AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Oldmeldrum: What Now?
One fact counts above all once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is whether the engine has run since. Not started so far? Then keep the vehicle like that, wherever your vehicle is — Oldmeldrum or Fingask. Leave your engine and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103; it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Oldmeldrum. Stop the minute you safely can and switch off, if it has already run. It is a bigger job, yet stage one does not change.
Wherever around Aberdeenshire it took place, one of the situations below fits yours.
Oldmeldrum forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Imagine it: standing by the petrol pump, holding the bottle, you realise the filler you took off was not the right one. It could be the Meldrum Motors, or the Tesco, or a different station in Oldmeldrum.
Meaning? Spotting it on the forecourt is as good as it gets. The AdBlue is in the tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
What to do: don't get back in and crank it to clear the pump. Get the staff to lend a hand rolling it to a space, save the bottle, then phone us right there. Draining it right at the petrol pump is fine when it cannot be shifted, since the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Oldmeldrum drive?
For days the dashboard had been warning you. A bottle bought at the shop, emptied in at the drive — and it was just at the recycling that the cap got your eye. Houses just off Commercial Road get hit as often as everywhere else.
The upshot: zero driving since leaves this almost equal to spotting it at the pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of the tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
Next: keys in the house, and so no one drives your vehicle off first thing. Then, ring. Your drive is where it is emptied, whether around Oldmeldrum or Whitefield. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel around Oldmeldrum?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your motor began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Maybe heading to Aberdeen, under 25 miles away, or just along Cowgate.
The point: your system has pulled AdBlue in already. The high-pressure pump and each injector get it as well on a longer run, once the filter and pipework have had it. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Pull in somewhere safe — that's the first job — then turn everything off. Oldmeldrum sits over 50 miles from the M90; on it, come off at the first junction rather than pushing on for the services. Do not restart the vehicle to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Roughly how far had it gone? Tell us when you call.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You've just driven the vehicle a week. Your own motor either does without AdBlue or puts it somewhere different, so nothing warned you the AdBlue cap was right next to the diesel. Throughout Aberdeenshire, no one is safe from it.
The point: just as above, split by if it ran, only with one added stage. Plenty of hire and fleet contracts need the owner's sign-off for repairs.
Sorting it before the van arrives is quicker, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. Leave the car switched off as the answer comes, even if you're waiting outside Inverurie or close to The Eternal Present: Gneiss Granite Gabbro.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, in Oldmeldrum
Truthfully, the only answer might be that you think so. A faint ammonia-like whiff lingers around your filler, the bottle feels too light, and the cap you took off is a blur. The gates of the local primary school in a hurry, perhaps, or a friend's drive out in Hillbrae.
The upshot: the engine is not harmed by some AdBlue spilled around the filler. Inside the diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue damages it. Firing up the car cannot tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in the tank it would pull it in.
What to do: treat it as if it was put in. Do not crank it. Phone with the details: we would rather find a clean tank than empty one after your motor has been run.
The common ground in each Oldmeldrum AdBlue drain
Whichever scenario you are in, this job starts the same way. Our engineers come to the vehicle, whether it is at a forecourt, a drive, the car park outside the pub in the village or a side street near Sailor Mannie, and ask three things: what was put in, about how much, and if your engine has been run. Those answers settle this work, and you get the price by phone, before anyone sets off.
A thorough flush follows this drain. With petrol it is standard; with AdBlue it's essential, since crystals build up and some metals are attacked, and neither washes away unaided. Then comes the filter — flushed, or swapped when necessary — then fresh diesel, and a test of your car. Where your engine has not run, allow about half an hour once we arrive, for most cases.
Starting the engine comes last. Our engineers make sure it runs smoothly on new diesel before we go. The entire job is done where your car is, and if it is noticed early, long-term damage is very rare. Paying comes on the day, never in advance. For the insurer, you get a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer. Check your insurance while we arrive: cover for misfuelling is built into many policies.
About Oldmeldrum, briefly
Oldmeldrum is a town situated on the River Don in Aberdeenshire, with a mix of older and modern housing, predominantly detached homes. Oldmeldrum sits at an elevation of 116 metres, near the villages of Whitefield and Mosshead, and is located approximately 15 miles from Aberdeen. Oldmeldrum has a population of around 3178 residents, who enjoy the town's riverside setting and surrounding countryside. Oldmeldrum is also close to the Kirkton of Bourtie, a nearby settlement with its own distinct character.
AdBlue drains across Aberdeenshire, Oldmeldrum included
Oldmeldrum is a riverside town, and the same vans that cover it work the places around it too, Mosshead and Kirkton of Bourtie among them, across the AB postcode area. Quickest of all: a AB51 0 postcode for where you stand.
Central Oldmeldrum or a layby near William Forsythe Community Garden: wherever it sits, the car doesn't need to shift an inch for the drain. Where it sits, that is where it is emptied. If you are somewhere hard to explain, close to Glen Garioch Visitor Centre or close to a border, ring and ask rather than assuming.
In one line: your situation
Motor not started: phone, leaving it switched off. Whatever case fits, Petrol in Diesel takes over from there on 0333 366 0103, across Aberdeenshire and in Oldmeldrum — after you pull over, switch off then ring, if it has run.