Hailes: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. As it is water-based, it won't burn and won't blend with diesel; trouble only comes when your pump begins pulling it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Hailes, is generally all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before the engine has run. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, Hailes: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do:
- Remove the keys, and that stops anyone turning the power on.
- If you are anywhere close to moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt tells us the fluid and the amount, and so do not throw it away.
- Tell us a postcode starting EH13 0, or whichever street lies nearest, and our van finds you straight — so call wherever you are.
Never:
- Don't start the motor, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- Plenty of diesels power their fuel pump the moment your ignition goes on, so keep it off.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue won't blend, so it's wasted.
- Even a short way along Spylaw Avenue is too far to drive it.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself by the kerbside.
The staff working at any Hailes filling station — the Tesco among them — will usually lend a hand pushing it aside if you ask. Parked on your own drive? Then it stays just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Meant for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. A fuel pump isn't made to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, after poured in, won't. Its behaviour is not at all like fuel's. The pickup takes fuel from the deepest part of your tank, and that is exactly where AdBlue ends up: being heavier than diesel, it sinks. Simplest of all: one that had AdBlue in Colinton last night and hasn't turned since. The liquid waits at the base of that tank, undrawn — though it would be first through if the engine starts, before any diesel at all.
From there it does two kinds of damage. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and narrow passages; meanwhile, since it eats at some metals, each part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it stays in there. Pipes carrying AdBlue spell damage overnight for a car sitting in Hailes. Only in that tank, it stays the same. Water protects nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel flowing through them, and so the water part harms them in its own right.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is regularly worse
Fill a diesel with petrol in error over at the Sainsbury's, and the issue is diluted fuel. Mixed into the diesel and left unused, it's no threat at that stage; running your engine does the damage.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is simply the wrong one. It cannot just be run through, because it doesn't burn. It does not stay mixed, so it cannot be diluted. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Kingsknowe or the middle of Hailes.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest job on any fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue remains in it — wherever in City of Edinburgh your car sits.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Hailes?
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of vehicles sits right next to the diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the pump.
Mostly, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. The top-up is hurried outside the local primary school, because your dash flashed with a warning while the kids were dropped in. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Gillespie Road. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap refills the vehicle in dim light, parked in the car park by The Spylaw.
It crops up the most in a rental, a brand-new motor, a fleet motor, or the spare vehicle of a home with one of each fuels — the cars drivers know the least. Keep it switched off: that is the first response to an identical mistake, anywhere in Hailes or the remainder of City of Edinburgh you are.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Hailes, and the engine started?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside the tank. Through the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — with any running — into the high-pressure pump and each injector: that's how far it travels.
You may notice the engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Spylaw Park or halfway across Hailes. No starting it again to check: pull over when safe, then turn everything off. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
If you were on the M8, under 3 miles from Hailes, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue deeper into the system. That's why a hop across Hailes to park beside Phoebe Traquair Railings and a drive of under 5 miles for Edinburgh are such separate 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 the motor has been run. Very seldom does it leave lasting damage when it is noticed early.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves around Hailes
Our engineers come to the car, wherever it has stopped around Hailes: a side street near 108th Scout Hall, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and whether your motor has run, since those replies determine this work.
On the spot, that tank is then emptied, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea leave at once. The fuel system is flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. After that, the filter: flushed, or changed if it must be. Then clean diesel, then a check of the car. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour job once our technicians arrive, if your motor has not run. Explosion-proof pumps make a live forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
New diesel goes in to prime the system, and that's the last step. You drive off as soon as we have started the engine, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a driveway in Hailes or in a bay outside Wester Hailes. The check before our technicians head off is that it runs correctly on clean diesel. Our engineers do it all wherever the car has ended up, and it never has to be taken to a workshop. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Hailes and where it is
Hailes is a suburban area in the City of Edinburgh, situated near the Water of Leith and overlooking the surrounding countryside. Hailes sits at an elevation of 117 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Hailes is located close to several nearby places, including Bonaly, Juniper Green, and Woodhall, and is approximately 4.4 miles from Edinburgh city centre.
AdBlue drains across City of Edinburgh, Hailes included
AdBlue call-outs in Hailes go to vans that cover the towns around it — Bonaly, Juniper Green as well as Woodhall — and much of City of Edinburgh further out, throughout EH postcodes. Phone and ask instead of guessing when you are close to a county line, or anywhere awkward to explain.
Anywhere the vehicle sits — your drive at home, a side street, a car park, a filling station — we empty it there, with no need to bring it to us; that suits Hailes, a residential suburb, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Hailes
There is no fair single price, because the jobs aren't the same. What moves the cost is, first of all, whether the engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and finally where the car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight space behind Colinton Tunnel.
Ahead of a quote, never after, every call from Hailes begins with three checks: the liquid, the amount, and if the engine ran. Once they are answered, a range turns into a single firm figure.
Before a van sets off, you hear the price by phone. Then you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
Hailes: still beside the car?
In that case, do nothing — that's the most helpful move there is. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Say it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and if it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Hailes or wherever in City of Edinburgh.