What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Liff
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: whether your motor has run since it went in. Wherever the vehicle stands — Benvie, Liff — never run a motor that has not been started yet. Leave the engine and the ignition off then call 0333 366 0103; it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Liff. Pull over the moment you safely can then switch off, if it has already run. Stage one remains unchanged, even if the work is bigger.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever across Angus it happened.
On a Liff forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you only spot it while you are stood at the petrol pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. Whether Asda Express, Asda or somewhere else in Liff, the situation is the same.
Meaning? Finding out here is the best it can be. Still in the tank, with no fuel drawn through: that is where the AdBlue is.
Clearing the pump is no reason to run it — and so do not get back in. Three jobs: a push into a bay with the attendants assisting, the bottle saved, and a call to us from where you stand. Can't move the vehicle beside the petrol pump? Explosion-proof kit keeps a busy forecourt safe, so it can be drained where it is.
Liff, at home: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Several days had passed with the dash light on. Only at the recycling bin, the empty container in hand, did you look back at the cap you had used on the drive. Just off Loch of Liff Road is not different from any other place.
Meaning? As long as your vehicle hasn't been driven since, it's close to the forecourt case. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of the tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
Your move: keys indoors, so nobody takes the car off first thing. After that, ring. Our technicians drain the vehicle on your drive, whether that is around Liff or out in Mains of Gray. Night-time empties outside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet.
Liff: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Lumpy running, smoke, falling power or a lit dashboard arrived a mile or two beyond the top-up. It might have been driving for Dundee, under 5 miles away, or simply along Church Road.
Meaning? The fuel pump has sucked the AdBlue in. Past the filter, along the pipework, and — the more the distance — deeper into the injection pump and each injector. It travels deeper with every mile covered and each restart.
Stop somewhere safe — that's the first job — then switch everything off. Service stations further along can wait: from the M90, under 15 miles out of Liff, take the next junction. It won't have cleared, and so there is no sense restarting to find out. Call, saying what distance the vehicle was driven.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You've had the vehicle barely a week. Unknown to you, the two fillers sit side by side here — unlike your own vehicle, which has none or stores it elsewhere. Wherever you happen to be around Angus, every motorist could be caught.
Meaning? Whichever applies above counts here — run or unrun — and one further step. Plenty of hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the car.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is quicker settled before our technicians turn up than after. Stranded near Liff War Memorial or outside Invergowrie till the firm answers, your vehicle remains turned off throughout.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Liff?
Honestly, the best answer may be that you think it did. Too light, the bottle; a trace of ammonia round your filler; a hazy memory of the cap. Look familiar? The gates of the local primary school in a rush, say, or a friend's driveway out in Denhead of Gray.
In short: spillage round your filler does the engine no harm. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. Any AdBlue in that tank will be drawn in by firing up the car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Do this: act as though it got in, and never start the motor. Phone and give what you saw: we'd sooner confirm a tank free of AdBlue than empty one once your engine has run.
The common ground in every Liff AdBlue drain
Every case has the same start to the job. We come to the car, whether it is at a forecourt, a drive, the car park at the pub in the village or a side street close to Liff Parish Church, and ask three things: what was put in, roughly how much, and if the motor has run. Those answers determine this work, and you hear our price by phone, before anyone heads out.
A thorough flush follows the drain. With petrol it's routine; with AdBlue it's crucial, because deposits form and some metals are attacked, and neither rinses out unaided. Last are the fuel filter, flushed or renewed as needed; fresh diesel; and a test of your car. Never started? Then roughly half an hour once we are there covers most jobs.
Last, we start the car. We make sure it runs properly on clean diesel before we leave. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, and if it is noticed soon, lasting damage is very rare. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, nothing in advance. Many insurance policies cover misfuelling, so look at yours as we head over.
About Liff itself
Liff is a small coastal village in Angus, Scotland, situated near the city of Dundee and overlooking the Tay Estuary. Liff has a population of around 530 people and is characterised by detached housing. Liff sits at an elevation of 99 metres, close to nearby places such as Mains of Gray, Fowlis, and Muirhead. Liff is located approximately 364 miles from London, but its proximity to Dundee makes it a commuter-friendly location.
Liff and Angus: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout DD postcodes, the vans serving Liff — a coastal village — work surrounding places as well, Fowlis and Muirhead included. The location is clearest from a postcode beginning DD2 5.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to Gray Den or in a car park in the middle of Liff, it doesn't need to move. Our technicians drain the vehicle where it stands. Guessing won't help near Hurley Hawkin Broch, on a border or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
Your situation, in one line
Unstarted? Keep it off then ring. Started by now? Pull over, switch off, phone. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder whatever it is, in Liff and Angus, on 0333 366 0103.