Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Dalfaber
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, leave the engine off and leave the ignition off. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Being water-based, it won't ignite and never combines with diesel; damage only starts when the pump begins drawing it. Caught before your motor has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Dalfaber. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Your next steps right now, Dalfaber: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do:
- So no one can turn the ignition on, take your keys away.
- If you're at all close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Hold on to the receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what got in and roughly how much.
- Ring right where you are. Say a PH22 1 postcode or the nearest street name, and no one has to hunt for you.
Don't:
- Moving the car even a few yards is no reason to fire up your motor.
- The ignition stays off: on lots of diesels, switching it on is enough to start your fuel pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Don't drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short stretch down Corrour Road.
- Beside the road, don't try emptying it yourself.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you move the car away from the pumps if you're on a forecourt in Dalfaber, whether it is the BP or somewhere else. At your own driveway, do not touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is fed into the exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Neither side suits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and a pump can't take urea.
It does not combine. Once it's poured into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Inverdruie last night, and has not been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
It does two kinds of damage from there. What remains once the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they lodge in narrow passages and clog filters. Worse, it attacks some metals in a fuel system, and keeps going till it is cleared out. If the AdBlue has reached the pipework, leaving it till morning in Dalfaber leaves things worse. Inside the tank only, waiting does nothing. Water protects nothing. The high-pressure pump and each injector depend on diesel flowing through them, and so the water content damages them in its own right.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger fault?
Top up a diesel with petrol by mistake at the another forecourt nearby, and this issue is diluted fuel. Blended into the diesel and sitting still, it's no threat at that stage; using the motor is the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it can't just be run through. Nor can it be thinned, because it separates again — and the following tankful won't clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters for more here, and turning your key "to see", in the heart of Dalfaber or out in Coylumbridge, costs more than nearly any other error.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue sits just in the tank, the simplest section of the whole system to clear, wherever the car has stopped in Highland.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Dalfaber: how it ends up there
Many cars place the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, occasionally under one flap, and in dim light the two may appear the same. No one means it. Mostly it is not the filling station: someone buys a container driving home and tips it in at home.
Mostly, it happens in one of a few familiar ways. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside the local primary school the top-up is rushed. Near Dalfaber Drive, someone tips a bottle in at home in the evening. Otherwise, after dark by Balavoulin, the car gets refilled by a driver opening that flap the first time.
It crops up most in a hire car, a new vehicle, a fleet car, or the other motor of a home with one of each fuel types — the vehicles drivers know least. Wherever you are in Dalfaber or the remainder of Highland, it is the same error and the same first answer: leave it off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Dalfaber?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer in the tank. Your filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and some running takes it on to the injection pump and every injector.
Perhaps returning from Spey Valley 9-hole Academy Golf Course, or part way across Dalfaber, your motor might go lumpy, smoke, lose pace, light up the dash or cut out. Pull over when it is safe. Switch off. Keep the car off rather than restarting it to check. Every start pulls more of it through.
Exit the M90, over 50 miles from Dalfaber, by the first junction and park safely, rather than driving on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Dalfaber to the car park by Cairngorm Brewery is a very different job from a run towards Inverness, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with every mile. Let us know about how far it had come.
There's more to clean out once the engine has been run, and our engineers do all of it where the vehicle has stopped. Long-term damage is very rare if it's caught quickly.
Dalfaber: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
Anywhere it has come to rest around Dalfaber — a forecourt, a lay-by, a drive, a road beside Aviemore Community Centre — our van comes to your vehicle. Before anything else our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and if the motor has run, because those answers settle the work.
Next, emptying that tank right there removes the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue together. A full flush counts much more after AdBlue than with petrol, since residue won't clear away by itself. Clean diesel goes in once your filter is flushed — or swapped, if it needs to be — and then the car is tested. About half an hour on site is typical for most jobs when your motor hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Lastly, your system is primed with fresh diesel. Whether it is a parking bay outside Aviemore or a driveway in Dalfaber, that is where our technicians start the car and you drive off. Before we leave, our engineers confirm it is running smoothly with new diesel in. We do it all wherever your car has ended up, and it never needs to be taken to a workshop. Afterwards, you are given paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer.
About Dalfaber
Dalfaber is a locality situated on the riverside in the Scottish Highlands, with an elevation of 215 metres and a population of around 631 people. Dalfaber is located near the city of Inverness, approximately 24.8 miles away, and is close to other nearby places such as Aviemore, Granish, and Dell. Dalfaber has a range of semi-detached housing, reflecting its development as a residential area. Dalfaber is also relatively distant from major cities like London, being around 420.2 miles away.
Dalfaber and Highland: AdBlue drains across the area
Our vans that answer AdBlue calls around Dalfaber also cover the places round it, Aviemore, Granish and Dell among them, and most of Highland beyond, across the PH postcode area. Assuming won't help close to a border or somewhere tricky to pin down; phone and check.
Dalfaber is a small village, and a mobile 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 stands, so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Dalfaber?
There's no honest single price, since the jobs are not the same. Whether your engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what changes the price. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the position of the car, since an open driveway is easier for our van to reach safely than a tight gap behind Aviemore ring cairn and stone circle.
What was put in, how much, and whether the engine ran: every Dalfaber call opens with precisely that, before any figure, not after. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
Before anyone sets off, you are told our quote by phone. Then you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
Next to the car in Dalfaber, right now?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, then, the most useful thing you can do. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and if it ran is everything our technicians need. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest across Highland, Dalfaber included.