AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Joppa? Don't Start It
Motor off, ignition off: that's where you begin if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Urea mixed in water is all AdBlue is. As it is water-based, it will not burn and won't blend with diesel; damage just starts when your pump begins pulling it. If the engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and thoroughly flushed where the vehicle stands in Joppa. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Joppa: the first few minutes
To do:
- Pull your keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- If you're anywhere close to moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and about what quantity, save your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call just where you are. Say a EH15 2 postcode or the closest street name, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Not to do:
- Don't start your engine, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel will not thin it.
- Even a short stretch down Milton Terrace is too far to drive it.
- Don't try to drain the vehicle yourself by the roadside.
At a forecourt around Joppa, whether it's the Shell or another one, ask the staff to help you push the vehicle clear of the pump. At your own driveway, do not move it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it's sprayed into the exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Not one side suits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and an injection pump cannot deal with urea.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, after tipped in, will not. Its behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. A motor topped up on a drive in Stoneyhill yesterday evening and left unstarted is the straightforward one. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up yet — but once your engine runs, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of the tank.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. 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 hits for as long as it remains there. Pipes carrying AdBlue spell damage by morning for a vehicle sitting in Joppa. Only inside that tank, it stays the same. And there is the water: it offers no protection to the components that need it the most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is often worse
A problem of thinned fuel is what you get from filling a diesel with petrol from the Asda. Mixed into the diesel and left still, it is no threat for now; running your motor does the damage.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is plainly the wrong one. It doesn't burn, so it can't just be run through. It doesn't stay mixed, and 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 almost anywhere else, whether your car is in Stoneyhill Steading or the middle of Joppa.
As with petrol, there's good news. Not started? Then the AdBlue waits just in that tank, the easiest bit of the entire system to empty, wherever your vehicle has stopped in City of Edinburgh.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Joppa: how it ends up there
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of vehicles waits right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Most of the time it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. Hurrying, outside the local primary school, after a warning light came on during the school run, someone refills the vehicle. After work, a container goes in on a driveway close to Seaview Crescent. Or someone new to that flap refills the car after dark, parked in the car park outside The Ormelie Tavern.
It comes up the most in a hire car, a brand-new car, a fleet vehicle, or the spare vehicle of a family with both fuel types — the vehicles people know least. Leave it switched off: that's the first step to an identical slip, anywhere in Joppa or the rest of City of Edinburgh you happen to be.
Joppa: started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. The filter and lines have had it pulled along, and some running time carries it on to the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Maybe returning from Milton Road Community Garden, or part way across Joppa, the engine might go lumpy, smoke, drop pace, light up your dash or cut out. Once you safely can, stop then switch it off — with no turning it on again to test. More of that is pulled through with each start.
On the M8, under 10 miles from Joppa, the first junction is where to leave, and anywhere safe is where to stop — not driving on.
A quick hop across Joppa to the car park by Coillesdene Community Hall is one matter; driving for Edinburgh, under 5 miles away, is something else, because every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So mileage matters. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out once your engine has been run. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage when it's noticed early.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves in Joppa
Wherever it has come to rest around Joppa — a filling station, a layby, a driveway, a road beside Earl of Stair's Monument — our van travels to the vehicle. Before anything else we ask what was put in, about how much, and if your engine has been run, since those replies settle the work.
Then that tank is emptied where the car stands, and so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush counts: the fuel system is flushed all the way through since residue will not flush away by itself. Next, the filter: cleaned, or changed when it has to be. After that fresh diesel, and then a test of the vehicle. Engine not run? In that case count on roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Priming the system with fresh diesel comes at the end. Starting it comes next, and then you drive off from where the vehicle is parked, outside Brunstane or on a driveway in Joppa. The check before our technicians leave is that it runs correctly on clean diesel. The whole job is done where the car is, so it never has to go to a garage. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Joppa, briefly
Joppa is a coastal suburban area in the City of Edinburgh, situated approximately 3.9 miles east of Edinburgh's city centre. Joppa lies near the coast, with an elevation of around 8 metres, and is close to nearby places such as Joppa Pans and Brunstane. Joppa is predominantly composed of flat-type housing, which is typical of many suburban areas in the region. Joppa has a population of around 2222 people, according to approximate estimates.
AdBlue drains across City of Edinburgh, Joppa included
Joppa Pans, Brunstane and Newhailes are among the towns around Joppa that the same vans serve, along with much of City of Edinburgh beyond, over the EH postcode area. Ring and ask rather than guess when you're close to a county line, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
Joppa is a residential suburb, and a mobile drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it is, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Joppa
Every job differs, so no single quote is fair. Three things change the cost: whether the motor has run and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where your car is. That last one rests on whether a van can get to it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight spot behind Portobello and Joppa Parish Church Hall.
That's why every call from Joppa starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and if it has run. Given those replies, a range narrows to one firm number.
Before a van heads out, you are told our quote by phone. Then you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. While our engineer is travelling, dig out your policy: plenty cover misfuelling.
Joppa: still next to the vehicle?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with your vehicle is to leave it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and if it ran are everything we need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder across City of Edinburgh, Joppa too.