What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Earnock
One fact counts most when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is whether the engine has been started afterwards. If it has not, keep it that way, whether the car is in Earnock itself or out in Laighstonehall. Keep nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, then count on a proper flush after a drain, done right where your vehicle sits in Earnock. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The job is bigger, yet the first stage is the same.
Match what happened to one of the list below, anywhere around South Lanarkshire you are.
On a Earnock forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you just spot it while you are stood at the pump, bottle or nozzle in your hand. Anywhere in Earnock, then — BP, Shell, or somewhere else close by.
Meaning? Spotting it here is the best it gets. Still inside that tank, with no fuel drawn through: that's where the AdBlue is.
What to do: don't get back in and start the car to clear the petrol pump. Get the staff to help rolling it into a space, hold on to the bottle, then ring us right there. If it cannot be shifted, it can be drained at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a working forecourt.
At home in Earnock with AdBlue in your diesel tank
Days had gone by with the warning light on. Only at the recycling bin, the empty container in your hand, did you glance back at the cap you had used on the driveway. Drives close to Townhill Road get it as much as anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. As it is unable to mix, AdBlue settles low inside that tank and waits. A night parked changes nothing.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves the car in the morning. Then call. Your driveway is where it gets emptied, be it in Earnock or Little Earnock. Our equipment works quietly enough that it won't wake the street at night.
Earnock: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Topped up, pulled away, and soon the motor was turning roughly, blowing smoke, down on power, or flashing up your dash. It might have been heading to Glasgow, under 10 miles away, or simply down Wellhall Road.
What it means: your fuel system has drawn the AdBlue in. The high-pressure pump and every injector get it as well on a bigger trip, once your filter and lines have had it. More miles, more restarts: deeper it travels.
What to do: pull over where it's safe to do so and switch off. On the M74, under 3 miles from Earnock, that means the next junction, not the services further on. It will not have cleared, and so there is no sense restarting to check. Phone, saying how far your car went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company vehicles
You have had this car barely a week. Your own vehicle either does without AdBlue or keeps it elsewhere, and so nothing warned you the AdBlue inlet sits just next to your diesel. Any driver, anywhere across South Lanarkshire, might do it.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it has run, with one more step. Plenty of hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on the vehicle.
Sorting it before the van turn up is quicker, and so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, and then us. If you are stranded in the car park outside Hamilton West, or by Earnock Covenanter Memorial, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Earnock?
Now and then, "I think so" is the most you can honestly say. Lighter, the bottle; a hint of ammonia near the filler; a hazy memory of the cap. Sound familiar? Maybe it happened in a hurry at the school gates at the local primary school, or on a friend's drive in Chantinghall.
The upshot: the motor isn't harmed by a little AdBlue splashed on the outside. In your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue damages it. Any AdBlue in that tank will be pulled in by firing up the vehicle, and the start would not settle which it is in any case.
Your move: behave as if it got in, and never start the engine. Inspecting a tank that proves free of AdBlue is better than emptying one after it has been run — so ring and tell us what you noticed.
The common ground in each Earnock AdBlue drain
The job opens identically, whichever the case. Our technicians come to the car, whether it is at a forecourt, a driveway, the car park at Red Burn Farm - Farmhouse inns or a side street close to Hillhouse Parish Church, and ask three things: what got in, roughly how much, and whether the motor has been run. Those replies settle this work, and you hear our price by phone, before anybody sets off.
Then that tank is cleared and your system rinsed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not rinse out on its own. Next comes your filter — cleaned, or swapped when necessary — followed by clean diesel, and a test of the car. If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
The final step is starting the engine. We make sure it runs smoothly on fresh diesel before we leave. Our technicians do the whole job where the car is, and lasting damage is very rare if it has been noticed early. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Earnock itself
Earnock is a suburban area situated on the riverside in South Lanarkshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Earnock sits at an elevation of around 135 metres, close to the nearby communities of Little Earnock, Hillhouse, and Udston. Earnock is located near Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, which is approximately 8.9 miles away. Earnock has a population of around 6141 people, making it a moderately sized suburban community.
AdBlue drains around Earnock, and across South Lanarkshire too
Hillhouse and Udston get the same teams as Earnock, a residential suburb, plus further places over ML postcodes. Giving us your ML3 9 postcode pins you quickest of all.
Whether the car is on a lay-by on the way to Iona Ridge Park or in a car park in the middle of Earnock, it does not need to move. Where it sits, that is where it gets emptied. Tricky to pin down? By Hillhouse & Earnock Community Centre or a border? Checking beats assuming, so phone.
Your situation, in one line
Not run yet: keep it off and call. Run by now: stop, switch down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, within Earnock or anywhere in South Lanarkshire.