Dingwall: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
Has the motor run since the AdBlue was put in? This single question decides almost everything else from here. Wherever the car stands — Corntown, Dingwall — don't start an engine that hasn't been started yet. Call 0333 366 0103 with your key and engine still off. In Dingwall, that is typically drained and flushed where it stands. Stop the minute you safely can then switch off, if it has already run. It's a larger job, yet step one doesn't change.
Wherever across Highland it happened, one of the situations below matches yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Dingwall forecourt
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you only spot it while you are standing at the pump, bottle or the nozzle in your hand. Possibly you're at the Tesco, maybe at the Gleaner, possibly somewhere else around Dingwall.
Meaning? Finding out here is as good as it gets. The AdBlue is inside that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
What to do: don't get back in and crank it to clear the petrol pump. Ask the attendants to help you roll your car into a parking space, keep the till receipt or the bottle, and call us from the forecourt. If it can't be shifted, it can be emptied at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a working forecourt.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Dingwall
On your dash, a reminder had been lit all week. Only at the recycling bin, the empty container in hand, did you look back at the cap you'd used at the driveway. Houses just off Hill Street get hit as often as anywhere else.
The upshot: zero driving since leaves it almost equal to spotting it at the pump. Diesel and AdBlue keep apart: the AdBlue drops to the base of the tank and stays there, no matter how long the night.
Next: keys in the house, and so no one takes the car off first thing. After that, ring. We drain the car on your driveway, whether that's in Dingwall or out in Alcaig. Even at night, the pumps are quiet enough for a driveway.
On the road around Dingwall with AdBlue in a diesel
A mile or two beyond filling up, your motor began misbehaving: rough running, smoke, lost power, warnings on the dash. Castle Street, say, or the way towards Inverness — a run of under 15 miles.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been sucked through the system. Through the filter, along the pipework, and — the more the mileage — on into the injection pump and each injector. Each restart, like each mile, carries it on.
Pull in somewhere safe — that's the first step — then turn it off. Exit at the first junction — not the services beyond — if you are on the M90, over 50 miles from Dingwall. Don't restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Tell us know the mileage covered as you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
It is a motor you have had for a week. Your own car either does without AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere, and so no one warned you the AdBlue cap sits right next to your diesel. It can happen to anyone, anywhere around Highland.
The upshot: just as above, split by if it ran, only with an added stage. Plenty of hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
Next: ring the hire company or your fleet manager first, and then us — settling it before we arrive is quicker. If you are stranded in the car park at the nearest station, or by Highland Youth, while you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Dingwall?
At times, "I think so" is the most you can truthfully say. A slight ammonia smell hangs near the filler, the bottle feels too light, and the cap you took off is hard to recall. Maybe on a friend's driveway in Mountgerald, or in a rush by the local primary school at the school run.
In short: spillage round your filler leaves your motor no harm. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. If there is AdBlue in the tank, firing up the vehicle would draw it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
Do this: behave as if it did, and don't start your motor. Tell us what you saw on your phone. A clean tank looked at is a better result than a run one emptied.
What every AdBlue drain around Dingwall has in common
The work opens the same way, whichever the situation. Forecourt, driveway, The Caledonian Bar's car park or a road by Castle Street Church Of Scotland — the van comes to your vehicle, and three answers come next: what liquid, what quantity, and if it has run. Answers set the work; the price follows on the call whilst nobody has set off yet.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a careful flush — more vital with urea than after petrol, since crystals and corrosion will not clear on their own, no matter how long it sits. Finally come your filter, cleaned or replaced if necessary; fresh diesel; and a check of the car. Most unstarted vehicles are a half-hour job from the moment our technicians arrive.
The last step is firing it up. Our technicians make sure it runs smoothly on clean diesel before we go. We do the whole job where the car is, and permanent damage is very unusual if it has been spotted quickly. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, nothing upfront. It is worth remembering: lots of insurers offer misfuelling cover, and so a check of your documents as we travel pays.
About Dingwall, for a moment
Dingwall is a coastal town in the Scottish Highlands, situated near the mouth of the River Peffery and looking out over the Cromarty Firth. Dingwall sits at a low elevation of around 8 metres, close to the nearby villages of Alcaig and Maryburgh. Dingwall is a residential centre with a mix of housing types, although detached homes are particularly common in the area. Dingwall is located near the city of Inverness, which is about 11 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Highland, Dingwall included
Throughout IV postcodes, the teams covering Dingwall — a coastal town — work nearby places as well, Maryburgh and Ryefield included. A postcode starting IV15 9 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Whether the car is on a lay-by on the way to Green Hill or in a car park in the middle of Dingwall, it doesn't need to shift. Where it sits, that is where it gets emptied. If you are somewhere hard to describe, near Dingwall War Memorial or close to a boundary, ring and ask rather than guessing.
In one line: your scenario
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off then call. Run by now: stop, power down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Dingwall or anywhere across Highland.