Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mains of Grandhome
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, keep your engine off and leave your ignition off. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the fuel system draws it in. Caught before the engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Mains of Grandhome. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Mains of Grandhome: the first few minutes
To do:
- Keys out — that way no one can switch anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and about how much, save the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring right where you are. Quote a AB21 7 postcode or the nearest street name, and nobody has to search for you.
Do not:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to shift the car.
- Switching your key to ignition alone sets your pump going on plenty of diesels. Avoid it.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel won't weaken it.
- Never drive it anywhere, not even a short distance along Overton Avenue.
- Do not try to drain it yourself by the roadside.
Ask the attendants to help you move your car off the pumps if you're on a forecourt in Mains of Grandhome, whether it's the Asda or somewhere else. Parked on your own drive? Then it remains exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. From a dedicated reservoir it is fed straight to your exhaust, treating what the engine emits. A fuel pump is not made to take it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Tipped in with the diesel, it keeps apart instead of blending — entirely different from fuel. It sinks, since it is heavier than diesel, and settles down where the pickup takes its supply from. A motor filled on a drive in Upper Persley overnight and left unstarted is the simple one. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up yet — though when the engine turns, that is what goes first, straight from the bottom of the tank.
It does two kinds of harm from there. What is left once the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle in tiny passages and clog filters. On top of that, it attacks some metals in the fuel system, and carries on till it's cleared out. If the AdBlue has reached the lines, waiting till morning in Mains of Grandhome makes it worse. In your tank only, time does nothing. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and each injector as it passes; water offers none of that, and that is a second kind of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger issue?
Put petrol in a diesel at the BP and you have an issue of thin fuel. Harm only comes from driving on it. Blended into the diesel and left inside the tank, it does nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. It doesn't burn, and so it cannot simply be run through. It doesn't stay mixed, so it cannot be thinned. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the car is in Bankhead or the middle of Mains of Grandhome.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Anywhere across Aberdeen City the vehicle has stopped, an unstarted engine means the AdBlue yet inside the tank: the simplest bit of any fuel system to empty.
Mains of Grandhome: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, now and then behind a single flap — may appear the same. Nobody intends it; plenty of designs invite it. Mostly it's not the filling station: someone picks up a bottle heading home and tips it in outside the house.
Mostly, it happens in one of a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside the local primary school. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Overton Crescent. Otherwise, after dark by Spider's Web, the vehicle is topped up by a driver opening that flap the first time.
It crops up most in a hire car, a new motor, a fleet motor, or the other motor in a family with one of each fuels — the cars drivers know least. Wherever across Aberdeen City, Mains of Grandhome included, the mistake doesn't change, and neither does the first step: leave it off.
Started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Mains of Grandhome?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. It has been drawn through your filter and your lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure pump and your injectors.
You may see your engine running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Central Park or halfway across Mains of Grandhome. Once safe, stop and switch it off — with no turning it on again to see. Each start pulls more of that through.
On the M90, over 50 miles from Mains of Grandhome, the next junction is where to leave, and anywhere safe is where to stop — not driving on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue further into your system. That is why crossing Mains of Grandhome to park beside Dyce Library and a drive of under 5 miles towards Aberdeen are very distinct jobs. Let us know about how far it had come.
There is more to clean out once the engine has run, and our technicians do all of it where the car has ended up. Lasting damage is very rare when it's caught early.
What clearing AdBlue from a diesel involves around Mains of Grandhome
The vehicle remains where it is, whether that is a road near Dyce War Memorial, a drive, a layby or a forecourt in Mains of Grandhome, and our van travels to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and if your engine has been run, because those replies decide the work.
Next, draining your tank on the spot removes the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. What remains from AdBlue will not wash out by itself, and so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which counts far more with urea than for petrol. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we arrive. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Last, the fuel system is bled with clean diesel. Starting the car comes next, and then you head off from where the vehicle is parked, at Dyce or on a driveway around Mains of Grandhome. It's tested on clean diesel to make sure it runs correctly before our engineers head off. No workshop is needed at any point, with the entire job done on the spot. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both afterwards.
About Mains of Grandhome
Mains of Grandhome is a locality situated on the riverside in Aberdeen City, with an elevation of around 50 metres. Mains of Grandhome lies close to the city of Aberdeen, approximately 4.8 miles from the city centre, and is near other local places such as Dyce, Bridgefield, and Stoneywood. Mains of Grandhome has a population of around 1215 people and predominantly consists of semi-detached housing. Mains of Grandhome is located in a setting that reflects the wider geographical characteristics of the area, with the River Don flowing nearby.
Mains of Grandhome and Aberdeen City: AdBlue drains across the area
Our vans that answer AdBlue call-outs in Mains of Grandhome also cover the places about it, Dyce, Bridgefield and Stoneywood among them, and most of Aberdeen City beyond, across the AB postcode area. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Wherever the vehicle stands — a drive at home, a side street, a parking area, a filling station — we drain it on the spot, and there's no need to bring it to us; which suits Mains of Grandhome, a small village, well.
Mains of Grandhome: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Every job is different, so no single price is honest. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that got in. After that it depends on where your car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind Carnegie Library.
That is why each call from Mains of Grandhome starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and whether it's run. When they are known, a range becomes one fixed number.
Before a van sets off, you are told our quote on the phone. And payment is on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. While the van is on the way, dig out your insurance: many include misfuelling.
Still alongside the vehicle around Mains of Grandhome?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, right now, the most useful move you can do. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Mains of Grandhome or anywhere in Aberdeen City, after you phone 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and if it ran.