Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Leith
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then keep the engine off — and the ignition too. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and nothing starts till the motor sucks it round. If the motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and carefully cleaned where your car sits around Leith. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
What to do straight away, Leith: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do these:
- So no one can switch the ignition on, take your keys out.
- If you are anywhere close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Which fluid, and about how much volume? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and our technicians can see.
- Give us a postcode starting EH6 4, or whichever street lies closest, and our van finds you directly — so ring wherever you stand.
Never do these:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift your vehicle: the engine remains off.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Pouring in extra diesel does not help: AdBlue settles out rather than blending.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, including a short stretch down Ferry Road.
- Emptying the tank yourself by the road is not worth trying.
Get the attendants to help you move the car away from the island if you're at a forecourt around Leith, whether it's the BP or somewhere else. If you're on your own drive, leave it exactly where it sits.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not your engine. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it is sprayed into the exhaust, where it treats the gas. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Tipped in with the diesel, it keeps apart rather than mixing — entirely different from fuel. It sinks, since it is denser than diesel, and pools low where the pickup draws its fuel from. Once your system runs, the AdBlue is first to be pulled through. Until then it waits beneath the diesel, which is why a vehicle topped up in North Leith last night and not switched on stays the simple case, as long as nobody touches your key.
It does two kinds of damage from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that crystallises in filters and narrow channels; meanwhile, because it eats at certain metals, each part it touches keeps suffering for as long as it remains inside. Where the AdBlue is in the lines, waiting till morning in Leith makes it worse. In your tank alone, time costs nothing. The water in it causes harm of its own: your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more significant than petrol
Petrol pumped into a diesel on another forecourt nearby's forecourt makes the fuel watery — that is the main issue. No harm is done while it sits unused, mixed into your diesel — only once your motor runs on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It can't simply be run through, because it does not burn. Nor can it be watered down, because it splits back out — and the following fill won't rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and trying your engine "to see", in the heart of Leith or out in Newhaven, does more harm than almost any other mistake.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Never started? Then the AdBlue waits just inside the tank, the easiest section of the entire system to clear, wherever the vehicle has come to rest across City of Edinburgh.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Leith?
Many cars place the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel cap, occasionally behind one flap, and in dim light the two can appear the same. No one intends it. A bottle picked up when driving home and poured in at home, instead of at the filling station, is the typical route.
Usually, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside the local primary school the top-up is rushed. Someone tips the bottle in at home, just off North Junction Street, as the day ends. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at Swanny's Bar, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
The least familiar vehicles see it the most — hire cars, new cars, company ones, and the spare vehicle of a home with both fuel types. An identical slip, an identical first step — leave it off — wherever you happen to be in Leith or the remainder of City of Edinburgh.
Leith: started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. The filter and pipework have had it sucked along, and any running time carries it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Perhaps returning from Leith Community Mural Garden, or part way across Leith, the engine may run rough, smoke, lose power, light up your dash or cut out. Once safe, stop and turn it off — with no restarting to see. Each start pulls more of that through.
Leave the M8, under 10 miles from Leith, at the first junction and stop somewhere safe, rather than driving on.
Mileage matters: each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into the system, so heading towards Edinburgh, under 3 miles away, makes a much larger job than hopping across Leith to the car park by Leith Public Library. Tell us about how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the cleaning where the car has come to a stop, and once your engine has been run there is more of it. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage when it's spotted early.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel around Leith: what it takes
Our engineers come to your car, wherever it has stopped in Leith: a side street near Leith Theatre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else we ask what was put in, about how much, and whether your engine has run, because those replies decide this work.
Then the tank is drained where the vehicle sits, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue will not wash away unaided, so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which counts much more here than with petrol. Fresh diesel goes in once your filter is flushed — or swapped, when it needs to be — and after that the car is tested. If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we arrive. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Clean diesel goes in to bleed the fuel system, and that is the last step. Whether it's a parking space at Edinburgh Waverley or a driveway around Leith, that is where our technicians fire it up and you set off. We confirm it runs correctly on new diesel before we leave. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, so it never needs to go to a workshop. At the end, there is the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Leith, briefly
Leith is a coastal locality in the City of Edinburgh, situated on the Firth of Forth at an elevation of around 17 metres. Leith lies approximately 1.6 miles north of Edinburgh's city centre, with nearby areas including Hamilton Wynd, South Leith, and Bonnington. Leith is predominantly composed of flat housing, reflecting its urban character. Leith is home to around 8627 residents, according to approximate population figures.
AdBlue drains around Leith and across City of Edinburgh
Over the EH postcode area, the teams answering AdBlue call-outs around Leith serve most of City of Edinburgh too, Hamilton Wynd, South Leith and Bonnington included. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Leith is a coastal area, and a call-out drain suits it: whether your car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it is, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Leith: the cost of fixing it
No flat figure would be honest, because each job differs. Three things shift the price: whether your engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the vehicle is. That last one comes down to whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight spot behind Leith History Mural.
Which fluid got in, how much, and whether the engine ran: each Leith call begins by asking precisely those, ahead of any quote, never after. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
You get that price by phone, before anybody heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van gets there.
Still next to the vehicle around Leith?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with the vehicle is to not touch it. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, across Leith or wherever within City of Edinburgh, after you call 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.