AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Drumoak? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. It does not burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when your fuel system draws it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Drumoak, is normally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your engine has run. Nothing comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Drumoak
Things to do:
- Pull the keys out, and so nobody switches your ignition on.
- Put your hazards on if you are anywhere near moving traffic.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt shows us the fluid and the amount, so don't throw it out.
- Our van finds you fastest with a postcode starting AB31 5, or just the name of a street nearby, so phone from the car.
Not to do:
- Moving your vehicle just 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 run the pump.
- Pouring in more diesel does not work: AdBlue settles out rather than thinning.
- Even a short distance up North Deeside Road is too far to drive the car.
- No draining it yourself, either, at the roadside.
On a forecourt in Drumoak, whether it's the BP or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll the car clear of the petrol pump. On your own driveway, do not move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Not the engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Stored in a dedicated tank, it is injected into the exhaust to clean the gases. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and collects below it — the same place the pickup sucks from. When your system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to be pulled through. Before then it waits beneath your diesel, which is how a car filled in Hardgate last night and not switched on stays the straightforward case, as long as no one turns your key.
It does two kinds of harm from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps working on the parts it hits for as long as it stays there. If the AdBlue has reached the lines, leaving it till morning in Drumoak makes things worse. In your tank alone, waiting does nothing. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel running through them, so the water content damages them by itself.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger problem?
Petrol put into a diesel on Tesco's forecourt leaves the fuel thin — that is the whole problem. It mixes with your diesel, and while it's in that tank it causes no damage; the damage comes from running your engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It cannot simply be run through, because it doesn't burn. Deposits and corrosion stay after the next fill, and AdBlue splits back out of the diesel, so watering it can't help. Hence the flush matters so much, and trying the engine "to see" does more harm here than almost any other mistake — in Upper Park or the centre of Drumoak equally.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Wherever in Aberdeenshire the car has stopped, an unrun engine leaves the AdBlue yet in the tank: the simplest bit of a fuel system to clear.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Drumoak: how it ends up there
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many vehicles waits right next to the diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A bottle bought when driving home and tipped in outside the house, rather than at the filling station, is the usual story.
It tends to happen in a few familiar ways. The refill gets hurried outside the local primary school, after the dash flashed with a warning while the children were taken in. After work, a bottle goes in on a drive close to Keithmuir Lane. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at the pub in the village, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It occurs most in the cars motorists know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever around Aberdeenshire, Drumoak as well, the slip does not change, and neither does the first response: leave it switched off.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Drumoak?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. It's been drawn through your filter and your lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors.
Maybe coming back from Drumoak Memorial Gardens, or part way across Drumoak, the engine may run rough, smoke, lose power, flash your dash or cut out. Once safe, stop then switch everything off — without turning it on again to test. Each start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the M90, over 50 miles from Drumoak, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
A quick hop across Drumoak to the car park by Drumoak Memorial Gardens is one matter; heading for Aberdeen, under 15 miles away, is another, because each mile carries the AdBlue further in. So mileage matters. Tell us about how far it had come.
There's more to rinse out once your engine has been run, and we do all of it where your car has come to a stop. Lasting damage is very rare if it is caught soon.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel in Drumoak: what it takes
Anywhere it has stopped around Drumoak — a filling station, a layby, a driveway, a street beside The Keith Tower — the van travels to the vehicle. The work rests on three replies, which we ask for before all else — what got in, the amount, and whether the engine has run.
Then your tank is emptied where your car sits, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue won't flush out unaided, and so the fuel system gets a full flush, which matters much more with urea than with petrol. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when the motor has not run. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Clean diesel goes in to prime the system, and that is the final step. You set off as soon as we have started it, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a drive around Drumoak or in a bay at Portlethen. It is tested on new diesel to be sure it runs properly before our engineers go. No workshop is needed at any point, with the entire job done on the spot. Your insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Drumoak and where it is
Drumoak is a village situated on the banks of the River Dee in Aberdeenshire, with a mix of rural and residential areas. Drumoak sits at an elevation of 57 metres, close to the city of Aberdeen, and is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock. Drumoak is located near several other small settlements, including Drum and Kincluny, and is around 395 miles from London.
AdBlue drains around Drumoak and across Aberdeenshire
Drum, Kincluny and Durris Ho are among the places near Drumoak that the same vans serve, along with most of Aberdeenshire beyond, over the AB postcode area. Guessing won't help close to a county line or somewhere tricky to pin down; phone and ask.
A mobile service fits Drumoak, a village: there's no need to bring the car to us, because our technicians drain it on the spot, on a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Drumoak: the cost of fixing it
No single figure would be honest, since every job differs. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that got in. After that it depends on where your car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight gap behind Cowie Hill Stone.
That is why every call from Drumoak starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and if it has run. Those replies turn a range into a straight price.
Before a van sets off, you are told our price by phone. And payment is on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van gets there.
Drumoak: still alongside your car?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with the car is to not touch it. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and if it ran are everything we need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest throughout Aberdeenshire, Drumoak included.