What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Gartloch
One fact counts above all when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is whether your motor has been started afterwards. If it hasn't, keep it that way, whether your car is in Gartloch itself or out in Easterhouse. Keep nothing on, call 0333 366 0103, and count on a thorough flush plus a drain, done right where the vehicle stands in Gartloch. If it has run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. A larger job, then, yet the same first step.
Compare what happened to a situation from the list below, wherever in Glasgow City you are.
At the petrol pump around Gartloch: AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you just notice it as you are standing at the petrol pump, bottle or nozzle in your hand. Maybe you're at the the nearest petrol station, possibly at the Morrisons, maybe somewhere else in Gartloch.
What it means: this is the ideal location to find out. The AdBlue is inside the tank and nowhere else. Nothing has sucked it in.
Clearing the pump is no reason to start it — and so don't get back in. Three jobs: a shove into a bay with the attendants helping, the receipt saved, and a ring to us from where you stand. Draining it right at the pump is fine if it cannot be shifted, since the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Gartloch drive?
For days the dashboard had been nagging you. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look again at the cap. Right off Gartloch Road is no different from anywhere.
Meaning? As long as the vehicle hasn't been driven since, it is close to the forecourt case. On the bottom of that tank sits where AdBlue waits, since it will not mix with diesel — and a night going by makes nothing of the difference.
Next: stop any early-morning move by putting your keys indoors, then phone us. Lochwood or Gartloch: wherever your driveway is, that's where it gets cleared. Late-night clears outside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet.
Gartloch: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Topped up, drove away, and before long your engine was turning roughly, smoking, losing power, or flashing up your dash. Anywhere on Gartloch Way or on the road to Glasgow — under 10 miles away.
Meaning? The fuel pump has taken the AdBlue in. The high-pressure pump and every injector get it as well on a longer trip, once the filter and lines have it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
What to do: pull over where it's safe and switch off. Exit at the first junction — not the services beyond — if you're on the M73, under a mile from Gartloch. It won't have cleared, so there is no sense starting it again to find out. About what distance had it gone? Say so as you phone.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've had the car barely a week. Your own car either does without AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, so no one told you the AdBlue cap sits right next to your diesel. Anywhere you are across Glasgow City, any motorist can be caught.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it has run, with one more step. The owner frequently needs to sign off any work, under many hire and fleet contracts.
Next: ring the hire company or your fleet manager first, then us — sorting it before we arrive is faster. If you are stranded in the car park outside Gartcosh, or by Gartloch Hospital, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
Gartloch: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
At times, "I think so" is all anyone can honestly say. Which cap came off, you can't recall; meanwhile the bottle feels less than it ought to, and a whiff of ammonia hangs by your filler. The gates of the local primary school in a hurry, perhaps, or someone's drive out in Muirhead.
Put simply: a spill round your filler leaves your motor no harm. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. Firing up your car will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in that tank it would suck it in.
Next: act as though it went in, and leave the engine off. Phone and give what you saw: we would rather find a tank free of AdBlue than empty one after your motor has run.
What every AdBlue drain around Gartloch has in common
No matter the case, a single opening is used. Three questions come when our engineers reach your car — at a forecourt, a driveway, a street by St Benedict's Catholic Church or the car park at the pub in the village: the fluid, the amount, and whether it has been started. On the phone, before anything else, you are told the quote, and those replies shape the job too.
Draining the tank comes first, followed by a full flush — more vital with urea than after petrol, because crystals and corrosion will not clear by themselves, however long you wait. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The majority of unrun vehicles are a half-hour job after the moment we arrive.
Finally, our engineers start the car. Our check that it runs correctly on clean diesel comes before we go. If it's caught quickly, the car very seldom has long-term damage, and the whole job takes place where it is. Nothing is taken upfront, payment is made on the day, and you get what the insurer asks for: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. It is worth knowing: many insurers include misfuelling cover, and so a check of your documents as you wait is worthwhile.
About Gartloch and where it is
Gartloch is a suburban area situated on the outskirts of Glasgow, overlooking a lakeside setting at an elevation of 89 metres. Gartloch is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock and is located near other residential areas such as Lochwood and Garnkirk. Gartloch is a relatively small community with a population of around 691 residents, and is approximately 5.2 miles from Glasgow city centre. Gartloch benefits from its proximity to nearby towns like Gartcosh.
AdBlue drains in Gartloch, and across Glasgow City too
Gartloch is a residential suburb, and the same teams that cover it work the towns around it too, Garnkirk and Gartcosh among them, across the G postcode area. The location is clearest from a postcode beginning G69 8.
Centre of Gartloch or a layby near Baillie Moss Wood: wherever it sits, the vehicle never needs to move at all for us. Our engineers drain the car where it sits. Guessing won't help near New Easterhouse Mosaic, close to a county line or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
The one-line version
Engine never started: ring, leaving it switched off. Started already? Pull over, switch off, phone. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest whatever case, in Gartloch and Glasgow City, on 0333 366 0103.