What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Greenend
One fact counts most when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if your motor has been started since. Out in Cliftonville or here in Greenend, an unrun motor should stay unrun. Switch nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, and count on a thorough flush plus a drain, carried out right where your vehicle stands around Greenend. Stop the moment you safely can then turn off, if it has already run. It is a bigger job, yet stage one doesn't change.
Match what happened to a situation from the ones below, wherever across North Lanarkshire you happen to be.
Greenend forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
You are at the pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Somewhere in Greenend, then — BP, Esso, or somewhere else close by.
What it means: this is the best location to find out. Just the tank holds AdBlue; no part past it has taken it in.
What to do: don't get back in and start the car to clear the petrol pump. Ask the attendants to help you push your car into a parking bay, keep the till receipt or the bottle, then call us from the forecourt. Stuck beside the petrol pump? Our explosion-proof equipment keeps a live forecourt safe, and so we can drain it in place.
At home in Greenend with AdBlue in your diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. Picked up a bottle, poured it in at home, binned the empty — and only then looked at the cap a second time, too late. Homes just off Dalveen Quadrant are caught out as often as everywhere else.
Meaning? Provided your vehicle has not been driven since, it is second to the forecourt case. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of that tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
Next: stop any early drive by keeping your keys indoors, then ring us. Coatdyke or Greenend: wherever your driveway sits, that is where it is cleared. Even at night, our pumps are quiet enough for a driveway.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Greenend?
Rough running, smoke, lost power or a lit dashboard arrived a short way beyond the fill. Somewhere along Sikeside Street or else heading towards Glasgow — under 10 miles away.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been sucked into the system. Past your filter, through the lines, and — the further the distance — deeper into the injection pump and every injector. More miles, more starts: deeper it goes.
Do this: pull up anywhere safe, then switch the engine off. Greenend sits under 3 miles from the M8; there, pull off at the next junction instead of pushing on to the services. No test starts: clearing is not something AdBlue will do. Let us know the mileage driven when you ring.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You have had this car hardly a week. The AdBlue filler sits right beside the diesel one, which you did not know, because your own motor either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across North Lanarkshire.
In short: one extra stage on top of the situations above, and those turn on whether it's run. Plenty of rental and fleet contracts need the owner's approval for repairs.
Settling it before the van turn up is faster, and so ring the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. If you are stuck in the car park at Coatdyke, or by Islamic Society of Airdrie & Coatbridge, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
Greenend: unsure whether it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
At times the fair answer is "I think so". What cap came off, you cannot recall; meanwhile the bottle weighs less than expected, and a whiff of ammonia lingers by the filler. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at the local primary school, or on a friend's drive in Carnbroe.
In short: spillage round the filler leaves the engine no harm. The diesel tank with AdBlue in it is a different matter. You cannot tell which by turning the key, and doing so would draw in any AdBlue that is in the tank.
Next: act as though it got in, then leave your engine off. Ring and give the details: we'd sooner confirm a tank free of AdBlue than empty one after the engine has run.
Greenend: what each AdBlue drain has in common
The work begins identically, whichever the situation. Three questions are asked when we reach your car — at a filling station, a driveway, a street beside Coatbridge Indoor Bowling Centre or the car park outside Owens Bar: the liquid, the quantity, and whether the motor has run. The price comes over the phone, ahead of anyone setting off, and those replies shape the work.
Then the tank is drained and the system purged 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 doesn't rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel is put in once your filter is cleaned or changed, and your car is then checked. Where the motor has not been started, expect roughly half an hour once we arrive, for most cases.
Finally, our engineers fire it up. Our check that it runs properly on clean diesel comes before our engineers head off. The whole job is done where the car is, and if it is spotted soon, long-term damage is very rare. Nothing is taken upfront, payment is made on the day, and you receive what the insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Greenend, for a moment
Greenend is a suburban area situated on the riverside in North Lanarkshire, with a mix of residential flats and local amenities. Greenend sits at an elevation of 87 metres, close to the nearby communities of Coatdyke, Sikeside, and Whifflet. Greenend is located approximately 9 miles from Glasgow, making it a commuter-friendly area. Greenend has a population of around 3835 people, predominantly residing in flat-type housing.
AdBlue drains across North Lanarkshire, Greenend included
Throughout ML postcodes, the vans serving Greenend — a residential suburb — reach nearby places too, Sikeside and Whifflet included. Telling us a ML5 4 postcode pins you quickest of all.
Stopped heading to St. Stephen’s Primary School golf course, or bang in the centre of Greenend, your car stays where it is — there is no need to move it at all. Where it sits, that is where it gets cleared. Awkward to pin down? By Cliftonhill Stadium or a border? Asking beats assuming, and so phone.
Your situation, in one line
Where it hasn't started, ring and keep it off. Started by now? Pull over, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder whatever it is, in Greenend and North Lanarkshire, on 0333 366 0103.