AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Whitefaulds? Keep It Switched Off
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, your ignition remains off and so does the engine. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. Being water-based, it will not burn and won't blend with diesel; damage only comes when the pump starts drawing it. If the motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and carefully purged where your car stands in Whitefaulds. Nothing comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Whitefaulds: the first few minutes
To do:
- Take the keys out, so no one switches your ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and roughly what quantity, save your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting KA19 7, or the name of the closest street, gets our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to roll your car: your motor stays off.
- Many diesels run their fuel pump the moment the ignition goes on, and so leave the vehicle off.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Don't drive the car anywhere, not even a short distance down Kirkoswald Road.
- Beside the road, do not attempt draining it yourself.
The attendants working at any Whitefaulds filling station — the JET among them — will normally lend a hand pushing it aside if you ask. At your own drive, don't move it at all.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Meant for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the engine. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. A fuel pump is not made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
It does not combine. After it is tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves not at all like fuel. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Breek last night, and has not been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
From there it does two kinds of harm. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that crystallises in filters and narrow channels; and, since it eats at certain metals, each part it reaches suffers for as long as it remains in there. Lines carrying AdBlue spell damage by morning for a vehicle parked around Whitefaulds. Just inside that tank, it stays stable. And there is the water: it brings no lubrication to the components that need it most — the injection pump and every injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the another forecourt nearby and you have a fault of thin fuel. Mixed through the diesel and sitting still, it's harmless at that stage; using your motor is the damage.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely wrong substance. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Nor can it be thinned, because it separates back out — and the next fill will not rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters more here, and trying your engine "to see", in the heart of Whitefaulds or out in Kirkmichael, does more harm than nearly any other mistake.
As with petrol, there's good news. Clearing a tank is the easiest part on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue remains in there — anywhere around South Ayrshire the vehicle has stopped.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Whitefaulds?
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, now and then behind a single flap — may look the same. Nobody means it; plenty of layouts invite it. A container picked up while driving home and tipped in at home, rather than at the forecourt, is the typical route.
It tends to happen in a couple of familiar ways. The top-up gets rushed outside the local primary school, because your dash flashed with a warning while the children were taken in. A driver pours the container in at home, just off Coral Glen, as the day ends. Another version: dim light, a pub car park by the pub in the village, and a driver opening that flap the first time.
It crops up most in a hire car, a brand-new motor, a fleet motor, or the spare car in a home with both fuels — the vehicles people use least. Wherever you're around Whitefaulds or the rest of South Ayrshire, it's the same slip and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Whitefaulds?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer in that tank. Via the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — with any running time — on to the high-pressure pump and every injector: that's how far it has gone.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each may appear, maybe midway across Whitefaulds or returning from Maybole Golf Course. No starting it again to test: pull over once safe, then turn it off. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
Whitefaulds lies under 25 miles from the M77; if you were on it, exit at the next junction and pull up safely rather than driving on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue further in. That is why a hop across Whitefaulds to park beside Maybole War Memorial and a drive of under 50 miles towards Glasgow are very distinct jobs. Tell us about how far it had come.
We do all of the rinsing where the vehicle has ended up, and once the engine has run there is more of it. If it's spotted early, long-term damage is very uncommon.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Whitefaulds?
We come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped around Whitefaulds: a side street near Maybole War Memorial Park, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if your engine has been run, because those answers decide the work.
Then the tank is emptied where the car sits, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A careful flush matters much more after AdBlue than after petrol, since what remains won't clear out on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when your engine hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Priming the fuel system with fresh diesel comes last. At that point our engineers start the engine and you drive off, whether from a parking space outside Maybole or a driveway around Whitefaulds. Before leaving, our engineers check it's running smoothly with new diesel in. We do it all wherever the car has stopped, and it never needs to go to a garage. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers ask for.
About Whitefaulds
Whitefaulds is a locality situated on the banks of a river in South Ayrshire, with a relatively low elevation of 96 metres. Whitefaulds lies near the towns of Maybole and Crosshill, and is part of a network of communities that include Knockdon. Whitefaulds has a population of around 1390 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing.
AdBlue drains in Whitefaulds and across South Ayrshire
AdBlue jobs around Whitefaulds go to teams that cover the places around it — Maybole, Crosshill plus Knockdon — and much of South Ayrshire further out, across KA postcodes. Ring and check rather than guess if you're by a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down.
Wherever your car stands — your drive at home, a side street, a car park, a forecourt — our technicians drain it on the spot, with no need to bring it to us; which suits Whitefaulds, a small village, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Whitefaulds: the cost of fixing it
Each job differs, and so no fixed quote is fair. Whether your engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what changes the cost. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the location of your car, because an open driveway is simpler for a technician to reach safely than a tight gap behind Ladywell Stadium.
That is why each call from Whitefaulds starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and whether it's run. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
The price is given during the call, before anyone sets off; settling up happens on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
Alongside the car in Whitefaulds, right now?
Then, touch nothing — that's the most helpful move available. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and if it ran are all our technicians ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder across South Ayrshire, Whitefaulds too.