AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Coates? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is simply urea in water. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and no harm happens until the motor pulls it round. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Coates, is usually what AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before your motor has been run. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
What to do right now, Coates: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Things to do:
- Pull your keys out, and so nobody switches your ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- Which fluid, and about what volume? Hang on to the bottle or the receipt, and our technicians will know.
- Our van finds you quickest with a postcode starting EH12 5, or simply the name of a street nearby, so call from the car.
Not to do:
- Shifting your vehicle even a few yards is no reason to fire up the engine.
- Turning the key to ignition by itself sets the pump going on many diesels. Avoid it.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Even a short stretch down Magdala Crescent is too far to drive the car.
- Emptying that tank on your own by the road isn't one to try.
Get the people behind the counter to help you roll the vehicle away from the pumps if you are on a forecourt around Coates, whether it's the JET or elsewhere. Stopped on your own driveway? Then it stays exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it's sprayed into your exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Nothing inside a fuel pump is made for this liquid — and none of that was intended to travel through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. The intake sucks fuel from the lowest part of your tank, and that's just where AdBlue settles: being denser than diesel, it sinks. When your system runs, the AdBlue is first to go through. Before then it sits beneath your diesel, and that is how a car topped up in Fountainbridge yesterday and never started remains the simple one, as long as nobody touches the key.
After it is sucked in, the damage comes in two forms. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps labouring on the parts it gets to for as long as it remains there. If the AdBlue has reached the lines, leaving it overnight around Coates makes it worse. Inside that tank only, time does nothing. The water in it does harm of its own: your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is regularly worse
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Sainsbury's's forecourt leaves your fuel watery — that is the whole problem. Mixed into the diesel and left still, it's no threat at that stage; running your engine is the damage.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is simply the wrong one. It cannot simply be run through, because it doesn't burn. Crystals and corrosion stay through the following fill, and AdBlue separates again from the diesel, and so thinning it won't help. Hence the flush matters more, and trying the engine "to see" costs more here than nearly any other mistake — in Roseburn or the centre of Coates equally.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest job on a fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue stays in there — anywhere in City of Edinburgh your vehicle sits.
Coates: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It is not deliberate. Plenty of cars keep the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel inlet, now and then behind a single flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. Mostly it's not the filling station: a driver buys a container heading home and tips it in outside the house.
Usually, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. The top-up is rushed outside the local primary school, after your dash flashed with a warning while the kids were dropped off. Near Coates Gardens, someone pours a container in at home after work. Or the car is topped up in the car park at Platform 5, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It comes up the most in a rental, a brand-new vehicle, a company vehicle, or the spare motor of a family with both fuel types — the vehicles drivers use least. Anywhere across City of Edinburgh, Coates as well, the slip doesn't change, and neither does the first response: leave it switched off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Coates, and your engine started?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. The filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and any running takes it on to the injection pump and every injector.
Perhaps returning from Magdala Crescent gardens, or midway across Coates, the motor may run rough, smoke, lose power, light up the dash or stall. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the vehicle to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
Leave the M8, under 5 miles from Coates, at the first junction and park somewhere safe, not driving on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue further into your system. That is why a hop across Coates to park beside Edinburgh Sports Club and a drive of under 3 miles for Edinburgh are very distinct jobs. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever the car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after your engine has been started. Very seldom does it leave long-term damage if it's noticed quickly.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Coates?
A road beside War Memorial, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station: anywhere the car has stopped in Coates, we travel to it. What was put in, roughly the quantity, plus whether the engine has been run: we ask first, because those decide the job.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one when that tank is drained, on the spot. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing counts: the fuel system is flushed right through since residue will not wash away unaided. Next, your filter: cleaned, or replaced if it must be. After that fresh diesel, then a test of the car. Not run? Then expect about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Our equipment is explosion-proof, so a busy filling station is no issue, and it is quiet enough for a residential street after dark.
Lastly, the fuel system is primed with clean diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you drive off from where the vehicle is parked, outside Haymarket or on a driveway in Coates. Our technicians confirm it runs smoothly on new diesel before we leave. Since the job is done in full where your car is, a workshop never comes into it. The insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over once the job is done.
About Coates
Coates is a suburban area in the City of Edinburgh, situated near the coast and approximately 1.4 miles from Edinburgh city centre. Coates is characterised by its predominantly flat-type housing and sits at an elevation of around 68 metres. Coates is close to nearby places such as Dean, Dalry, and the West End, and is home to a population of around 11,076 residents.
AdBlue drains across Coates and City of Edinburgh
The vans that answer AdBlue calls around Coates also cover the spots about it, Dean, Dalry and West End among them, and most of City of Edinburgh beyond, across the EH postcode area. Near a border, or anywhere tricky to explain? Checking beats guessing, so ring.
A van that comes to you suits Coates, a residential suburb: you have no need to bring the vehicle to us, since we empty it on the spot, on a drive, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Coates?
Each job is different, and so not one single quote is honest. Whether the engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what changes the cost. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the location of the vehicle, since an open driveway is simpler for a technician to get to safely than a tight space behind Untitled (Pair).
That is why every call from Coates starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and whether it's run. Those replies narrow the range right down to one number.
Before a van sets off, you are told our price by phone. Then payment is on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
Still beside the car in Coates?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to your car. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if it ran are everything our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest across City of Edinburgh, Coates too.