Ferryhill: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, leave the motor off then leave the ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when your fuel system pulls it in. In Ferryhill, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before your engine runs usually comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where the vehicle is. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Ferryhill, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do straight away
To do:
- Keys out — then no one can power anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- The empty bottle or your receipt shows us the product and the quantity, so don't throw it away.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting AB11 6, or the name of the nearest street, gets the van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Shifting your car just a few yards is no reason to start the engine.
- Many diesels run their fuel pump the instant your ignition goes on, and so keep it off.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue won't blend, and so it is pointless.
- Keep it where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way along Polmuir Road.
- Don't try to drain it yourself by the roadside.
Ask the attendants to help you roll your vehicle away from the pumps if you're on a forecourt in Ferryhill, whether it's the BP or somewhere else. At home, the car stays just as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not the motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. From a dedicated reservoir it is fed directly to your exhaust, cleaning what your engine lets out. 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 really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. It drops, because it's denser than diesel, and settles down where the pickup takes its supply from. When the system runs, the AdBlue is first to go through. Before then it sits beneath your diesel, and that is why a vehicle topped up in Rosemount last night and not started stays the simple one, as long as no one turns the key.
After it's drawn in, the harm comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and narrow passages; and, since it eats at some metals, each part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it remains inside. A car left standing in Ferryhill with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and every injector as it passes; water gives no lubrication, which is a separate kind of damage.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the Morrisons and you have a problem of thin fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and while it's in the tank it causes no damage; the harm comes from running the engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It doesn't burn, and so it cannot just be run through. Crystals and corrosion stay through the following tankful, and AdBlue splits back out of your diesel, and so watering it can't work. That is why the flush matters more, and turning the key "to see" costs more here than almost any other slip — in Aberdeen or the centre of Ferryhill equally.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Wherever across Aberdeen City your vehicle has stopped, an unstarted engine means the AdBlue still in the reservoir: the easiest part of a fuel system to clear.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Ferryhill
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, occasionally under one flap — may appear the same. Nobody intends it; plenty of designs allow it. Mostly it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
It tends to take place in a couple of familiar ways. The refill is hurried outside the local primary school, because the dash flashed with a warning as the children were taken in. Close to Ferryhill Place, someone pours a bottle in at home in the evening. Or a driver new to that flap refills the vehicle after dark, parked in the car park outside The Hayloft Bar.
It takes place most in the vehicles people know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Keep it off: that is the first response to the same slip, anywhere in Ferryhill or the remainder of Aberdeen City you are.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Ferryhill, and your engine started?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. Through the filter, along the pipework, and — given any running time — into the injection pump and every injector: that's where it travels.
Maybe returning from Ferryhill Playing Field, or midway across Ferryhill, the engine might run lumpy, smoke, drop pace, light up your dash or cut out. Once safe, pull over and switch it off — with no turning it on again to test. Each start pulls more of it through.
On the M90, over 50 miles from Ferryhill, the first junction is where to leave, and somewhere sensible is where to park — not driving on.
A quick hop across Ferryhill to the car park by Ferryhill Parish Church is one matter; driving towards Aberdeen, under 3 miles away, is something else, since every mile carries the AdBlue further in. So distance matters. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once the motor has been started, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the car has stopped. Lasting damage is very unusual when it is noticed early.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Ferryhill?
Our engineers come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Ferryhill: a side street close to Ferryhill Scout Hall, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. What got in, roughly how much, plus whether the engine has been run: our engineers ask before all else, because those decide the job.
Then that tank is cleared where the vehicle waits, and so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A full flush matters far more after AdBlue than with petrol, since residue won't clear away on its own. Clean diesel goes in once the filter is cleaned — or swapped, when it needs to be — and after that the car is tested. Most of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our engineers get there, if your engine hasn't run. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
The last step is to prime your system on fresh diesel. Whether it is a parking bay by Aberdeen or a drive around Ferryhill, that is where our engineers fire it up and you set off. Our engineers confirm it runs correctly on fresh diesel before we leave. Our technicians do it all wherever your car has stopped, and it never has to go to a workshop. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers want.
About Ferryhill, for a moment
Ferryhill is a suburban area in Aberdeen City, situated near the coast and approximately 1 mile from Aberdeen city centre. Ferryhill sits at an elevation of around 27 metres, with its predominantly flat housing stock reflecting the area's relatively low-lying coastal setting. Ferryhill is close to nearby places such as Ruthrieston, Gilcomston, and Torry, and is home to a population of around 9257 people.
Ferryhill and Aberdeen City: AdBlue drains across the area
Over the AB postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue call-outs around Ferryhill reach much of Aberdeen City too, Ruthrieston, Gilcomston and Torry included. Ring and check rather than guess when you are by a county line, or anywhere tricky to explain.
Ferryhill is a residential suburb, and a mobile drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it stands, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Ferryhill?
There is no honest single quote, since the jobs aren't the same. What moves the price is, first, whether the motor has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and after that where the vehicle is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Albury Community Sports Hub.
Which fluid got in, how much, and if the engine ran: every Ferryhill call opens by asking exactly that, ahead of a figure, never after. The replies turn a range into a straight quote.
The quote is quoted on the call, before anyone leaves; payment comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
In Ferryhill and still beside the car?
In that case, do nothing — that's the best move there is. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, in Ferryhill or anywhere within Aberdeen City.