AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Innerleven, and What to Do Next
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if your engine has run since it went in. Out in Kirkland or here around Innerleven, an unrun motor must stay that way. Leave your engine and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103; it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Innerleven. Already started? Stop when you safely can, then turn everything off. The job is bigger, yet the first stage is the same.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever in Fife it happened.
At the petrol pump in Innerleven: AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you only notice it as you are stood at the pump, bottle or nozzle in your hand. Be it Shell, Sainsbury's or anywhere else around Innerleven, the case is the same.
The point: of every spot to find out, the forecourt is the best. The AdBlue is inside that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has sucked it in.
Next: resist the urge to fire it up only to free up the pump. Get the staff to lend a hand pushing it into a bay, save the bottle, then ring us right there. Stuck beside the petrol pump? Our explosion-proof equipment keeps a live forecourt sensible, so it can be drained where it is.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home around Innerleven
The warning light had been on for days. Only by the recycling, the empty container in hand, did you glance back at the cap you'd opened on the drive. Drives near High Street get it as much as any other street.
The point: no miles since leaves it almost as good to finding it at the petrol pump. Diesel and AdBlue stay apart: the AdBlue drops to the base of that tank and remains there, however long the night.
Next: stop any early move by putting the keys indoors, then phone us. Methil or Innerleven: wherever your driveway is, that is where it is emptied. Night-time drains beside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Innerleven?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later the motor began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Anywhere along South Street or else heading to Edinburgh — under 25 miles away.
The point: your system has drawn AdBlue through by now. It has been through the fuel filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors. Every restart, like each mile, carries it on.
What to do: pull over where it's safe to do so then switch off. Exit at the first junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M90, under 15 miles from Innerleven. It won't have cleared, and so there's no sense restarting to check. About what distance did it gone? Say so as you phone.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
It's a vehicle you have had for a week. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is absent or elsewhere. On this one, its cap is just next to the diesel cap — news to you. Wherever you are in Fife, every driver can slip up.
The point: exactly as above, split by if it ran, but with one added step. Work on your vehicle often requires the owner's approval under rental or company terms.
Do this: rental firm or fleet manager to begin with, us next, because settling it beforehand cuts time. Leave it switched off as the reply arrives, even if you're parked at Leven or near Innerleven Gospel Hall.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, in Innerleven
Honestly, the best answer might be that you think so. A faint ammonia whiff hangs near your filler, the bottle seems too light, and which cap came off is hard to recall. A hurried stop by the gates of the local primary school, or a call to a friend in Sillerhole: either fit.
What it means: a little spilled about your filler does no damage to your engine. A diesel tank with AdBlue inside is another matter. Starting your car 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 got in. Don't start the vehicle. Tell us what you saw on the phone. A clear tank looked at counts as a happier outcome than an already-run one emptied.
Innerleven: what every AdBlue drain has in common
The work begins the same way, whichever the situation. Anywhere your car is — The Brig Tavern's car park, a street by East Fife Indoor Bowling Club, a driveway, a filling station — our van arrives and asks about the liquid, the quantity, and if the motor has been run. On the phone, ahead of anything else, you hear our quote, and those replies decide the work too.
Then that tank is emptied and your 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, and so it doesn't rinse out on its own. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Most unstarted vehicles are a half-hour visit after the moment our engineers arrive.
Finally, our engineers fire it up. With fresh diesel in, it runs while we check it's running smoothly, and then we go. We do the whole job where the vehicle is, and lasting damage is very rare if it has been noticed quickly. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Innerleven itself
Innerleven is a coastal suburban area in Fife, situated near the towns of Methil and Leven, with Leven Links nearby. Innerleven has a relatively low elevation of around 10 metres above sea level and is located approximately 17.8 miles from Edinburgh. Innerleven is characterised by its predominant housing type, which is flats, and it has a population of around 1993 residents.
AdBlue drains across Fife, Innerleven included
Innerleven is a residential suburb, and the same teams that cover it work the towns around it too, Leven and Leven Links among them, across the KY postcode area. Giving us a KY8 3 postcode finds you fastest of all.
Centre of Innerleven or a layby towards Ossian Park: either way it sits, the vehicle doesn't need to shift an inch for us. Draining happens on the spot. Phone and ask instead of guessing if you are close to Bayview Stadium, near a boundary, or somewhere tricky to explain.
Your situation, in one line
Still unrun? Keep it that way and ring. Run already: pull over, switch down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, within Innerleven or anywhere across Fife.