AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Tullibody: What Now?
One fact counts most when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is if the motor has run afterwards. Not run yet? Then leave the car like that, wherever your vehicle is — Tullibody or Menstrie. Usually that means draining and properly purging it on the spot in Tullibody — so keep your key and engine off and phone 0333 366 0103. Pull over the moment you safely can then turn off, if it has already run. Stage one stays the same, even if the job grows.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever across Clackmannanshire it happened.
On a Tullibody forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
You're 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. Somewhere in Tullibody, then — Gulf, JET, or somewhere else nearby.
The upshot: of every spot to find out, this is the best. Just that tank has AdBlue; no component beyond it has drawn it in.
What to do: do not get back in and crank it to clear the petrol pump. Ask the staff to help you push the vehicle into a parking spot, keep the receipt or the bottle, and call us from the forecourt. Stuck beside the pump? Our explosion-proof equipment makes a live forecourt sensible, and so we can drain the car where it is.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Tullibody
For days the dash had been warning you. Picked up a bottle, poured it in at home, binned the empty — and at that point looked at the cap again, after the fact. Driveways close to Ochil Street see it as much as any other street.
Put simply: if your car hasn't been driven since, it's almost as good as spotting it at the pump. On the bottom of that tank is where AdBlue stays, since it won't blend with diesel — and a night passing makes no difference.
Next: prevent any early move by putting the keys in the house, then phone us. Out in Cambus or here in Tullibody, the draining happens at your drive. The pumping kit works quietly enough that it won't wake the street at night.
Tullibody: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power or a lit dashboard started a mile or two beyond the top-up. Maybe heading for Stirling, under 5 miles away, or just along Main Street.
The upshot: the system has drawn AdBlue through already. The high-pressure pump and each injector see it as well on a longer trip, after the fuel filter and pipework have had it. It travels further with each mile driven and every restart.
Your move: pull up anywhere safe, then switch the engine off. Exit at the next junction — not the services beyond — if you're on the M9, under 5 miles from Tullibody. Restarting it to check achieves nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear on its own. Phone, saying what distance the vehicle was driven.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You've had this vehicle barely a week. Your own motor either does without AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, so nothing warned you the AdBlue inlet sits right beside the diesel. Throughout Clackmannanshire, no one is safe from it.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it has run, with one more stage. Any work on your car frequently requires the owner's approval under rental or company terms.
Settling it before the van arrives is quicker, and so ring the rental company or your fleet manager, then us. Waiting for an answer in the car park at Alloa, or beside St Bernadettes RC Church? Leave the engine off meanwhile.
Tullibody: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Now and then, "I think so" is the most you can truthfully say. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia about your filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. The gates of the local primary school in a rush, say, or someone's driveway over in Branshill.
What it means: a little spilled around the filler does no harm to your motor. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Starting the vehicle will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in the tank it will pull it in.
Your move: behave as if it got in, and never start your engine. Describe what you saw on the phone. A clear tank looked at counts as a better outcome than an already-run one emptied.
Tullibody: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Three things come once our technicians arrive — on a filling station, a drive, a street by St Serf's Parish Church or the car park outside The Inn: the fluid, the amount, and whether the motor has been started. Those answers decide this work, and you get the price by phone, before anybody heads out.
Then your tank is emptied and your system purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not rinse out on its own. Clean diesel goes in once your filter has been flushed or changed, and your car is then tested. Most unrun vehicles are a half-hour visit after the moment our technicians arrive.
Starting the car comes at the end. Our check that it runs properly on clean diesel comes before our technicians go. The whole job is done where the car is, and if it is spotted early, long-term damage is very uncommon. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment that day, no money upfront. It is worth remembering: lots of insurers offer misfuelling cover, so a quick look at your documents as we travel pays.
About Tullibody itself
Tullibody is a village in Clackmannanshire, situated near the coast at an elevation of 32 metres, and is located approximately 4 miles from Stirling. Tullibody has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant. Tullibody is close to nearby places such as Cambus and Glenochil Village, and is part of the wider commuter area around Stirling. Tullibody has a population of around 3014 people.
AdBlue drains across Clackmannanshire, Tullibody included
Tullibody is a coastal village, and the same teams that cover it work the towns around it too, Glenochil Village and Canbus among them, across the FK postcode area. Quickest of all: a FK10 2 postcode to show where you stand.
Parked heading to Delph Wood, or bang in the heart of Tullibody, the car remains put — there is no need to move it at all. Where it sits, that is where it is emptied. Awkward to pin down? By Tullibody Civic Centre or a border? Asking is better than guessing, so ring.
Your scenario, summed up
Where it has not run, ring then leave it that way. Run already: pull over, power down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, within Tullibody or anywhere in Clackmannanshire.