cleared. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
On the road around Cuminestown with AdBlue in a diesel
A mile or two after topping up, the motor began playing up: roughness, smoke, lost power, warnings on the dash. Somewhere along Plane Trees or heading to Aberdeen — under 50 miles away.
Meaning? Your pump has sucked the AdBlue in. The high-pressure pump and every injector get it as well on a longer run, once the filter and pipework have it. It goes further with every mile covered and every restart.
What to do: pull over where it's safe and switch off. On the M90, over 50 miles from Cuminestown, that means the next exit, not the services further on. Restarting it to test achieves nothing — AdBlue never clears on its own. About what distance did it gone? Say so when you call.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
It's a motor you have had for a week. Unbeknown to you, the two inlets sit next to each other here — not like your own car, which has none or keeps it in another spot. Throughout Aberdeenshire, nobody is safe from it.
The upshot: just as above, split by if it ran, only with one added stage. Work on your vehicle often needs the owner's approval under hire or fleet terms.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is faster settled before our technicians get there than after. Hanging on for a reply in the car park at the nearest station, or beside St Luke's Episcopal Church? Keep the engine off meanwhile.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, around Cuminestown
Honestly, the only answer may be that you think so. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia round your filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at the local primary school, or on a friend's drive in Balthangie.
What it means: a little spilled around your filler does no damage to the engine. The diesel tank with AdBlue inside is another story. Turning on the car will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in your tank it would pull it in.
Your move: behave as though it did, and never start the motor. Phone and give what you saw: we'd sooner find a tank free of AdBlue than empty one after your engine has been run.
Cuminestown: what every AdBlue drain has in common
Every case gets the same start to the job. Three questions come when our engineers reach your car — at a forecourt, a drive, a street beside War Memorial or the car park outside Commercial Hotel: the fluid, the amount, and if it has run. Your price is given over the phone, ahead of anyone setting off, and the answers shape the work.
AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain metals in fuel systems, so it won't wash out on its own; that is why the flush, after this drain, matters much more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Not started? In that case roughly half an hour once we are there covers most jobs.
We fire it up at the end. Before we leave, it's tested to make sure it runs properly on fresh diesel. Our technicians do the entire job where the vehicle is, and permanent damage is very unusual if it has been noticed soon. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, no money upfront. It is worth knowing: lots of insurers include misfuelling cover, and so a check of your policy as you wait pays.
About Cuminestown and where it is
Cuminestown is a small village in Aberdeenshire, situated on the banks of a river at an elevation of around 105 metres. Cuminestown lies near the villages of Teuchar, Garmond, and Cairnhill, and is approximately 28 miles from Aberdeen. Cuminestown has a population of around 510 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Cuminestown is located in a rural area, with Aberdeen being the nearest city.
AdBlue drains in Cuminestown, and across Aberdeenshire too
Garmond and Cairnhill have the identical teams as Cuminestown, a village, plus further towns over AB postcodes. A postcode starting AB53 5 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Stopped heading to Greenness, or bang in the heart of Cuminestown, the vehicle remains where it is — there's no need to shift it anywhere. Draining happens right there. Phone and ask instead of guessing if you're by Monquhitter Parish Church, on a border, or somewhere awkward to explain.
Your situation, summed up
Where it hasn't run, ring then leave it off. Run by now: pull over, switch down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, in Cuminestown or anywhere across Aberdeenshire.