AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Sunnylaw? Don't Start It
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. As it is water-based, it will not burn and won't blend with diesel; damage just starts when your pump begins pulling it. If your motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually emptied and thoroughly purged where your car stands in Sunnylaw. No step comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, Sunnylaw: AdBlue in your diesel tank
To do:
- Pull your keys out, so no one switches your ignition on.
- Put your hazards on if you're anywhere close to moving traffic.
- Hold on to the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what got in and about how much.
- Tell us a postcode starting FK9 4, or whatever street lies nearest, and our van reaches you directly — so call from wherever you stand.
Things not to do:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift your car: your motor stays off.
- Plenty of diesels power their fuel pump the instant your ignition goes on, and so keep it off.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue won't blend, and so it is pointless.
- Don't drive it anywhere, not even a short distance down Glen Road.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself at the roadside.
The staff working at any Sunnylaw filling station — the Shell included — will usually lend a hand rolling it aside if you ask. On the drive, your car remains just as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not your motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Nothing inside a fuel pump is designed for this liquid — and none of it was intended to travel that way.
Tipped in with the diesel, it keeps separate instead of mixing — quite different from fuel. Heavier than diesel, it drops and pools underneath it — the very place the intake draws from. Once your system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to be pulled through. Before then it waits beneath the diesel, and that is how a vehicle topped up in Causewayhead yesterday and never switched on stays the simple case, provided no one touches the key.
Once it's sucked in, the damage comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that hardens in filter elements and tiny passages; and, because it eats at certain metals, every part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it remains in there. A vehicle left sitting around Sunnylaw with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. And there is the water: it offers no lubrication to the parts that rely on it the most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
A problem of thinned fuel is what you get after filling a diesel with petrol from the Sainsbury's. Mixed into the diesel and left unused, it's harmless at that stage; running the engine does the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is a problem of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it can't just be run through. It doesn't stay mixed, so it cannot be weakened. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Cornton or the middle of Sunnylaw.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest job on any fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue remains in it — anywhere in Stirling the car has stopped.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Sunnylaw?
Many cars put the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel cap, now and then under one flap, and in dim light the two can appear the same. No one means it. It usually takes place outside the house, from a bottle grabbed en route home, not at the filling station.
Usually, it occurs in one of a couple of familiar ways. Rushing, outside the local primary school, after a warning light came on during the school run, someone refills the vehicle. In the evening, a container is tipped in on a driveway close to Blairforkie Drive. Or someone new to that flap refills your vehicle after dark, parked in the car park outside The Crook Bar.
It happens most in the cars motorists know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Anywhere in Stirling, Sunnylaw as well, the slip does not change, and nor does the first response: leave it switched off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Sunnylaw, and your engine started?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. Your filter and pipework have had it sucked through, and any running takes it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Rough running, smoke, lost power, dashboard lights or stalling: any may appear, perhaps midway across Sunnylaw or coming back from Sunnylaw Meadow. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. More of it is pulled through with each start.
On the M9, under a mile from Sunnylaw, the first junction is where to exit, and somewhere sensible is where to park — not driving on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. That's why a hop across Sunnylaw to park near The Bridge of Allan Mosaic and a drive of under 5 miles for Stirling are such distinct jobs. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to rinse out once the motor has been run, and our engineers do all of it where the vehicle has stopped. If it is noticed soon, lasting damage is very rare.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves around Sunnylaw
A road by Fairy Knowe, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt: wherever the vehicle has come to rest in Sunnylaw, our technicians come to it. Three replies decide the job, and so first our engineers ask which fluid got in, about what quantity, and whether your motor has turned over.
Then that tank is emptied where the car waits, and so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue will not wash away by itself, and so the fuel system gets a full flush, which matters far more with urea than for petrol. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. About half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs where your engine has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Fresh diesel goes in to bleed your system, and that is the final step. Whether it is a parking bay outside Bridge of Allan or a drive around Sunnylaw, that is where our engineers start the car and you head off. It's checked on clean diesel to make sure it runs correctly before our technicians go. As the job is done in full where your car is, a garage never comes into it. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Sunnylaw and where it is
Sunnylaw is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Stirling, with a mix of detached housing and a relatively low elevation of 47 metres. Sunnylaw lies close to the city of Stirling, being only 3.3 miles away, and is near other notable places such as Bridge of Allan and Dunblane. Sunnylaw has a population of around 722 residents and is characterized by its detached homes.
AdBlue drains across Stirling, Sunnylaw included
Throughout the FK postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue call-outs around Sunnylaw serve much of Stirling too, Bridge of Allan, Dunblane and Airthrey Castle included. Close to a border, or anywhere awkward to explain? Checking is better than guessing, and so ring.
No towing is needed. In Sunnylaw, a residential suburb, a mobile service fits: the vehicle is drained on the spot, be it in a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
Sunnylaw: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no fair single quote, since the jobs are not the same. Three things change the cost: whether the motor has run and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the vehicle is. That last one rests on whether a van can reach it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight gap behind Tollgate Post.
Before any figure, never afterwards, every call from Sunnylaw begins with the same three questions: the liquid, the quantity, plus if it ran. With those replies, a range shrinks to one fixed number.
Priced on the call before the van sets out, it is paid for on the day — card or phone, no deposit. Check your policy while we're on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Sunnylaw: still beside your car?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to your car. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, and if the engine ran are everything our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder across Stirling, Sunnylaw too.