Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Kelloholm
If AdBlue has got into your diesel tank, keep the engine off then keep your ignition off. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when your fuel system pulls it in. If the engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and thoroughly cleaned where the car stands around Kelloholm. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
What to do straight away, Kelloholm: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do:
- So no one can switch your ignition on, pull your keys out.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- The empty bottle or the receipt shows us the fluid and the quantity, so don't throw it out.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting DG4 6, or the name of the nearest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Never:
- Shifting the car just a few yards is no reason to start the engine.
- Plenty of diesels run their pump the moment the ignition goes on, and so leave it off.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue won't blend, and so it's pointless.
- Never drive the car anywhere, not even a short way up Polmeur Road.
- No emptying it yourself, either, on the verge.
The staff on duty at any Kelloholm filling station — the Burnside among them — will usually help pushing it clear if you ask. At your own driveway, don't touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it is sprayed into the exhaust, where it treats the gas. Neither side suits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and a pump can't deal with urea.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, after poured in, won't. The behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. When your pump runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to be pulled through. Until then it sits beneath the diesel, which is why a car filled in Mennock last night and never switched on remains the straightforward one, as long as nobody touches the key.
Once it's pulled in, the harm comes in two forms. It attacks certain metals found in fuel components, working on whatever it reaches until it's removed from your system. And when the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that clog filters and lodge in narrow passages. Overnight, a car sitting in Kelloholm with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; where it's only inside the tank, nothing changes. And there is the water: it offers no lubrication to the parts that rely on it the most — the injection pump and every injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is often worse
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake at the another forecourt nearby, and this issue is diluted fuel. Damage just comes from driving on it. Mixed into the diesel and sitting inside your tank, it causes none.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It doesn't burn, so it can't just be run through. Deposits and corrosion stay through the following tankful, and AdBlue separates again from your diesel, and so thinning it won't work. That is why the flush matters so much, and trying the engine "to see" costs more here than nearly any other mistake — in Afton Bridgend or the centre of Kelloholm alike.
As with petrol, there's good news. Not started? Then the AdBlue waits only in your tank, the easiest section of the entire system to empty, anywhere your car has come to rest across Dumfries and Galloway.
Kelloholm: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It is not deliberate. Plenty of cars have the AdBlue cap beside the diesel inlet, now and then behind one flap, and mixing them up is simple after dark. Mostly it is not the forecourt: a driver buys a container driving home and tips it in at home.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. The top-up is rushed outside the local primary school, because your dash flashed with a warning while the kids were taken in. After work, a bottle goes in on a driveway close to Glenwharrie Road. Else, after dark by the pub in the village, your vehicle gets refilled by a driver opening that flap for the first time.
It happens most in the motors people know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Keep it off: that is the first response to the same mistake, wherever in Kelloholm or the remainder of Dumfries and Galloway you are.
Kelloholm: started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. Through your filter, along the lines, and — given any running time — on to the high-pressure pump and every injector: that is where it has gone.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, dropping power, dashboard lights or cutting out: each might appear, maybe midway across Kelloholm or coming back from Kelloside Plantation. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart it to check. More of that is pulled through with each start.
Leave the A74(M), under 15 miles from Kelloholm, by the next junction and park safely, not carrying on.
Mileage matters: every mile carries the AdBlue further into the system, so driving for Glasgow, under 50 miles away, gives a much larger job than crossing Kelloholm to the car park by Hillview Leisure Center. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after the engine has been running. Lasting damage is very uncommon when it is noticed soon.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Kelloholm?
The car remains where it is, whether that is a street near A-frame Mining Memorial, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station around Kelloholm, and our van travels to it. What was put in, about the quantity, and whether your engine has turned over: our engineers ask before all else, since those shape the work.
Right there, the tank is then emptied, and both the contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush matters: the fuel system is cleaned right through because residue won't wash away unaided. Testing your car follows last, after fresh diesel goes in and the filter is flushed or, if needed, swapped. Engine not run? In that case expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Clean diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that's the last step. After that we start the car and you head off, whether from a parking bay outside Kirkconnel or a drive around Kelloholm. Before we leave, our engineers check it is running properly with new diesel in. No workshop is required at any stage, with the whole job done then and there. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers want.
About Kelloholm, briefly
Kelloholm is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Dumfries and Galloway, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Kelloholm sits at an elevation of 163 metres, near the towns of Kirkconnel, Crawick, and Sanquhar. Kelloholm is located approximately 34 miles from Glasgow and is home to around 1627 people. Kelloholm's setting near the river contributes to its scenic surroundings.
Kelloholm and Dumfries and Galloway: AdBlue drains across the area
Over the DG postcode area, the vans taking AdBlue call-outs around Kelloholm serve much of Dumfries and Galloway as well, Kirkconnel, Crawick and Sanquhar among them. Assuming won't help close to a county line or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
Anywhere the vehicle sits — a drive at home, a side street, a car park, a filling station — our technicians empty it there, with no need to take it to us; that suits Kelloholm, a residential suburb, well.
Kelloholm: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no fair single price, since the jobs aren't the same. Three things change the cost: whether your engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the vehicle is. That last one rests on whether our van can get to it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight gap behind Mine Head Wheel Mining Memorial.
What got in, what quantity, and if it ran: each Kelloholm enquiry begins by asking precisely that, before a quote, not after. Once those are answered, a range turns into a single firm number.
Our price is quoted during the call, before a van leaves; settling up comes on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Look at your policy while we are on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Still alongside the car in Kelloholm?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, in Kelloholm or anywhere in Dumfries and Galloway, after you phone 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and if it ran.