AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Portree? Keep It Switched Off
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does your engine. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor mixes, and no harm starts until your engine pulls it through. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Portree, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it is caught before your motor has been run. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Portree, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do right away
Do:
- Pocket your keys, and that prevents someone turning the electrics on.
- Near moving traffic? So put your hazards on.
- The empty bottle or your receipt tells us the fluid and the amount, so don't throw it out.
- Tell us a postcode starting IV51 9, or whatever street is closest, and the van reaches you straight — so ring wherever you are.
Things not to do:
- Moving your car even a short way is no reason to fire up the engine.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Keep the vehicle where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way along Park Road.
- Beside the road, do not attempt draining it yourself.
The attendants on duty at any Portree filling station — the Portree filling station among them — will normally lend a hand rolling it clear if you ask. At home, the car remains just where it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the motor. Its own tank holds it, and from there it's sprayed into the exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Not one side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in an injection pump, and an injection pump cannot take urea.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once poured in, won't. Its behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It sinks, because it's heavier than diesel, and pools down where the pickup draws its fuel from. Easiest of all: one that had AdBlue in Toravaig overnight and has not been started since. The liquid sits at the base of the tank, undrawn — but it would be the first thing through once the engine starts, before any diesel at all.
It does two kinds of harm from there. What is left once the water goes is urea, which turns into crystals: they lodge in tiny passages and clog filters. On top of that, it attacks some metals in the fuel system, and carries on till it is cleared out. Overnight, a vehicle sitting around Portree with AdBlue in its lines grows worse; if it is only inside the tank, it doesn't. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and every injector as it passes; water gives none of that, and that is a separate form of harm.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel regularly the bigger fault?
Petrol put into a diesel on another forecourt nearby's forecourt leaves the fuel watery — that is the whole fault. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it's in the tank it does no harm; the damage comes from running your engine on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. It cannot simply be run through, since it does not burn. It does not stay mixed, and so it can't be thinned. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether your car is in Achadh aChoirce or the middle of Portree.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest part on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue remains in there — anywhere in Highland the car sits.
Portree: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It's not on purpose. Plenty of vehicles have the AdBlue cap beside the diesel inlet, occasionally behind one flap, and muddling them up is simple after dark. A bottle picked up while driving home and tipped in at home, rather than at the filling station, is the usual route.
It tends to take place in a couple of familiar ways. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside the local primary school the top-up is rushed. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Home Farm Road. Another pattern: dim light, a pub car park by The Isles Inn, and a driver using that flap for the first time.
It happens most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Same mistake, same first response — leave it off — anywhere you are in Portree or the rest of Highland.
Portree: started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. With any running, it travels to the high-pressure pump and every injector, having passed through your filter and pipework.
Expect lumpy running, smoke, lost power, warnings on the dash, or a stall — coming back from Gàradh Annag Uilleam, say, or part way across Portree. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart it to check. More of it is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M8, over 50 miles from Portree, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere sensible instead of pressing on.
Hopping across Portree to the car park by Free Presbyterian is one thing; heading towards Inverness, over 50 miles away, is something else, because every mile carries the AdBlue further in. So distance counts. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Once the engine has been started, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the car has stopped. Noticed soon, it very rarely leaves long-term damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Portree?
The car stays put, whether that's a road beside The Tattie Bogle Clan, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station in Portree, and the van comes to it. The work rests on three replies, and our engineers get first — what was put in, the amount, and whether the motor has run.
Next, draining your tank right there removes the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. A full flush counts far more after AdBlue than with petrol, since residue won't clear away on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. If the engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we arrive. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that's the last step. At that point we start the car and you set off, whether from a parking bay at the nearest station or a driveway around Portree. Our engineers make sure it runs smoothly on clean diesel before leaving. Our engineers do it all wherever the car has ended up, and it never has to go to a workshop. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers ask for.
About Portree and where it is
Portree is a small coastal village in the Highland region of Scotland, situated at an elevation of 18 metres and overlooking the sea. Portree is located near several nearby places, including Sulaisiadar Mor, Sluggans, and Inveralivaig, and is approximately 73 miles from the city of Inverness. Portree has a population of around 648 people and features predominantly semi-detached housing. Portree is a significant distance from London, at around 475 miles away.
Portree and Highland: AdBlue drains across the area
AdBlue call-outs in Portree go to vans that cover the places near it — Sulaisiadar Mor, Sluggans plus Inveralivaig — and most of Highland further out, across IV postcodes. Phone and check rather than guess if you're by a border, or anywhere awkward to explain.
Portree is a coastal village, and a call-out drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it sits, so it never needs to be moved to us.
Portree: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Every job differs, and so no single price would be honest. Three things change the price: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the vehicle is. That last one comes down to whether our van can get to it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight space behind Portree War Memorial.
Before any quote, not afterwards, each enquiry from Portree opens with three checks: the liquid, the amount, plus if the engine ran. Those replies shrink a range right down to a single number.
You hear that quote by phone, before anybody sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Beside the vehicle in Portree, right now?
Then, the best thing to do with the car is to leave it. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Portree or anywhere across Highland.