AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Monifieth? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, leave your engine off and leave the ignition off. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when the system pulls it in. Caught before your engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Monifieth. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Monifieth: the first few minutes
Do:
- Pocket the keys, which stops anyone turning the power on.
- Close to moving traffic? Then put the hazard lights on.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt shows us the product and the amount, and so don't throw it away.
- Call just where you are. Quote a DD5 4 postcode or the closest street name, and no one has to hunt for you.
Do not do these:
- Not even for a second, and not to roll the car: your engine stays off.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Keep the vehicle where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way along Tay Street.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, at the verge.
The staff working at any Monifieth filling station — the Esso among them — will usually help rolling it aside if you ask. If you're on your own drive, leave it precisely where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to fresh it. Neither side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and a pump cannot deal with urea.
Tipped in with the diesel, it keeps separate rather than blending — quite unlike fuel. Heavier than diesel, it drops and collects below it — the very spot the pickup draws from. Once the system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Before then it sits underneath your diesel, which is why a car filled in Drumsturdy yesterday and never started stays the straightforward case, as long as nobody turns your key.
It does two kinds of harm from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and tiny passages; meanwhile, because it eats at certain metals, each part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it remains in there. Overnight, a vehicle parked around Monifieth with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; where it is only inside the tank, nothing changes. The water in it does harm of its own: your high-pressure pump and the injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is regularly worse
A problem of thin fuel is what you end up with from fuelling a diesel with petrol from the Sainsbury's. It mixes with the diesel, and while it is in your tank it does no harm; the harm comes from running the engine on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. Because it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Whether your car is in Newbigging or the centre of Monifieth, turning it over "to see" costs more in this case than almost any other slip, and the flush counts for more. The reasons: it won't stay blended, so diluting it is impossible; and crystals and corrosion survive the following tankful.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Anywhere in Angus your vehicle has stopped, an unstarted motor means the AdBlue yet in the reservoir: the simplest part of any fuel system to empty.
Monifieth: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It is not on purpose. Plenty of cars have the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel inlet, occasionally behind a single flap, and mixing them up is simple in poor light. Mostly it's never the filling station: a driver picks up a bottle heading home and pours it in outside the house.
It tends to occur in a few familiar ways. Rushing, outside the local primary school, after a warning lamp came on during the school run, a parent tops up your car. A driver tips the bottle in outside their house, right off Panmure Street, as the day ends. Another pattern: dim light, a pub car park by The Crown Inn, and someone opening that flap the first time.
It occurs most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Keep it off: that's the first step to an identical mistake, anywhere around Monifieth or the rest of Angus you happen to be.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Monifieth?
Then that tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Given any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and each injector, having passed via the fuel filter and lines.
Perhaps returning from Monifieth Beach Park, or midway across Monifieth, the motor may run rough, smoke, drop pace, light up your dash or stall. Once safe, pull over and turn everything off — with no restarting to see. Each start pulls more of that through.
Monifieth sits under 25 miles from the M90; if you were on it, exit by the next junction and pull up somewhere safe rather than carrying on.
Mileage matters: each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into the system, so driving towards Dundee, under 10 miles away, makes a much bigger job than crossing Monifieth to the car park by Monifieth Library. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
There is more to clean out once your engine has run, and our engineers do all of it where the car has stopped. If it is spotted quickly, permanent damage is very unusual.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves in Monifieth
We come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped in Monifieth: a side street close to Holy Trinity Scottish Episcopal Church, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The work rests on three replies, and we ask for first — what got in, the quantity, and if your motor has run.
Right there, the tank is then emptied, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea leave at once. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush counts: the fuel system is cleaned right through since what remains will not flush out unaided. Testing the car comes last, once fresh diesel goes in and your filter gets cleaned or, where necessary, swapped. Engine not run? In that case expect about half an hour on site for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the street at night.
The last step is to bleed the fuel system on clean diesel. You head off as soon as our engineers have started it, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a drive around Monifieth or in a bay by the nearest station. Before leaving, our technicians check it's running properly with clean diesel in. As the job is done in full where the vehicle is, a garage never comes into it. Your insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Monifieth and where it is
Monifieth is a coastal town in Angus, Scotland, situated on the north shore of the Firth of Tay, with the nearby cities of Dundee and the surrounding countryside influencing its development. Monifieth has a mix of housing types, but predominantly features detached homes, and its population of around 8945 people live in close proximity to the sea. Monifieth is close to several nearby places, including Mains of Ardestie, Balmossie, and Barnhill, and is located about 6 miles from Dundee. Monifieth sits at a relatively low elevation of 11 metres above sea level, reflecting its coastal setting.
Monifieth and Angus: AdBlue drains across the area
The vans that answer AdBlue call-outs in Monifieth also cover the locations round it, Mains of Ardestie, Balmossie and Barnhill among them, and most of Angus beyond, across the DD postcode area. Ring and check instead of guessing if you're by a county line, or somewhere awkward to pin down.
A van that comes to you suits Monifieth, a coastal town: there's no need to bring the car to us, because our technicians empty it on the spot, on a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Monifieth?
Because each callouts differ, a single price would not be fair. What shifts the cost is, first, whether the motor has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and after that where the car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Monifieth Parish Church.
What went in, what quantity, and whether it ran: every Monifieth enquiry opens with precisely those, before a figure, not after. When those are answered, a range turns into a single firm figure.
Before anyone sets off, you are told the price by phone. And you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Check your insurance while we are on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Next to the car in Monifieth, right now?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, then, the best thing open to you. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103 and tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Monifieth or anywhere around Angus.