What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Longniddry
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether your motor has run since it went in. Anywhere your vehicle is — Seton, Longniddry — don't run a motor that hasn't been started yet. Ring 0333 366 0103 with your key and engine both off. Across Longniddry, that is generally drained and flushed on the spot. Already started? Stop when safe, then switch everything off. It is a bigger job, yet step one does not change.
Wherever around East Lothian it happened, one of the cases below fits yours.
On a Longniddry forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Imagine it: standing by the pump, holding the nozzle, you spot the filler you took off was not the correct one. Be it BP, UK Petroleum or somewhere else around Longniddry, the situation is the same.
Put simply: there is no better place exists to discover it. The AdBlue is in that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
Clearing the pump is no reason to run it — and so do not get back in. Ask the staff to help you roll your car into a parking space, keep the receipt or the bottle, and call us from the forecourt. If it can't be moved, it can be emptied at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
Longniddry, at home: AdBlue in your diesel tank
For days the dashboard had been nagging you. Only by the recycling, the empty bottle in hand, did you glance back at the cap you had used at the driveway. Drives near Elcho Road see it as much as any other street.
Meaning? As long as your vehicle hasn't moved since, it is close to the forecourt case. Being reluctant to blend, AdBlue settles to the base inside that tank and waits. A night parked alters none of that.
Put your keys indoors tonight — or someone might take it off at breakfast — and phone us. Seton Mains or Longniddry: whichever your driveway sits, that is where it is emptied. The pumps are quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
On the road around Longniddry with AdBlue in a diesel
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power or a lit dashboard started a short way after the fill. Maybe heading to Edinburgh, under 15 miles away, or just down Elcho Terrace.
The point: your system has drawn AdBlue through by now. Past your filter, along the pipework, and — the further the mileage — deeper into the high-pressure pump and every injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Stop safely — that's the next job — then switch it off. Service stations farther on can wait: on the M8, under 25 miles out of Longniddry, use the first junction. It will not have cleared, so there is no point restarting to check. Roughly how far had it gone? Say so as you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company cars
You have had the vehicle barely a week. Unknown to you, the two fillers are side by side here — unlike your own car, which has no AdBlue or keeps it in another spot. Anywhere you happen to be in East Lothian, any driver could be caught.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it's run, with one more step. The owner often has to sign off any work, under many rental and fleet contracts.
Your move: hire firm or fleet manager to begin with, us second, since settling it beforehand cuts time. Keep it switched off while the reply arrives, whether you are waiting outside the nearest station or near Fernie Ness Accident Memorial.
Longniddry: unsure if it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Now and then, "I think so" is all you can honestly say. The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia round your filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at the local primary school, or on a friend's drive in Gladsmuir.
In short: spillage round your filler does your engine no harm. The diesel tank with AdBlue in it is a different story. You can't tell which by turning the key, and doing so will suck in any AdBlue that is in that tank.
Your move: act as if it did, and don't start your engine. Inspecting a tank that proves free of AdBlue is better than draining one after it has been run — so ring and describe to us what you noticed.
Longniddry: what each AdBlue drain has in common
The work opens the same way, whichever the situation. Our technicians come to the vehicle, whether it is at a forecourt, a driveway, the car park outside British Legion or a side street near Longniddry Church, and ask three things: what got in, roughly how much, and if the motor has been run. The price is given over the phone, ahead of anyone setting off, and the replies set the work.
Draining the tank comes first, followed by a full flush — more vital after urea than after petrol, since crystals and corrosion will not go by themselves, however long you wait. Then is your filter — cleaned, or replaced where necessary — followed by fresh diesel, and a test of your car. Most unstarted cars are a half-hour visit after the moment our technicians arrive.
Our engineers start the engine last. With clean diesel in, it runs while our technicians confirm it is running properly, and then we leave. The whole job is done where the car is, and when it's caught soon, lasting damage is very uncommon. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, no money upfront. Dig out your insurance while we arrive: misfuelling cover is built into plenty of policies.
About Longniddry, for a moment
Longniddry is a coastal village in East Lothian, situated near the Firth of Forth and approximately 11.5 miles east of Edinburgh. Longniddry has a relatively low elevation of 26 metres and is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock. Longniddry is close to other nearby settlements, including Seton Mains, Spittal, and Elvingston, and is home to around 1426 residents.
AdBlue drains across East Lothian, Longniddry included
Being a coastal village, Longniddry has the same vans as the nearby towns — Elvingston, Spittal — right across EH postcodes. A postcode starting EH32 0 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
No towing is required, whether parked in the centre of Longniddry or on a layby heading to Longniddry Community Centre Recreational Ground, so keep it put. Where it sits, that's where it is drained. If you're somewhere hard to describe, close to Longniddry Library and Community Centre or close to a border, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Your scenario, summed up
If it hasn't run, ring and keep it that way. Started already? Pull over, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder whichever case, in Longniddry and East Lothian, on 0333 366 0103.