AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Levenhall: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if your motor has been run since it went in. Wherever your car is — Wallyford, Levenhall — never run an engine that has not run yet. Leave the motor and your ignition off and call 0333 366 0103; it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Levenhall. Already run? Stop once safe, then turn everything off. Step one remains the same, even though the job grows.
Find the situation below that matches yours, wherever across East Lothian it happened.
At the petrol pump in Levenhall: AdBlue in a diesel
Just now, bottle yet in hand, it dawns on you that the cap you opened was the wrong one, right at the petrol pump. Maybe you are at the Tesco, perhaps at the Shell, maybe somewhere else around Levenhall.
The point: of every spot to notice, the forecourt is the best. Still inside your tank, with nothing drawn through: that is where the AdBlue is.
Next: avoid the temptation to fire it up just to move away from the pump. Ask the staff to help you push the car into a parking spot, keep the receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. Our equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a live forecourt, so a car that cannot be pushed clear is drained where it is at the petrol pump.
At home in Levenhall with AdBlue in your diesel tank
Days had gone by with the warning light on. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look a second time at the cap. Homes just off Ravensheugh Crescent are caught out as often as everywhere else.
Meaning? As long as your car has not been driven since, it's close to the forecourt case. As it is unable to blend, AdBlue settles to the base in that tank and waits. One night parked alters nothing.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves your car in the morning. Then ring. Westpans or Levenhall: wherever your driveway sits, that's where it is cleared. Night-time clears beside a house are fine: the pumps are quiet.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving around Levenhall?
Lumpy running, smoke, falling power or a lit dashboard started a short way after the fill. Maybe heading to Edinburgh, under 10 miles away, or just down Ravensheugh Road.
What it means: the fuel system has drawn the AdBlue in. Through the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — the more the distance — deeper into the injection pump and each injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
What to do: pull over where it is safe to do so then switch off. Service stations farther along are too far: on the M8, under 15 miles out of Levenhall, use the first junction. Starting it again to check achieves nothing — AdBlue never clears on its own. Phone us and say how far you travelled.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
You have only driven this vehicle for days. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is missing or elsewhere. On this one, the inlet is right by the diesel cap — a surprise to you. Anyone, anywhere around East Lothian, might make it.
What it means: the same as the scenarios above, depending on whether it's run, with one more stage. Many hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the car.
Next: ring the hire company or your fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before we arrive is quicker. If you are stuck in the car park at Wallyford, or by Levenhall Golf Ball, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Levenhall?
Honestly, the only answer might be that you think it did. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia round the filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. It might have been at a friend's driveway in Lewisvale, or rushing outside the local primary school on the school run.
The upshot: the engine is not harmed by a little AdBlue splashed around the outside. The diesel tank with AdBlue inside is a different story. If there is AdBlue in that tank, starting your car will suck it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
Next: assume it got in, then keep the motor off. Call us and describe what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
The common ground in each Levenhall AdBlue drain
Whatever the situation, one start applies. We come to your car, whether it's at a forecourt, a driveway, the car park at Levenhall Arms or a side street close to Prestongrange Mining Museum, and ask three things: what was put in, roughly how much, and if the engine has run. Your price is given on the call, ahead of anyone setting off, and those answers set the job.
AdBlue crystallises and eats at some metals used in fuel systems, so it does not wash out on its own; that is why the flush, after this drain, counts much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Finally come the fuel filter, cleaned or replaced as needed; fresh diesel; and a check of the car. Not started? In that case about half an hour once we are there covers most jobs.
Lastly, our engineers start the engine. With fresh diesel in, it runs while our technicians confirm it's running correctly, and then we leave. The whole job is done where your car is, and if it is caught quickly, lasting damage is very unusual. Nothing is taken upfront, settlement is made on the day, and you get what your insurer asks for: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Worth remembering: many insurers offer misfuelling cover, and so a check of your policy while you wait is worthwhile.
About Levenhall itself
Levenhall is a coastal suburban area in East Lothian, situated near the city of Edinburgh. Levenhall sits at a low elevation of around 7 metres, looking out over the Firth of Forth. Levenhall is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing and forms part of the wider Edinburgh urban area.
Levenhall and East Lothian: AdBlue drains across the area
Levenhall is a residential suburb, and the same vans that cover it work the towns near it too, Pinkie Braes and Pinkie among them, across the EH postcode area. A postcode starting EH21 7 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Stopped heading to Pinkie Braes Park, or right in the heart of Levenhall, the vehicle stays put — there is no need to shift it anywhere. Where it stands, that's where it gets drained. Awkward to pin down? By Wallyford Livingroom Church or a border? Asking is better than guessing, and so ring.
Your situation, summed up
Not run yet: keep it off then ring. Already run: stop, switch off and call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there around Levenhall and anywhere in East Lothian on 0333 366 0103.