Kilmacolm: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: whether your engine has been run since it was put in. Not started yet? Then keep it that way, whether the car is — Kilmacolm or Bardrainney. Ring 0333 366 0103 with your key and motor still off. Across Kilmacolm, such a case is typically drained and cleaned where it stands. Where the engine has run, pull in somewhere safe first, then switch the vehicle off. The job is bigger, but the first stage is the same.
Compare what happened to one of the list below, wherever in Inverclyde you are.
On a Kilmacolm forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Only now, nozzle yet in hand, you realise that the cap you took off was the wrong one, there at the petrol pump. It might be the Tesco, or the Morrisons, or a different forecourt in Kilmacolm.
In short: no better place exists to spot it. Just your tank holds AdBlue; no component past it has drawn it in.
What to do: do not get back in and fire it up to clear the pump. Ask the staff to help you roll the vehicle into a parking space, keep the till receipt or the bottle, then phone us from the forecourt. Stuck beside the petrol pump? Our explosion-proof kit keeps a busy forecourt safe, so it can be drained where it is.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Kilmacolm drive?
The warning light had been on for days. Only at the recycling bin, the empty bottle in hand, did you glance back at the cap you had used at the drive. It happens on drives just off Market Place as frequently as anywhere.
Put simply: if your car hasn't moved since, it's nearly equal to spotting it at the forecourt. At the floor of the tank is where AdBlue waits, since it won't blend with diesel — and a night going by changes no difference.
Next: prevent an early drive by keeping the keys in the house, then phone us. Out in Quarriers Village or here in Kilmacolm, the drain is done on your drive. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Kilmacolm: set off 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. Perhaps it was on Barrs Brae, maybe on the way out towards Glasgow, under 25 miles away.
The upshot: the system has drawn AdBlue in already. Mileage sets how deep it goes: filter and pipework to begin with, then the high-pressure pump and each injector. Each restart, like every mile, carries it on.
What to do: pull over where it is safe and switch off. Exit at the first junction — not the services beyond — if you are on the M8, under 5 miles from Kilmacolm. Don't restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Phone us and say how far you went.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
A week back, the car was new to you. Your own vehicle either does without AdBlue or puts it somewhere different, so no one warned you the AdBlue cap sits just next to your diesel. It can happen to anyone, anywhere around Inverclyde.
The point: exactly as above, divided by whether it ran, but with one added stage. The owner frequently has to sign off the work, under plenty of hire and fleet agreements.
Next: ring the hire company or your fleet manager first, and then us — settling it before our arrival is quicker. Stuck by Kilmacolm Old Kirk or outside Langbank till the firm answers, your car remains turned off the whole time.
Unsure about AdBlue in the diesel tank in Kilmacolm?
Now and then, "I think so" is all anyone can honestly say. What cap came off, you cannot recall; but the bottle weighs less than expected, and a whiff of ammonia lingers by the filler. It might have been at a friend's driveway in Park Farm, or rushing by the local primary school at the school run.
In short: spillage near your filler leaves your engine no harm. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. You can't tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so would pull in any AdBlue that is in the tank.
Next: act as though it got in, then keep your engine off. Ring with what you saw: we would sooner confirm a clean tank than drain one after your engine has been run.
The common ground in every Kilmacolm AdBlue drain
Every case has the same opening to the work. Three questions are asked when we reach the car — at a forecourt, a drive, a road beside St Colm’s Parish Church or the car park at the pub in the village: the fluid, the quantity, and if the motor has run. Answers set the work; the quote comes on the call while nobody has left yet.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to certain metals used in fuel systems, and so it won't rinse out unaided; that's why the flush, after the drain, matters much more here than with petrol. Clean diesel goes in once the filter has been flushed or replaced, and the car is then checked. If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
The final step is firing it up. With new diesel in, it runs while our engineers confirm it's running properly, and then we leave. Our technicians do the entire job where your car is, and lasting damage is very uncommon if it has been noticed soon. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Check your insurance before we're en route: misfuelling cover comes built into plenty of policies.
About Kilmacolm, briefly
Kilmacolm is a coastal village in Inverclyde, situated near the River Gryfe and looking out to the Firth of Clyde. Kilmacolm sits at an elevation of around 98 metres, with the village centre surrounded by residential areas and nearby communities such as Quarriers Village and Slaemuir. Kilmacolm is located approximately 15 miles west of Glasgow, making it a commuter base for the city. Kilmacolm has a mix of housing types, but flat accommodation is particularly prevalent in the village.
AdBlue drains around Kilmacolm and across Inverclyde
As a coastal village, Kilmacolm shares its vans with the surrounding towns — Mid Auchinleck, Slaemuir — right across PA postcodes. Quickest of all: a PA13 4 postcode to show your location.
No moving is needed, whether stopped centrally in Kilmacolm or on a lay-by heading to Whinneyhill Wood, and so keep it where it is. Our van drains it where it stands. Awkward to explain? Close to St Fillan's Episcopal Church or a county line? Asking beats assuming, and so ring.
The one-line version
Still unrun? Keep it off and ring. Whatever case applies, Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest on 0333 366 0103, across Inverclyde and in Kilmacolm — once you pull over, switch off then ring, if it has run.