AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Pittulie, and What to Do Next
One thing counts above all when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if your motor has run since. Anywhere your vehicle is — Broadsea, Pittulie — never start a motor that has not been started yet. Usually this means emptying and thoroughly flushing it right there in Pittulie — so keep the key and motor off then ring 0333 366 0103. Pull over the minute it is safe and turn off, if it has already run. A larger job, yes, but the same first move.
Anywhere in Aberdeenshire it took place, one of the situations below fits yours.
AdBlue in a diesel on a Pittulie forecourt
You are at the petrol pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Perhaps you're at the Asda, perhaps at the Shell, maybe somewhere else in Pittulie.
The point: of all places to find out, the forecourt is the best. The AdBlue is in that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
Next: resist the temptation to fire it up only to move away from the petrol pump. Phone us from the forecourt once the car sits in a space — the staff will help push it — then save the receipt. If it cannot be shifted, it can be emptied at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a working forecourt.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Pittulie
The warning light had been on for days. Bought a bottle, tipped it in at home, binned the empty — and only then looked at the cap a second time, too late. It takes place on driveways just off St Magnus Avenue as frequently as anywhere.
Meaning? Provided the car hasn't been driven since, it is second to the pump case. Diesel and AdBlue stay separate: the AdBlue drops to the base of the tank and remains put, no matter how long the night.
Your move: keys in the house, so nobody takes the vehicle off at breakfast. After that, phone. Your driveway is where it is emptied, be it in Pittulie or Sandhaven. Night-time drains beside a house are fine: the pumps are quiet.
On the road around Pittulie with AdBlue in a diesel
A mile or two beyond filling up, your engine started misbehaving: roughness, smoke, lost power, lights on the dash. Anywhere along Saint Magnus Road or on the road towards Aberdeen — under 50 miles away.
Meaning? Your fuel pump has taken the AdBlue in. The injection pump and every injector get it as well on a longer run, once the fuel filter and lines have had it. It travels deeper with each extra mile driven and each restart.
What to do: pull over where it is safe to do so and switch off. Pittulie lies over 50 miles from the M90; on it, pull off at the next junction instead of pushing on to the services. It won't have cleared, and so there's no point restarting to find out. About what distance did it go? Say so as you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company vehicles
A week back, it was unknown to you. Unknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel fillers are side by side here — not like your own vehicle, which has no AdBlue or keeps it in another spot. Any driver, wherever around Aberdeenshire, could do it.
In short: an extra stage on top of the cases above, which depend on whether it has run. Plenty of hire and company contracts need the owner's sign-off before work.
Sorting it before the van turn up is quicker, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. If you are stranded in the car park outside the nearest station, or by Sandhaven Church, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
Unsure about AdBlue in your diesel tank in Pittulie?
Truthfully, the only answer might be that you think it did. A faint ammonia smell hangs around your filler, the bottle seems too light, and the cap you took off is hard to recall. The gates of the local primary school in a rush, perhaps, or a friend's drive out in Pitblae.
What it means: a little spilled about your filler does no harm to your motor. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Firing up your car cannot tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in your tank it would pull it in.
Assume it got in, and never start your engine. Ring and give what you saw: we would rather find a clean tank than drain one once the motor has run.
The common ground in every Pittulie AdBlue drain
Each situation has the same start to the work. Three questions come when we reach your car — on a forecourt, a driveway, a road by Castle of Pittulie or the car park at the pub in the village: the liquid, the amount, and if it has run. Those answers decide the work, and you hear our price by phone, before anybody sets off.
Draining that tank comes first, then a full flush — more vital after urea than with petrol, since crystals and corrosion won't clear on their own, no matter how long you wait. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
Firing it up comes at the end. Before we head off, it's tested to make sure it runs properly on new diesel. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, and if it is noticed quickly, permanent damage is very rare. Nothing is taken upfront, payment happens on the day, and you receive what the insurer asks for: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Dig out your insurance before we're en route: cover for misfuelling comes included in many policies.
About Pittulie itself
Pittulie is a small coastal village in Aberdeenshire, situated near the towns of Sandhaven and Rosehearty. Pittulie lies at a low elevation of around 8 metres, close to the sea and within a short distance of other nearby communities like Peathill. Pittulie has a population of approximately 559 people, living in predominantly semi-detached housing. Pittulie is located around 37.9 miles from the city of Aberdeen, making it a rural outpost in the north-east of Scotland.
AdBlue drains around Pittulie, and across Aberdeenshire too
As a coastal village, Pittulie has the same vans as the surrounding towns — Peathill, Rosehearty — right across AB postcodes. The whereabouts is quickest from a postcode that starts AB43 7.
Whether the car is on a lay-by on the way to Rosehearty Golf Club or in a car park in the middle of Pittulie, it doesn't need to move. Our technicians drain the vehicle where it is. Awkward to explain? Close to Castle of Pitsligo or a border? Asking beats assuming, and so phone.
Your situation, in one line
Not run yet: keep the vehicle off then ring. Run by now? Pull over, turn off, phone. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder whichever it is, across Pittulie and Aberdeenshire, on 0333 366 0103.