Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fordell
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. As it is water-based, it won't burn and never combines with diesel; damage only comes once the pump starts pulling it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Fordell, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it is caught before the motor has run. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps right now, Fordell: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do:
- Keys out — then nobody can switch anything on.
- Put the hazards on if you're at all near moving traffic.
- The empty bottle or your receipt shows us the fluid and the amount, so do not throw it away.
- The van finds you quickest with a postcode starting KY4 8, or just the name of a street close by, so phone from the car.
Things not to do:
- Moving your car just a few yards is no reason to fire up the motor.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Adding extra diesel doesn't help: AdBlue separates out instead of thinning.
- Leave the car where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short distance up Coles Place.
- By the road, don't try draining it yourself.
Moving the vehicle off the island is a job for staff to help with, wherever Fordell forecourt you are on, the Thames included. At your own driveway, don't touch it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the engine. From a dedicated tank it goes straight to the exhaust, treating what the motor emits. A fuel pump isn't designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once poured in, won't. Its behaviour is nothing like fuel's. The intake sucks fuel from the lowest part of that tank, and that's just where AdBlue settles: being denser than diesel, it sinks. Simplest of all: a vehicle that got AdBlue in Hill of Beath overnight and has not been started since. The AdBlue waits at the foot of the tank, undrawn — though it will be the first thing through if the motor starts, before any diesel at all.
From there it does two kinds of damage. It attacks certain metals found in fuel components, attacking any part it touches till it's removed from your system. And when the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and settle in narrow passages. By daybreak, a vehicle sitting in Fordell with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; where it's only inside the tank, it doesn't. Water protects nothing. The high-pressure pump and each injector need diesel flowing past them, so the water part harms them in its own right.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is frequently more significant than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the BP and you have a problem of thin fuel. Damage just comes from driving on it. Mixed into the diesel and left inside the tank, it does none.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is plainly the wrong one. It can't simply be run through, because it doesn't burn. Nor can it be watered down, since it splits again — and the next fill will not rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters for more here, and trying your engine "to see", in the centre of Fordell or out in Halbeath, costs more than almost any other mistake.
As with petrol, there is good news. If your motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside that tank, and your tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Fife your car is standing.
Fordell: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Many cars put the AdBlue filler beside the diesel one, occasionally under one flap, and after dark the two can look identical. No one intends it. Mostly it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
A couple of familiar ways cover most cases. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside the local primary school. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Kirkcaldy Road. Or the car is topped up in the car park outside Crystal Bar, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It comes up most in a rental, a new motor, a fleet motor, or the other vehicle in a home with both fuels — the vehicles drivers know the least. Wherever you are in Fordell or the remainder of Fife, it's the same mistake and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Fordell?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. With any running time, it travels to the injection pump and every injector, after passing via your filter and pipework.
Perhaps coming back from Cuttlehill Woods, or part way across Fordell, your engine might go lumpy, smoke, drop pace, flash your dash or stall. Pull over when safe. Turn off. Leave the vehicle off rather than restarting it to check. Every start pulls more of that through.
Exit the M90, under a mile from Fordell, by the next junction and stop somewhere safe, rather than driving on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Fordell to the car park by War Memorial is a very different job from a run towards Dunfermline, under 5 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with each mile. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Once the motor has run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the car has come to a stop. Noticed quickly, it very rarely leaves long-term damage.
Fordell: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
Our technicians come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Fordell: a side street near Crossgates Community Centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. What was put in, about how much, and whether the engine has been run: we ask before all else, because those decide the work.
On the spot, your tank is then drained, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea leave at once. A full flush counts much more with AdBlue than with petrol, because residue won't wash away by itself. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. About half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when your motor hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Bleeding the fuel system with fresh diesel comes last. At that point our technicians fire it up and you drive off, whether from a parking bay at Cowdenbeath or a drive in Fordell. Our engineers confirm it runs smoothly on clean diesel before we leave. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never needs to be taken to a workshop. Afterwards, you are given paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Fordell itself
Fordell is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Fife, with a mix of detached housing and a relatively small population of around 995 residents. Fordell sits near the city of Dunfermline, approximately 4.1 miles away, and is close to other nearby places such as Mossgreen and Crossgates. Fordell has an elevation of 129 metres and is located 342.4 miles from London. Fordell is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its suburban nature.
AdBlue drains across Fife, Fordell included
Throughout the KY postcode area, the vans taking AdBlue jobs around Fordell reach most of Fife too, Mossgreen, Crossgates and Donibristle included. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Wherever your car sits — a driveway at home, a side street, a car park, a filling station — our technicians drain it there, with no need to take it to us; that suits Fordell, a residential suburb, well.
Fordell: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
No flat figure would be fair, because each job differs. Three things shift the price: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where your car is. That last one comes down to whether a van can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight spot behind Trinity Church.
Before any quote, not after, each enquiry from Fordell begins with the same three questions: the liquid, the amount, and if it ran. When they are answered, a range becomes one firm figure.
The price is given on the call, before anyone leaves; payment happens on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
Beside the car in Fordell, right now?
Then, the best thing to do with the car is to not touch it. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Fordell or anywhere in Fife.