What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Headwell
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if the engine has been run since it was put in. Wherever your car stands — Wellwood, Headwell — don't start an engine that hasn't been started yet. Usually this is emptying and thoroughly rinsing it on the spot around Headwell — so keep the ignition and engine off and ring 0333 366 0103. Stop the minute it is safe and turn off, if it has been run. A larger job, then, but the identical opening step.
Below: the cases our technicians meet, anywhere in Fife. Choose the one that fits.
Headwell forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Picture it: stood by the pump, gripping the nozzle, you realise the filler you took off wasn't the right one. It could be the Tesco, or perhaps the Shell, or another station around Headwell.
What it means: this is the best spot to find out. Nothing has pulled it in, and so the AdBlue sits only inside your tank.
What to do: do not get back in and fire it up to clear the pump. Phone us from the forecourt after the car sits in a space — the staff will lend a hand to push it — then save the bottle. If it cannot be shifted, it can be cleared at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
Headwell, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
For days the dash had been warning you. Only at the recycling bin, the empty container in hand, did you look back at the cap you had opened on the drive. It happens on driveways just off Edward Street as regularly as anywhere.
Put simply: if your vehicle has not been driven since, it's almost equal to finding out at the pump. Diesel and AdBlue keep apart: the AdBlue drops to the base of that tank and remains there, no matter how long the night.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so nobody moves the car in the morning. Then ring. Gardeners Lands or Headwell: whichever your driveway sits, that is where it is drained. Even at night, our pumps are quiet enough for a driveway.
On the road around Headwell with AdBlue in a diesel
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your motor began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Possibly it was on Tuke Street, possibly on the way out towards Dunfermline, under a mile away.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked into the fuel system. The injection pump and each injector see it too on a bigger trip, once the filter and lines have it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Next: find a sensible place, stop, then switch the motor off. Services farther along are too far: from the M90, under 3 miles out of Headwell, take the first junction. It will not have cleared, and so there is no point restarting to check. Phone, and say what distance your car was driven.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You have had this vehicle hardly a week. Unbeknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel fillers sit next to each other here — not like your own car, which has no AdBlue or stores it in another spot. Anywhere you are around Fife, any motorist could be caught.
The point: just as above, split by if it ran, only with one added stage. Many hire and company contracts want the owner to approve work on the car.
Next: phone the hire company or the fleet manager first, then us — settling it before our arrival is faster. Hanging on for an answer in the car park outside Dunfermline City, or beside TK Maxx? Keep your car off throughout.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Headwell?
At times the fair answer is "I think so". The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia about the filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. The gates of the local primary school in a hurry, perhaps, or someone's driveway out in Beveridgewell.
In short: spillage near your filler does your motor no harm. If it is inside the diesel tank, though, it does. Turning on the vehicle won't tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in the tank it would draw it in.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Do not crank it. Phone with the details: we'd rather confirm a tank free of AdBlue than drain one after the engine has run.
What every AdBlue drain around Headwell has in common
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Wherever your car stands — Auld Classic Bar's car park, a road beside Dunfermline Spiritualist Church, a driveway, a filling station — the van gets there and asks for the fluid, the amount, plus whether your motor has turned over. Answers set the job; the price comes by phone whilst no one has left yet.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to certain metals used in fuel systems, and so it does not rinse out unaided; that's why a full flush, after the drain, counts much more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
Last, our technicians start it. Our test that it runs correctly on new diesel comes before our technicians go. Our technicians do the entire job where the car is, and lasting damage is very unusual when it has been caught soon. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many policies cover misfuelling, so check yours as we head over.
About Headwell
Headwell is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Dunfermline in Fife, Scotland, sitting on the banks of a river at an elevation of around 116 metres. Headwell is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing and is situated close to nearby places such as Gardeners Lands and Castleblair Park. Headwell has a relatively small population of approximately 5869 residents and is part of the wider Dunfermline urban area. Headwell is also near Kingseathill, another local neighbourhood.
Headwell and Fife: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Headwell has the same vans as the nearby towns — Kingseathill, Castleblair Park — all the way across KY postcodes. Your whereabouts is quickest from a postcode beginning KY12 0.
No towing is required, be it stopped in the centre of Headwell or on a layby en route to Canmore Golf Club, and so leave it where it is. Draining happens right there. Phone and check instead of guessing when you're close to Carnegie Leisure Centre, near a boundary, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
Your situation, in one line
Not run yet: keep the car off then ring. Whatever line fits, Petrol in Diesel takes over from there on 0333 366 0103, throughout Fife and in Headwell — after you pull over, turn off and phone, if it has run.