AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lasswade? Don't Start It
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, your ignition remains off and so does your motor. Urea mixed in water is all AdBlue is. It does not burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the fuel system pulls it in. If the engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally drained and thoroughly cleaned where the vehicle stands in Lasswade. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Lasswade: the first few minutes
Do these:
- Keys out — that way no one can switch anything on.
- Close to moving traffic? So put the hazard lights on.
- Keep your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what went in and about how much.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting EH19 3, or the name of the nearest street, gets the van to you without a search.
Don't:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to move the vehicle.
- Your ignition remains off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to start the pump.
- Adding extra diesel doesn't work: AdBlue settles out instead of blending.
- Keep the vehicle where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way up Eskbank Road.
- Emptying the tank on your own beside the road isn't one to try.
Get the people behind the counter to help you move the vehicle off the island if you are at a forecourt around Lasswade, whether it's the Tesco or somewhere else. Parked on your own driveway? Then it remains exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. Nothing in an injection pump is designed for this liquid — and no part of it was intended to travel that way.
Poured in with the diesel, it stays separate instead of blending — quite unlike fuel. It is heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Broomieknowe last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
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 is 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 stays there. Where the AdBlue has reached the pipework, leaving it till morning in Lasswade makes things worse. In that tank only, waiting costs nothing. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector depend on diesel running past them, and so the water content harms them by itself.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
A problem of thinned fuel is what you get after fuelling a diesel with petrol from the another forecourt nearby. No harm is done while it stays unused, mixed into your diesel — only once the engine works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it can't just be run through. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it can't be diluted. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Bonnyrigg or the middle of Lasswade.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue waits only inside that tank, the easiest bit of the whole system to empty, anywhere the car has stopped across Midlothian.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Lasswade?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of cars waits right next to the diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It usually occurs at home, from a container grabbed en route home, rather than at the forecourt.
It tends to happen in a couple of familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside the local primary school the refill is hurried. Close to Lothian Street, a driver tips a container in on the drive in the evening. Otherwise, after dark outside The Anvil Inn, your car is refilled by someone opening that flap for the first time.
The least known cars see it the most — rentals, brand-new ones, company ones, and the other car of a home with both fuel types. Same slip, same first step — keep it switched off — anywhere you happen to be in Lasswade or the rest of Midlothian.
Started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Lasswade?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. Your filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and any running time carries it on to the injection pump and every injector.
You may see the motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Broomieknowe Park or halfway across Lasswade. Once you safely can, stop and switch it off — with no restarting to see. Each start pulls more of it through.
Lasswade lies under 10 miles from the M8; if you were on it, leave by the next junction and pull up safely rather than carrying on.
Hopping across Lasswade to the car park by New Dundas Park is one matter; driving towards Edinburgh, under 10 miles away, is something else, because each mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So mileage matters. About 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 after your engine has been run. Long-term damage is very unusual when it is caught early.
Lasswade: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
The car remains put, whether that's a road near Madinah Masjid & Community Centre, a driveway, a layby or a forecourt in Lasswade, and our van travels to it. The work depends on three replies, and our engineers get first — what got in, the quantity, and if the motor has run.
On the spot, the tank is then emptied, and both the polluted diesel and the urea come out as one. The fuel system is flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. A test of your vehicle follows last, once fresh diesel is added and your filter gets flushed or, if necessary, replaced. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our engineers turn up, provided your motor hasn't run. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they run quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
The final step is to bleed the fuel system on new diesel. You set off as soon as we have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a drive around Lasswade or in a space outside Eskbank. It's checked on fresh diesel to make sure it runs correctly before our engineers go. No workshop is required at any stage, with the whole job done then and there. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers ask for.
About Lasswade itself
Lasswade is a suburban area situated on the River North Esk in Midlothian, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Lasswade sits at an elevation of 93 metres, approximately 6 miles southeast of Edinburgh's city centre. Lasswade is close to nearby places such as Eldindean, Waverley, and Quarryhead, and is part of the wider Edinburgh urban area. Lasswade has a population of around 5233 people, with a range of local services and facilities.
AdBlue drains in Lasswade and across Midlothian
Throughout the EH postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue call-outs around Lasswade serve most of Midlothian as well, Eldindean, Waverley and Quarryhead included. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Anywhere your car sits — a driveway at home, a side street, a car park, a forecourt — our technicians drain it there, and there's no need to bring it to us; which suits Lasswade, a residential suburb, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Lasswade
There's no fair single price, because the jobs aren't the same. Three things shift the price: whether the engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the car is. That last one comes down to whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight spot behind Bonnyrigg Parish Church.
That's why every call from Lasswade starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and whether it's run. Those replies turn a range into a straight quote.
Before anyone heads out, you are told our price on the phone. And you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Look at your policy while we're on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
Beside the vehicle in Lasswade, still?
In that case, touch nothing — that is the most helpful move there is. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Lasswade or anywhere in Midlothian.