AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Kinlochmore? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. The trouble starts once it's sucked through your lines — it won't burn, and it won't blend with diesel. If the motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and thoroughly purged where the vehicle sits in Kinlochmore. Before anything, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
What to do straight away, Kinlochmore: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do:
- So nobody can switch your ignition on, take the keys away.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- The empty bottle or your receipt tells us the fluid and the amount, and so do not throw it out.
- Call just where you are. Say a PH50 4 postcode or the closest street sign, and no one has to hunt for you.
Things not to do:
- Don't start the motor, even for a moment to shift the car.
- Many diesels power their fuel pump the moment the ignition goes on, so keep the car off.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Even a short distance up Riverside Road is too far to drive it.
- Don't try to drain the vehicle yourself by the kerbside.
Rolling your vehicle away from the pumps is a job for attendants to help with, whichever Kinlochmore forecourt you are on, the the nearest petrol station included. If you're on your own drive, leave the vehicle exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the engine. Stored in a dedicated tank, it is squirted into the exhaust stream to clean the gases. A fuel pump isn't designed to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It does not mix in. The intake takes fuel from the deepest part of the tank, and that's precisely where AdBlue settles: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. Easiest of all: a vehicle that got AdBlue in Dalness overnight and hasn't been started since. The liquid sits at the foot of that tank, undrawn — though it will be the first thing through if your motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
Two kinds of damage come from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and narrow channels; meanwhile, because it attacks some metals, every part it touches suffers for as long as it stays in there. Where the AdBlue has reached the pipework, leaving it till morning in Kinlochmore leaves it worse. Inside that tank alone, time costs nothing. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector need diesel running through them, and so the water part damages them in its own right.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is regularly worse
Petrol pumped into a diesel on another forecourt nearby's forecourt makes your fuel thin — that is the whole problem. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it is in your tank it does no harm; the harm comes from running your engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it can't be weakened. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the car is in Ballachulish or the middle of Kinlochmore.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the easiest part on any fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue stays in it — wherever around Highland your vehicle has stopped.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Kinlochmore
Many cars put the AdBlue filler beside the diesel one, occasionally behind a single flap, and after dark the two may look identical. Nobody means it. Mostly it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the pump.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. The refill is rushed outside the local primary school, because the dash lit up with a warning as the kids were dropped in. Close to Lochaber Road, someone tips a bottle in on the drive after work. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at Bothy Bar, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
Hired cars, brand-new motors, fleet cars, or the spare car in a family with both fuels: the least known vehicles see it the most. Leave it switched off: that is the first response to the same mistake, anywhere in Kinlochmore or the rest of Highland you happen to be.
Started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Kinlochmore?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. The filter and lines have had it pulled along, and any running carries it on to the high-pressure pump and each injector.
You may see the motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from the green space at the edge of the village or halfway across Kinlochmore. Pull over when safe. Turn off. Keep the vehicle off instead of testing it again. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
Exit the M9, over 50 miles from Kinlochmore, at the first junction and park safely, not driving on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into your system. That is why crossing Kinlochmore to park beside The Good Sheperd and a drive of over 50 miles for Stirling are such separate jobs. Let us know about how far it had come.
Wherever the car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out once your engine has been run. If it's noticed quickly, lasting damage is very rare.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel around Kinlochmore: what it takes
The car stays where it is, whether that is a road near The Leven Centre, a drive, a layby or a filling station in Kinlochmore, and the van travels to it. Three replies decide the job, so first our engineers ask which fluid got in, roughly the amount, and whether your engine has run.
On the spot, the tank is then drained, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea come out as one. What remains from AdBlue will not wash away unaided, so the fuel system gets a full flush, which counts much more here than with petrol. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
Bleeding your system with new diesel comes last. Whether it's a parking space outside Fort William or a drive in Kinlochmore, that is where we fire it up and you head off. It's tested on new diesel to make sure it runs smoothly before our technicians leave. No workshop is needed at any point, with the entire job done on the spot. Afterwards, you are given paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Kinlochmore, briefly
Kinlochmore is a coastal village in the Highland region of Scotland, situated near the base of a glen and looking out to sea. Kinlochmore has a population of around 883 people and is characterized by semi-detached housing. Kinlochmore is located near other small communities such as Kinlochleven and Caolasnacon, and is within reach of the scenic Glencoe area.
AdBlue drains in Kinlochmore and across Highland
Over the PH postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue call-outs around Kinlochmore serve most of Highland too, Kinlochleven, Caolasnacon and Glencoe among them. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than guessing.
A mobile service fits Kinlochmore, a coastal village: you have no need to bring the vehicle to us, because our engineers empty it on the spot, on a drive, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Kinlochmore: the cost of fixing it
No flat price could be honest, since each job differs. The cost shifts first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it depends on where the car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind The Salvation Army Church and Community Center.
Ahead of any quote, not after, each call from Kinlochmore opens with three checks: the liquid, the quantity, plus whether the engine ran. Their answers shrink a range down to one number.
Before a van heads out, you are told our quote on the phone. Then payment is on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
Kinlochmore: still alongside your car?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, then, the most useful thing you can do. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus if the engine ran are all our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest across Highland, Kinlochmore too.