Parkhead: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. As it is water-based, it will not ignite and never combines with diesel; trouble only comes once your pump starts pulling it. In Parkhead, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before your engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, right where your car is. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps right now, Parkhead: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do these:
- Keys out — then nobody can switch anything on.
- If you're at all near moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- Keep your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what was put in and roughly how much.
- Call right where you are. Quote a G31 5 postcode or the closest street name, and no one has to hunt for you.
Not to do:
- Shifting your car even a short way is no reason to fire up the engine.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short stretch along Sorby Street.
- By the road, do not try draining it yourself.
Ask the attendants to help you move the vehicle away from the island if you are at a forecourt in Parkhead, whether it's the Asda or somewhere else. At your own driveway, don't move it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not the engine but your exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. Kept in a dedicated tank, it's injected into the exhaust to clean the fumes. Not one side fits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and a pump cannot deal with urea.
It doesn't combine. Once it's poured into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like diesel. The pickup sucks fuel from the deepest part of the tank, and that's just where AdBlue ends up: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Camlachie last night and hasn't been started since. The liquid waits at the base of the tank, untouched — but it would be the first thing through once your motor starts, before any diesel at all.
From there it causes two kinds of harm. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps running on the components it gets to for as long as it remains there. A motor left standing in Parkhead with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank is not. And there is the water: it brings no protection to the parts that rely on it most — the injection pump and every injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's often worse than petrol
Top up a diesel with petrol in error at the Shell, and this issue is thinned fuel. No harm comes as long as it sits unused, blended into your diesel — only once your motor runs on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. It can't simply be run through, because it does not burn. Whether the car sits in Gallowgate or the centre of Parkhead, turning it over "to see" costs more in this case than nearly any other mistake, and the flush counts for more. The reasons: it will not stay blended, and so watering it down fails; and deposits and corrosion outlast the next tankful.
As with petrol, there's good news. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue stays in it — anywhere around Glasgow City your vehicle has stopped.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Parkhead
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of motors waits right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it is never the filling station: someone buys a container driving home and tips it in at home.
Usually, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. The top-up gets rushed outside the local primary school, because your dash flashed with a warning while the kids were taken in. Close to Powfoot Street, a driver pours a container in on the drive in the evening. Else, in dim light by Prince Charlie, the car is refilled by a driver using that flap for the first time.
Rented motors, new vehicles, company cars, or the second vehicle in a family with both fuels: the least known cars see it most. Wherever in Glasgow City, Parkhead as well, the mistake does not change, and nor does the first response: keep it off.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Parkhead, and your engine started?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in your tank. Via the filter, along the pipework, and — with any running time — on to the high-pressure pump and each injector: that is how far it has gone.
Lumpy running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: any might appear, perhaps midway across Parkhead or returning from The Wash House Garden. Stop when safe. Turn off. Leave it off instead of restarting it to check. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Leave the Auchenshuggle Bridge, under 3 miles from Parkhead, at the next junction and stop safely, rather than carrying on.
Hopping across Parkhead to the car park by Salvation Army is one thing; heading for Glasgow, under 3 miles away, is another, because every mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So distance matters. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after your engine has been started. Lasting damage is very unusual when it's noticed quickly.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel around Parkhead: what it takes
Our technicians come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped in Parkhead: a side street near Parkhead Congregational Church, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Which fluid got in, roughly the quantity, and if your engine has been run: our engineers ask before all else, because those shape the job.
On the spot, your tank is then emptied, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea come out at once. Residue from AdBlue will not flush out unaided, and so the whole system gets a full flush, which counts far more with urea than for petrol. Clean diesel goes in after the filter is cleaned — or swapped, if it needs to be — and after that your car is tested. About half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when your motor hasn't run. The equipment is explosion-proof, so a live filling station is no fault, and it's quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
Last, your system is bled with clean diesel. You head off as soon as our technicians have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a drive around Parkhead or in a space at Carntyne. It's tested on new diesel to make sure it runs smoothly before we leave. No workshop is needed at any stage, with the whole job done then and there. At the end, there is the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Parkhead itself
Parkhead is a suburban area in Glasgow City, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 29 metres, with the River Clyde nearby. Parkhead is located close to Glasgow, being only 1.9 miles from the city centre, and is surrounded by other suburban areas such as Braidfauld and Haghill. Parkhead is predominantly composed of flat-type housing, which is typical of many Glasgow suburbs. Parkhead has a relatively small population of around 8813 people, according to approximate estimates.
AdBlue drains across Glasgow City, Parkhead included
AdBlue jobs around Parkhead go to teams that cover the towns around it — Braidfauld, Haghill plus Barrowfield — and most of Glasgow City beyond, throughout G postcodes. Close to a boundary, or anywhere tricky to explain? Asking beats guessing, and so phone.
Anywhere the car sits — a drive at home, a side street, a car park, a filling station — our technicians drain it on the spot, with no need to bring it to us; that suits Parkhead, a residential suburb, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Parkhead: the cost of fixing it
Not one flat price could be fair, because each job is different. The price changes first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that went in. After that it turns on where your car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Parkhead Library.
What got in, what quantity, and if the engine ran: each Parkhead call opens with precisely that, before a figure, never afterwards. The answers turn a range into a straight price.
Before anyone sets off, you hear our price on the phone. Then payment is on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
In Parkhead and still next to the car?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with the car is to leave it. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Phone 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Parkhead or anywhere across Glasgow City.