AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Oban? Keep It Switched Off
Engine off, ignition off: that is where you begin if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. The trouble begins once it's sucked through your pump — it won't burn, and it will not combine with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Oban, is generally all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before your engine has been run. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Oban
To do:
- Remove the keys, which prevents someone switching the electrics on.
- If you are anywhere close to moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- Hold on to the receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what went in and about how much.
- Give us a postcode starting PA34 4, or whatever street is nearest, and our van finds you directly — so ring from wherever you are.
Don't do these:
- Don't start the motor, even for a moment to move your car.
- The ignition remains off: on lots of diesels, turning it on is enough to start the fuel pump.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue will not mix, so it's pointless.
- Never drive the car anywhere, not even a short stretch up Albany Street.
- No emptying it yourself, either, at the verge.
Ask the attendants to help you roll your car off the pumps if you are on a forecourt around Oban, whether it's the Tesco or elsewhere. On the drive, the vehicle stays just where it was left.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Meant for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your motor. Kept in a separate tank, it's squirted into the exhaust to clean the fumes. A fuel pump is not made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
It does not blend. Once it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves not at all like diesel. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Glencruitten last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps running on the components it reaches for as long as it stays there. Overnight, a vehicle parked in Oban with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; where it is just inside your tank, nothing changes. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector depend on diesel running past them, so the water part damages them by itself.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Gleaner's forecourt makes the fuel watery — that's the main problem. Blended through the diesel and sitting unused, it's harmless for now; running the engine is the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. It doesn't burn, so it cannot simply be run through. It does not stay mixed, so it can't be weakened. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether your car is in Lower Soroba or the middle of Oban.
As with petrol, there is good news. Never started? Then the AdBlue waits only in the tank, the simplest section of the whole system to empty, anywhere your car has come to rest around Argyll and Bute.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Oban
Many motors place the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel cap, now and then behind a single flap, and after dark the two can appear identical. No one intends it. Usually it's never the filling station: someone picks up a container driving home and pours it in at home.
It tends to take place in a few familiar ways. Rushing, outside the local primary school, after a warning light came on during the school run, a parent refills the vehicle. A driver tips the bottle in at home, just off Argyll Square, as the day ends. Or a driver new to that flap tops up your car in dim light, parked in the car park by The Claredon.
Rented cars, new cars, company cars, or the spare vehicle in a family with one of each: the least known cars see it most. Wherever you are around Oban or the rest of Argyll and Bute, it is the same mistake and the same first answer: leave it off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Oban?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in your tank. The fuel filter and lines have had it sucked through, and some running takes it on to the injection pump and every injector.
Rough running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each might show up, maybe part way across Oban or coming back from Pulpit Hilltop. No restarting to test: stop once it is safe, then switch everything off. More of that is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M8, under 50 miles from Oban, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue further in. That is why a hop across Oban to park beside Dr McKelvie Memorial Drinking Fountain and a drive of over 50 miles for Glasgow are such different jobs. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Wherever the car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after the engine has been started. If it is spotted soon, permanent damage is very rare.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Oban?
Wherever it has come to rest in Oban — a forecourt, a layby, a drive, a street by Oban Sheriff Court — the van travels to your car. The job rests on three answers, and our engineers get first — which fluid went in, the quantity, and if the engine has turned over.
Then your tank is cleared where the car stands, and so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue will not flush out by itself, and so the whole system gets a full flush, which matters far more with urea than for petrol. A test of your vehicle follows at the end, once fresh diesel goes in and your filter is cleaned or, if necessary, swapped. If your motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. The equipment is explosion-proof, so a busy forecourt is no issue, and it is quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
Lastly, the fuel system is bled with clean diesel. Whether it's a parking space by the nearest station or a drive around Oban, that is where we fire it up and you drive off. Before we go, our technicians make sure it's running properly with new diesel in. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. At the end, there is paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer.
About Oban itself
Oban is a coastal town in Argyll and Bute, situated on the western coast of Scotland, with Pulpit Hill and Dalintart nearby. Oban sits at an elevation of around 30 metres, looking out over the sea towards the islands. Oban is a significant residential centre, with a population of approximately 7309 people, predominantly living in flats. Oban is located about 60 miles from Glasgow and 402 miles from London, making it a key hub in the region.
AdBlue drains across Argyll and Bute, Oban included
Pulpit Hill, Dalintart and Soroba are among the towns near Oban that the same vans reach, together with most of Argyll and Bute beyond, throughout the PA postcode area. Near a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down? Asking is better than assuming, so phone.
Anywhere your vehicle sits — a drive at home, a side street, a parking area, a forecourt — our engineers drain it there, and there's no need to take it to us; that suits Oban, a coastal town, well.
Oban: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Since the callouts differ, a single price wouldn't be fair. Whether the engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what moves the cost. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the location of your car, because an open drive is easier for our van to reach safely than a tight space behind Oban Free High Church.
Before any quote, never after, each call from Oban opens with the same three questions: the liquid, the amount, and if the engine ran. Once those are answered, a range becomes one fixed number.
Quoted by phone before the van sets out, it is paid for on the day — card or phone, no deposit. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
Oban: still beside the vehicle?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to the car. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus whether it ran are all we ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder across Argyll and Bute, Oban too.