AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mortonhall? Don't Start It
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. The harm starts once it's pulled through your lines — it will not burn, and it won't combine with diesel. In Mortonhall, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before the engine runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush, just where the vehicle is. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, Mortonhall: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do:
- So no one can switch your ignition on, take the keys out.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- The empty bottle or the receipt tells us the fluid and the amount, and so don't throw it away.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting EH17 8, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Do not:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift the vehicle: the motor remains off.
- Switching the key to ignition alone sets the pump running on many diesels. Skip it.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short way down Frogston Road East.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, on the roadside.
At a forecourt around Mortonhall, whether it is the Gulf or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll your car clear of the pump. At your own drive, do not touch it at all.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not the engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. Stored in a dedicated tank, it is injected into the exhaust stream to treat the gases. No part in an injection pump is made for this fluid — and none of that was intended to travel that way.
Tipped in with the diesel, it stays separate instead of mixing — quite unlike fuel. It sinks, because it is denser than diesel, and pools down where the pickup draws its fuel from. Once the system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Until then it sits beneath the diesel, which is how a car filled in Burdiehouse yesterday and never started remains the straightforward one, provided no one turns the key.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. It attacks some metals used in fuel systems, working on whatever it reaches until it's cleared from the system. And once the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that block filters and settle in tiny passages. Lines carrying AdBlue spell harm overnight for a vehicle parked around Mortonhall. Only inside the tank, it stays stable. Then there's the water: it offers no lubrication to the components that need it the most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is frequently more major than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Esso's forecourt makes your fuel thin — that's the main issue. Harm just comes from running on it. Blended into the diesel and sitting in that tank, it causes nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. Since it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Whether the vehicle sits in Gracemount or the heart of Mortonhall, turning it over "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other mistake, and the flush counts for more. The reasons: it won't remain mixed, so diluting it fails; and crystals and corrosion survive the following tankful.
As with petrol, there's good news. Wherever in City of Edinburgh the car has come to rest, an unstarted motor leaves the AdBlue yet in the reservoir: the simplest part of any fuel system to clear.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Mortonhall: how it ends up there
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of cars sits right next to the diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It mostly occurs at home, from a container bought en route home, not at the forecourt.
Usually, it happens in one of a few familiar ways. The refill is hurried outside the local primary school, after the dash lit up with a warning while the children were dropped off. In the evening, a container is tipped in on a driveway near Mortonhall Park Way. One more pattern: darkness, a pub car park by Stable Bar, and a driver using that flap the first time.
Rented vehicles, brand-new vehicles, company motors, or the second car in a family with both fuels: the least familiar cars get it the most. Keep it switched off: that's the first step to the same slip, anywhere around Mortonhall or the rest of City of Edinburgh you happen to be.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Mortonhall?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside the tank. Via the fuel filter, through the lines, and — with any running time — into the high-pressure pump and every injector: that is how far it has gone.
Expect lumpy running, exhaust smoke, lost power, lights on your dash, or a stall — coming back from Garden of Remembrance, say, or midway across Mortonhall. Once safe, pull over and turn everything off — without turning it on again to see. Each start pulls more of that through.
On the M8, under 10 miles from Mortonhall, the first junction is where to exit, and anywhere sensible is where to stop — not carrying on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Mortonhall to the car park by Cross is a very different job from a run towards Edinburgh, under 5 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with each mile. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once the engine has run, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where the car has stopped. Long-term damage is very unusual if it's noticed quickly.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel around Mortonhall: what it takes
The car remains put, whether that is a road near Chapel of Remembrance, a drive, a layby or a forecourt around Mortonhall, and our van comes to it. Before anything else we ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if the engine has run, because those replies decide this work.
Then the tank is drained where your car sits, and so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush counts: the fuel system is cleaned right through since what remains won't flush away unaided. Fresh diesel goes in after the filter is cleaned — or replaced, when it needs to be — and after that the car is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour job once our engineers arrive, if your motor has not run. Our equipment is explosion-proof, and so a live filling station is no issue, and it's quiet enough for a residential street after dark.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that is the final step. Whether it's a parking space by Slateford or a drive in Mortonhall, that is where our engineers fire it up and you set off. Before we go, we make sure it's running correctly with clean diesel in. We do it all wherever the car has stopped, and it never needs to go to a garage. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Mortonhall, briefly
Mortonhall is a suburban area situated near the River Almond in the City of Edinburgh, with a mix of terraced housing and local amenities. Mortonhall sits at an elevation of 137 metres, approximately 3.7 miles south of Edinburgh's city centre. Mortonhall is close to nearby places such as Kaimes, Southhouse, and Alnwickhill, and is home to around 1908 residents. Mortonhall has a relatively low elevation and a scenic riverside setting.
AdBlue drains in Mortonhall and across City of Edinburgh
Our teams that answer AdBlue calls in Mortonhall also cover the places round it, Kaimes, Southhouse and Alnwickhill among them, and most of City of Edinburgh beyond, across the EH postcode area. Close to a boundary, or anywhere tricky to pin down? Checking is better than assuming, and so ring.
Wherever the car sits — a drive at home, a residential street, a car park, a filling station — we drain it there, with no need to bring it to us; that suits Mortonhall, a residential suburb, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Mortonhall
Every job differs, so not one fixed price is honest. The cost shifts first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it rests on where the car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Pentland Chapel.
Before a quote, never after, each call from Mortonhall begins with three checks: the fuel, the amount, and if it ran. Given them, a range shrinks to a single firm figure.
Our quote is quoted on the call, before a van sets off; settling up happens on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
In Mortonhall and still alongside the car?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, right now, the best move you can do. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Mortonhall or anywhere within City of Edinburgh, after you ring 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether the engine ran.