AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Dreghorn: What Now?
One thing matters most when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is whether the engine has run since. Not started yet? Then leave the car like that, wherever your vehicle is — Dreghorn or Stanecastle. Usually this is emptying and properly rinsing it on the spot around Dreghorn — and so keep the key and motor off then call 0333 366 0103. Already run? Pull over once safe, then turn it off. It's a larger job, though step one does not change.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever across North Ayrshire it happened.
On a Dreghorn forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
You're 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. Anywhere around Dreghorn, then — BP, Sainsbury's, or anywhere else nearby.
Meaning? Finding out on the forecourt is the best it gets. The AdBlue is in the tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Next: avoid the temptation to start it just to free up the pump. Phone us from the forecourt once your vehicle sits in a bay — the staff will lend a hand to roll it — and save the bottle. Our equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a live forecourt, so a vehicle that cannot be pushed clear is drained where it is at the petrol pump.
Dreghorn, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
The warning light had been on 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. It takes place on drives just off Townfoot Lane as regularly as anywhere.
The point: no driving since leaves it almost equal to spotting it at the pump. As it is unable to mix, AdBlue drops low inside the tank and stays. One night standing changes none of that.
Your move: the keys in the house, so no one drives the car off at breakfast. After that, phone. Broomlands or Dreghorn: wherever your drive sits, that's where it gets drained. Night-time drains outside a house are fine: the pumps are quiet.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Dreghorn?
Filled up, drove away, and before long the motor was running unevenly, smoking, losing power, or flashing up the dash. Maybe it was on Townfoot, possibly on the way out towards Glasgow, under 25 miles away.
The point: the system has pulled AdBlue in already. Distance decides how deep it goes: filter and lines first, then the injection pump and each injector. More driving, more restarts: further it travels.
Stop safely — that is the first step — then switch everything off. Exit at the next junction — not the services beyond — if you are on the M77, under 10 miles from Dreghorn. It won't have cleared, so there's no sense starting it again to check. About how far had it gone? Tell us when you call.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You've just driven this vehicle a week. Unknown to you, the two fillers are side by side here — not like your own car, which has no AdBlue or stores it elsewhere. Anywhere you happen to be around North Ayrshire, any motorist could slip up.
The point: just as above, divided by if it ran, only with one added stage. Plenty of rental and fleet contracts need the owner's sign-off before repairs.
Sorting it before the van arrives is faster, so ring the hire company or your fleet manager, and then us. Waiting for an answer at the car park outside Irvine, or near Dreghorn Library? Keep your car off throughout.
Dreghorn: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Sometimes the honest answer is "I think so". Which cap came off, you can't say; but the bottle feels lighter than expected, and ammonia lingers by the filler. The gates of the local primary school in a hurry, say, or someone's driveway over in Springside.
What it means: a little spilled round the filler does no harm to the engine. Inside your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue harms it. You cannot tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so will pull in any AdBlue that is in that tank.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Do not fire it up. Call us and explain what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
The common ground in each Dreghorn AdBlue drain
Whatever the situation, one start applies. Anywhere the vehicle stands — The Brae's car park, a street by War Memorial, a drive, a forecourt — the van gets there and we ask about the fluid, the quantity, and if the motor has been run. Answers set the work; the price follows on the call while nobody has set off yet.
A thorough flush comes after this drain. With petrol it is routine; with AdBlue it is crucial, since crystals form and some metals corrode, and neither washes away unaided. Clean diesel is put in after the filter is cleaned or replaced, and the car is finally checked. If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
The last step is starting the car. Before our engineers head off, it is tested to confirm it runs smoothly on clean diesel. When it's spotted quickly, the car very rarely has long-term damage, and the entire job takes place where it is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many policies include misfuelling, so look at yours as we head over.
About Dreghorn and where it is
Dreghorn is a coastal suburban area in North Ayrshire, situated near the towns of Broomlands and Bourtreehill. Dreghorn lies at a low elevation of around 20 metres, close to the shore and within commuting distance of Glasgow. Dreghorn has a mix of housing types, but terraced housing is predominant in the area. Dreghorn is one of several suburban areas that have grown up along the coast of North Ayrshire, attracting residents who work in nearby cities.
AdBlue drains in Dreghorn, and across North Ayrshire too
Dreghorn is a residential suburb, and the same teams that cover it work the places around it too, Bourtreehill and Drybridge among them, across the KA postcode area. A postcode starting KA11 4 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Whether the car is on a lay-by on the way to Annick Park or in a car park in the middle of Dreghorn, it does not need to shift. The van empties it in place. If you are somewhere hard to describe, close to Bouncestation or close to a boundary, ring and ask rather than guessing.
The one-line version
Unstarted? Leave the car that way then phone. Run already? Pull over, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest whatever case, in Dreghorn and North Ayrshire, on 0333 366 0103.