AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Poltonhall? Keep It Switched Off
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does the motor. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. The harm starts once it is pulled through the pump — it will not burn, and it won't combine with diesel. If your motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and thoroughly flushed where the car stands around Poltonhall. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
What to do right now, Poltonhall: AdBlue in your diesel tank
To do:
- So nobody can switch your ignition on, pull the keys out.
- If you're anywhere near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt shows us the product and the quantity, so don't bin it out.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting EH18 1, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Do not do these:
- Do not start your motor, even for a moment to move your car.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel will not weaken it.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, including a short stretch down Polton Road West.
- No draining it yourself, either, at the roadside.
The staff working at any Poltonhall forecourt — the Tesco included — will normally lend a hand pushing it clear if you ask. At your own driveway, do not move it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. From a separate tank it goes directly to your exhaust, cleaning what your motor lets out. Neither side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in an injection pump, and a pump can't deal with urea.
It doesn't combine. Once it's tipped into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like diesel. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. When the pump runs, the AdBlue is first to go through. Before then it sits beneath your diesel, and that is how a vehicle topped up in Wadingburn last night and not switched on remains the straightforward one, as long as nobody touches your key.
It causes two kinds of harm from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps working on the components it reaches for as long as it remains there. Pipes holding AdBlue spell harm overnight for a vehicle sitting around Poltonhall. Just inside that tank, it stays stable. The water in it does harm of its own: your high-pressure pump and your injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Top up a diesel with petrol in error at the Costco, and this problem is diluted fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it's in your tank it does no harm; the damage comes from running your engine on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. It does not burn, and so it can't simply be run through. Whether your vehicle sits in Broomieknowe or the heart of Poltonhall, turning it over "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other error, and the flush counts more. Why: it will not stay blended, so diluting it fails; and deposits and corrosion outlast the next tankful.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If your engine has not run, the AdBlue is still in your tank, and your tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in Midlothian the car is standing.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Poltonhall?
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel cap, now and then behind a single flap — can appear the same. No one intends it; many designs invite it. Mostly it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
A couple of familiar ways cover the majority of them. Rushing, outside the local primary school, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, someone refills your car. Close to Polton Bank, a driver tips a container in at home in the evening. One more pattern: darkness, the car park by Royal Oak, and a driver opening that flap the first time.
It takes place most in the motors motorists know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. An identical slip, same first step — keep it off — wherever you happen to be in Poltonhall or the rest of Midlothian.
Poltonhall: started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in the tank. Given any running time, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and each injector, having passed via your filter and pipework.
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: any might show up, perhaps midway across Poltonhall or coming back from Poltonhall Recreation Ground. When safe, pull over then switch everything off — with no turning it on again to see. Each start pulls more of that through.
Exit the M8, under 10 miles from Poltonhall, by the next junction and stop safely, not carrying on.
Distance matters: every mile carries the AdBlue further into your system, so heading for Edinburgh, under 10 miles away, makes a much bigger job than hopping across Poltonhall to the car park by Lasswade Library. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out after the motor has been started. Long-term damage is very uncommon if it is spotted quickly.
Poltonhall: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
We come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Poltonhall: a side street near The Lasswade Centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Three answers decide the job, so first our engineers ask which fluid went in, roughly the amount, and if the engine has run.
On the spot, the tank is then emptied, and all of the contaminated diesel and the urea leave as one. What remains from AdBlue won't flush out unaided, and so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which counts far more with urea than for petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Engine not run? In that case expect about half an hour on site for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime the system, and that is the final step. Starting it comes next, and then you set off from where your car is parked, at Eskbank or on a drive around Poltonhall. It's tested on new diesel to confirm it runs properly before we go. As the job is done in its entirety where the car is, a garage never comes into it. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both afterwards.
About Poltonhall
Poltonhall is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Midlothian, with a mix of terraced housing and local amenities. Poltonhall sits near the River North Esk, at an elevation of around 127 metres, and is located approximately 6 miles from Edinburgh. Poltonhall is part of a larger network of residential areas, including nearby Staiside Court and Polton. Poltonhall has a population of around 3673 residents, living in a variety of predominantly terraced homes.
AdBlue drains in Poltonhall and across Midlothian
The teams that answer AdBlue call-outs in Poltonhall also cover the spots around it, Staiside Court, Polton and Bonnyrigg among them, and most of Midlothian beyond, across the EH postcode area. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are close to a border, or anywhere awkward to explain.
Poltonhall is a residential suburb, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it is, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Poltonhall
Because the jobs vary, a single price would not be fair. Three things move the price: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the car is. That last one comes down to whether our van can reach it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight spot behind Lasswade Swimming Pool.
With that in mind, every call from Poltonhall begins with the same trio — what got in, how much, if the engine ran — ahead of a figure. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
The quote is given on the call, before anyone sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. As our engineer is on the way, check your insurance: many include misfuelling.
Poltonhall: still beside the vehicle?
Right now, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to leave it. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, across Poltonhall or wherever within Midlothian, once you phone 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.