What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Queensferry
One fact counts most once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is if your engine has run since. Anywhere your car is — Almondhill, Queensferry — don't run an engine that has not been started yet. Normally that is draining and properly rinsing it right there in Queensferry — and so leave the key and engine off and call 0333 366 0103. Where the engine has run, stop safely first, then turn it off. The job is bigger, but the first step is the same.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever in City of Edinburgh it happened.
At the pump around Queensferry: AdBlue in a diesel
You're at the petrol pump, the nozzle or the bottle still in your hand, and you have just noticed the cap you opened was the wrong one. Perhaps you are at the Shell, possibly at the BP, perhaps somewhere else around Queensferry.
What it means: this is the best place to find out. Only your tank holds AdBlue; not one part beyond it has taken it in.
What to do: don't get back in and fire it up to clear the pump. Ask the attendants to help you roll your car into a parking space, keep your receipt or the bottle, and phone us from the forecourt. Draining it right at the petrol pump is fine if it cannot be moved, since the equipment is explosion-proof.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a Queensferry drive?
On your dash, a reminder had been lit for days. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look again at the cap. Just off Stoneyflatts Crescent is no different from anywhere.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. As it is reluctant to blend, AdBlue settles low in your tank and stays. One night standing alters nothing.
Put your keys in the house overnight — otherwise someone might take it off first thing — and call us. Port Edgar or Queensferry: whichever your driveway is, that is where it is cleared. The pumping kit runs quietly enough not to disturb the street at night.
On the road in Queensferry with AdBlue in a diesel
Filled up, pulled away, and before long the engine was turning roughly, smoking, down on power, or flashing up the dash. Maybe heading to Dunfermline, under 10 miles away, or just down A9000.
Meaning? The fuel pump has taken the AdBlue in. Past the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — the further the mileage — deeper into the injection pump and every injector. Every restart, like each mile, pushes it deeper.
What to do: pull over where it is safe then switch off. Services farther on can wait: on the M90, under a mile out of Queensferry, use the first junction. It won't have cleared, so there is no point starting it again to find out. Roughly what distance did it go? Tell us as you phone.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company motors
You have only had this car a week. Your own motor either does without AdBlue or puts it somewhere different, so no one warned you the AdBlue inlet was just next to your diesel. Anyone, wherever across City of Edinburgh, could do the same.
Meaning? Whichever applies above applies too — run or not — and one further stage. The owner often needs to sign off any work, under plenty of hire and fleet agreements.
Next: ring the rental company or your fleet manager first, and then us — settling it before we arrive is quicker. Waiting for an answer in the car park at Dalmeny, or beside Forth Bridges Contact and Education Centre? Keep the car off meanwhile.
Queensferry: unsure if it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Honestly, the best answer might be that you think so. A faint ammonia-like smell hangs near your filler, the bottle seems too light, and which cap came off is hard to recall. Maybe at a friend's drive in Newton, or rushing outside the local primary school at the school run.
The upshot: the motor is not hurt by some AdBlue splashed on the outside. In the diesel tank, however, AdBlue damages it. Firing up your car will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in the tank it will suck it in.
Assume it got in, and never turn your key. Ring us and explain what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
Queensferry: what every AdBlue drain has in common
Whatever the situation, a single start applies. Wherever the car stands — Queens Crossing Brewers Fayre's car park, a street by Forth Bridges Viewpoint, a driveway, a forecourt — our van gets there and asks for the fluid, the quantity, and whether your engine has been run. Those answers determine this work, and you get the quote on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Emptying the tank comes next, followed by a full flush — more vital after urea than with petrol, since crystals and corrosion will not go by themselves, no matter how long you wait. Fresh diesel is put in once your filter has been cleaned or replaced, and your car is finally checked. If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
Our technicians start the engine last. Our engineers check it runs properly on clean diesel before leaving. Our engineers do the whole job where the car is, and permanent damage is very rare if it has been spotted early. Nothing is taken upfront, payment is made on the day, and you get what the insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Check your insurance before we arrive: misfuelling cover comes built into many policies.
About Queensferry
Queensferry is a coastal town in the City of Edinburgh, situated on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth at an elevation of 42 metres. Queensferry has a mix of housing types, but terraced housing is predominant, and the town is close to nearby places like Port Edgar and Dalmeny. Queensferry is located near the iconic Forth Bridges and has a population of around 9175 people. Queensferry sits approximately 6.3 miles from Dunfermline, the nearest city.
AdBlue drains around Queensferry and across City of Edinburgh
Queensferry is a coastal town, and the same teams that cover it work the places around it too, Dalmeny and North Queensferry among them, across the EH postcode area. A postcode starting EH30 9 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
Whether the vehicle is on a lay-by on the way to Inchcolm Park or in a car park in the middle of Queensferry, it does not need to shift. Wherever it stands, that's where it gets cleared. Awkward to pin down? By CWGC Cross of Sacrifice or a border? Checking is better than assuming, so phone.
The one-line version
Not run yet: keep it off then call. Started by now? Pull over, turn off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder whichever it is, in Queensferry and City of Edinburgh, on 0333 366 0103.