AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in New Town, and What to Do Next
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: if your motor has run since it went in. Not run so far? Then keep the car like that, wherever your vehicle sits — New Town or West End. Usually this is emptying and properly rinsing it right there in New Town — so keep your key and engine off then ring 0333 366 0103. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Stage one stays the same, even though the job is bigger.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever across City of Edinburgh it happened.
On a New Town forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
You're at the pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. It might be the BP, or perhaps the JET, or a different forecourt in New Town.
Meaning? Finding out on the forecourt is as good as it can be. Still in that tank, with no fuel pulled through: that's where the AdBlue is.
Next: avoid the temptation to fire it up just to free up the pump. A few jobs: a push into a bay with the attendants helping, the receipt kept, and a call to us from where you stand. If it can't be shifted, it can be drained at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
At home in New Town with AdBlue in the diesel tank
On the dash, a warning had been lit for days. Only by the recycling, the empty bottle in hand, did you glance back at the cap you'd used on the drive. Driveways near Frederick Street see it as much as any other street.
Meaning? Provided the vehicle has not been driven since, it's close to the pump case. At the floor of your tank sits exactly where AdBlue waits, since it will not mix with diesel — and a night passing changes no difference.
Put your keys indoors tonight — or someone might drive it away first thing — then call us. In Old Town or here in New Town, the draining happens on your driveway. Late-night drains beside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet.
New Town: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
Rough running, smoke, lost power or a lit dashboard started a short way after the fill. Maybe it was on George Street, perhaps on the way out towards Edinburgh, under a mile away.
The upshot: your system has pulled AdBlue through already. It has been through the fuel filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and the injectors. Every restart, like every mile, pushes it on.
Your move: pull up anywhere sensible, then turn your engine off. Service stations farther along can wait: on the M8, under 5 miles out of New Town, use the first junction. Starting it again to check gets nothing — AdBlue doesn't clear on its own. Tell us know the distance covered when you call.
AdBlue in the wrong tank of a hire, lease or company car
You have only driven this car for days. The AdBlue filler is right beside the diesel filler, which you did not know, because your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Any driver, anywhere around City of Edinburgh, could make the same.
Meaning? Whichever applies above counts too — run or not — and one further stage. Many hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the car.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is quicker settled before our technicians arrive than after. If you're stuck in the car park outside Edinburgh Waverley, or by William Pitt Statue, while you wait for an answer, leave the car off.
New Town: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Occasionally the fair answer is "I think so". What cap came off, you can't say; but the bottle feels less than it ought to, and a whiff of ammonia hangs by the filler. Maybe it happened in a hurry at the school gates at the local primary school, or on a friend's drive in Stockbridge.
What it means: a little spilled about your filler does no damage to the engine. In the diesel tank, however, AdBlue damages it. You can't tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so would suck in any AdBlue that is in the tank.
Next: act as though it went in, and leave your engine off. Describe what you noticed on your phone. A clean tank looked at counts as a happier outcome than a run one drained.
The common ground in each New Town AdBlue drain
Whatever the situation, a single opening applies. Three things are asked once we arrive — on a filling station, a drive, a road by Margaret Tait or the car park at The Standing Order: the fluid, the amount, and whether it has run. Replies set the work; the price comes on the call while nobody has left yet.
AdBlue crystallises and eats at some metals used in fuel systems, and so it won't wash out unaided; that is why the flush, after this drain, counts much more with AdBlue than with petrol. Clean diesel is put in once your filter is flushed or replaced, and your car is then tested. If your motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there.
Last, our engineers start it. With clean diesel in, it runs while we check it is running properly, and then we head off. Long-term damage is very uncommon if it's spotted soon, and the entire job is done where the car is. For your insurer: the engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, no money upfront. Many policies cover misfuelling, and so look at yours as we head over.
About New Town itself
New Town is a suburban area located on the coast in the City of Edinburgh, Scotland, with an elevation of 78 metres. New Town sits adjacent to Edinburgh, being only 0.4 miles away, and is near other areas such as Old Town and Roxburghs Court. New Town has a population of approximately 6923 people and predominantly features flat-type housing. New Town is also situated relatively far from London, at a distance of 331.8 miles.
AdBlue drains round New Town and across City of Edinburgh
As a residential suburb, New Town shares its vans with the surrounding places — Edinburgh, Roxburghs Court — all the way across EH postcodes. Your whereabouts is quickest from a postcode that starts EH2 3.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to Queen Street Gardens Central or in a car park in the middle of New Town, it does not need to shift. Where it sits, that's where it gets drained. If you're somewhere hard to describe, near Assembly Rooms or close to a border, ring and ask instead of guessing.
In one line: your situation
Not run yet: keep the car off and ring. Already run: stop, switch off and call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there around New Town and anywhere across City of Edinburgh on 0333 366 0103.