Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hillside
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then leave your engine off — and your ignition as well. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor mixes, and nothing happens until the motor pulls it round. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Hillside, is normally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before the motor has run. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Hillside: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- So nobody can turn your ignition on, pull the keys away.
- Put the hazard lights on if you are anywhere close to moving traffic.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and about what quantity, save your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Our van locates you quickest with a postcode starting AB12 4, or just the name of a street close by, so call from the spot.
Do not do these:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift your vehicle: your engine stays off.
- The ignition stays off: on lots of diesels, turning it on is enough to run your fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel won't weaken it.
- Even a short distance up Private Road is too far to drive the vehicle.
- Beside the road, do not attempt draining it on your own.
Moving the vehicle away from the pumps is a job for attendants to help with, wherever Hillside forecourt you're on, the EG On the Move or any other. On that drive, the car remains just where it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. From a separate tank it is fed directly to the exhaust, treating what your engine emits. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
It does not combine. After it is tipped into the tank, AdBlue acts nothing like fuel. The intake takes fuel from the deepest part of the tank, and that is exactly where AdBlue ends up: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Portlethen Village last night, and has not been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
It causes two kinds of harm from there. It attacks some metals found in fuel components, attacking any part it touches until it's cleared from the system. And once the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and lodge in tiny channels. By daybreak, a vehicle parked around Hillside with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; where it is only inside your tank, nothing changes. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel running through them, so the water part harms them by itself.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's frequently worse than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Asda's forecourt leaves the fuel watery — that is the whole fault. Blended through your diesel and left still, it's no threat for now; running the motor does the damage.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Deposits and corrosion stay through the following tankful, and AdBlue separates back out of your diesel, and so watering it can't work. That is why the flush counts so much, and turning the key "to see" costs more here than nearly any other slip — in Badentoy Park or the heart of Hillside equally.
As with petrol, there's good news. Clearing a tank is the simplest part on any fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever around Aberdeenshire your vehicle sits.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Hillside
Many motors place the AdBlue filler beside the diesel cap, occasionally under one flap, and after dark the two can look the same. No one intends it. Usually it is not the filling station: someone picks up a bottle heading home and tips it in at home.
A couple of familiar ways account for the majority of them. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside the local primary school the refill is rushed. After work, a container goes in on a driveway close to Hillside. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap tops up your vehicle after dark, parked in the car park outside Leathan Arms.
It takes place most in the motors people know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever you're around Hillside or the remainder of Aberdeenshire, it's the same slip and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Hillside?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. The filter and lines have had it pulled along, and some running carries it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Watch for lumpy running, smoke, falling power, lights on the dash, or a cut-out — coming back from Findon Park, Parkvale FC, say, or midway across Hillside. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the car to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
Hillside sits over 50 miles from the M90; if you were on it, leave at the next junction and pull up somewhere safe rather than carrying on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Hillside to the car park by Jubilee Hall is a very different job from a run towards Aberdeen, under 10 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with each mile. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Once the engine has run, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the car has ended up. Long-term damage is very rare when it is caught soon.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves around Hillside
The vehicle stays where it is, whether that is a street near Porty Cabin, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt in Hillside, and the van travels to it. What got in, about the quantity, and whether your engine has turned over: our technicians check before all else, because those decide the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave as one when that tank is emptied, right there. The system is purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our engineers are there. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the street at night.
Finally, the system is bled with fresh diesel. After that our technicians start it and you set off, whether from a parking bay outside Portlethen or a driveway around Hillside. Before we leave, we make sure it is running properly with fresh diesel in. Our engineers do it all wherever the vehicle has stopped, and it never needs to go to a garage. Afterwards, there is the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Hillside
Hillside is a suburban area in Aberdeenshire, situated on the coast near Aberdeen, with a mix of detached housing and local amenities. Hillside sits at an elevation of 84 metres, overlooking the North Sea, and is close to nearby places such as Portlethen and Findon. Hillside is located approximately 5.6 miles from Aberdeen, making it a popular residential area for those working in the city. Hillside has a population of around 3243 people, living in predominantly detached homes.
Hillside and Aberdeenshire: AdBlue drains across the area
AdBlue jobs around Hillside go to teams that serve the towns near it — Portlethen, Findon plus Marywell — and much of Aberdeenshire further out, throughout AB postcodes. Near a boundary, or somewhere tricky to pin down? Asking beats guessing, so phone.
Hillside is a residential suburb, and a mobile drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it is, so it never needs to be moved to us.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Hillside
No flat figure could be fair, because each job differs. Whether the motor has been running, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the price. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the position of your car, because an open drive is easier for a van to get to safely than a tight spot behind Portlethen Parish Church.
Which fluid got in, what quantity, and whether the engine ran: each Hillside call opens by asking precisely those, ahead of any figure, not afterwards. Those replies narrow the range right down to one number.
The price is quoted on the call, before a van sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. While the van is travelling, dig out your policy: many include misfuelling.
In Hillside and still beside the vehicle?
Not touching your car is, right now, the best thing open to you. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, in Hillside or wherever in Aberdeenshire, once you phone 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and if it ran.