AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hillside? Don't Start It
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does your motor. In plain terms, AdBlue is simply urea in water. The harm begins once it's pulled through your lines — it will not ignite, and it won't blend with diesel. If your motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally drained and carefully rinsed where the car sits in Hillside. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Hillside: the first few minutes
Do these:
- Remove the keys, which stops anyone switching the electrics on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and roughly what quantity, save the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring just where you are. Say a EH7 5 postcode or the closest street name, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Do not:
- Moving your car even a short way is no reason to fire up your motor.
- Switching your key to ignition alone starts your pump going on many diesels. Avoid it.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, including a short way down London Road.
- Emptying that tank on your own by the road is not one to try.
The attendants on duty at any Hillside forecourt — the BP among them — will usually help rolling it clear if you ask. Stopped on your own driveway? Then it stays exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The engine is not what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. Neither side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in an injection pump, and a pump can't deal with urea.
Tipped in with your diesel, it stays separate instead of mixing — quite different from fuel. Denser than diesel, it sinks and pools below it — the very spot the pickup draws from. Once your system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Until then it sits beneath the diesel, which is how a car filled in Canongate last night and never switched on remains the simple one, provided nobody touches the key.
From there it does two kinds of harm. It eats at certain metals used in fuel systems, working on whatever it reaches until it is cleared completely. And once the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and lodge in tiny passages. Pipes holding AdBlue mean damage overnight for a vehicle parked in Hillside. Only in the tank, it stays stable. The water in it does harm of its own: the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's often worse than petrol
A fault of thin fuel is what you end up with from fuelling a diesel with petrol at the JET. No damage is done as long as it stays put, mixed into your diesel — only when your engine runs on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable substance. Since it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. It doesn't stay mixed, so it can't be weakened. 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 the engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether your car is in Edinburgh or the middle of Hillside.
As with petrol, there is good news. If the engine has not run, the AdBlue is still inside the tank, and your tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across City of Edinburgh your car is sitting.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Hillside: how it ends up there
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many motors sits right next to the diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It mostly happens at home, from a bottle bought on the journey home, not at the filling station.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside the local primary school the refill is hurried. Close to Hillside Crescent, someone pours a container in on the drive in the evening. Otherwise, after dark by Joseph Pearce, your vehicle gets topped up by a driver opening that flap for the first time.
Rented cars, new motors, company motors, or the second vehicle in a home with both fuels: the least familiar cars see it the most. Same slip, an identical first step — leave it off — anywhere you happen to be in Hillside or the remainder of City of Edinburgh.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Hillside?
Then the AdBlue has left your tank. It's been pulled through the filter and the lines, and if your engine ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors.
You may see the engine running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Hillside Crescent Gardens or halfway across Hillside. No restarting to check: stop when safe, then switch it off. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Hillside lies under 10 miles from the M8; if you were on it, leave by the next junction and pull up safely instead of carrying on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into your system. That is why a hop across Hillside to park near Holodomor Memorial and a drive of under a mile for Edinburgh are very separate jobs. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever your car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out once the engine has been started. Lasting damage is very rare when it's caught quickly.
What clearing AdBlue from a diesel involves in Hillside
Our technicians come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Hillside: a side street near Unlimited Corporation, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The work depends on three answers, which our technicians get first — what went in, the quantity, and whether your motor has turned over.
Next, draining your tank right there removes the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. The system is rinsed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Testing the vehicle comes at the end, after fresh diesel goes in and the fuel filter gets cleaned or, if necessary, swapped. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour job once we arrive, provided the motor hasn't run. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a busy forecourt is no issue, and it is hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
New diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that's the final step. You drive off as soon as we have started the engine, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a drive around Hillside or in a space by Edinburgh Waverley. It is tested on fresh diesel to be sure it runs smoothly before we leave. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers want.
About Hillside
Hillside is a suburban area in the City of Edinburgh, situated near the coast and approximately 0.5 miles from Edinburgh city centre. Hillside has a relatively low elevation of around 45 metres and is characterized by predominantly flat-type housing. Hillside is close to other nearby places such as Greenside, Calton, and Abbeyhill, and is home to a population of around 16435 people.
AdBlue drains across Hillside and City of Edinburgh
Greenside, Calton and Abbeyhill are among the towns near Hillside that the same teams reach, along with most of City of Edinburgh beyond, over the EH postcode area. Near a border, or anywhere tricky to pin down? Asking is better than assuming, and so phone.
No towing is needed. In Hillside, a residential suburb, a mobile service works: your car is drained on the spot, whether in a drive, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
Hillside: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Not one single figure could be honest, since each job is different. Three things move the price: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the vehicle is. That last one rests on whether our van can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight space behind Ashtanga Yoga.
Before a quote, not after, each enquiry from Hillside begins with three checks: the liquid, the quantity, and if the engine ran. Those replies shrink the range right down to one number.
You get that price on the phone, before anybody sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As our engineer is on the way, check your insurance: many cover misfuelling.
Hillside: still beside your car?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to your car. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and whether it ran are everything we ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest across City of Edinburgh, Hillside included.