AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Smeaton: What Now?
Everything turns on a single detail: if your engine has been run since the AdBlue went in — more than anything else. Not started yet? Then leave it that way, whether the car is — Smeaton or Sinclairtown. Leave your engine and your ignition off then call 0333 366 0103; it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Smeaton. Stop the minute it is safe then switch off, if it has already run. Step one stays unchanged, even though the work grows.
Compare what happened to one of the ones below, anywhere across Fife you happen to be.
At the pump around Smeaton: AdBlue in a diesel
Picture it: stood by the petrol pump, holding the bottle, you spot the filler you opened was not the correct one. It might be the Shell, or the Asda, or another station around Smeaton.
Meaning? Finding out here is as good as it can be. The AdBlue is inside your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
Do this: stay out of the driver's seat, even if the queue wants clearing. Ask the attendants to help you roll the car into a parking space, keep your receipt or the bottle, then phone us from the forecourt. Our equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a live forecourt, and so a vehicle that can't be pushed clear is drained where it is at the petrol pump.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Smeaton
On the dash, a warning had been lit all week. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look again at the cap. Homes just off Whyteman's Brae are hit as often as anywhere else.
Put simply: if the car has not been driven since, it is almost equal to finding out at the forecourt. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of the tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
Keep the keys in the house overnight — otherwise someone might take it away first thing — then call us. Out in Hayfield or right here in Smeaton, the draining is done at your drive. Late-night drains beside a house are no problem: the pumps are low-noise.
Drove off with AdBlue in a diesel in Smeaton?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your motor began to run unevenly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Possibly it was on Almond Place, maybe on the way out towards Edinburgh, under 15 miles away.
What it means: your fuel system has drawn the AdBlue in. Distance sets how deep it gets: filter and lines to begin with, then the injection pump and every injector. It goes further with each extra mile covered and each restart.
Next: find a sensible place, stop, then switch your engine off. On the M90, under 10 miles from Smeaton, that means the next junction, not the services further on. It will not have cleared, so there is no sense starting it again to find out. Call, and say what distance your car went.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
It is a motor you have had for a week. The AdBlue filler is right alongside the diesel one, which you didn't know, since your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Across Fife, no one is safe from it.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it's run, with one more stage. The owner often has to sign off the work, under plenty of hire and company agreements.
Next: phone the rental company or your fleet manager first, then us — sorting it before our arrival is faster. If you're stranded in the car park at Kirkcaldy, or by Gospel Hall, while you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, in Smeaton
At times the fair answer is "I think so". The bottle is lighter than it should be, there's a faint smell of ammonia around the filler, and you can't remember which cap you took off. Maybe on a friend's drive in West Gallatown, or in a rush by the local primary school at the school run.
Meaning? Drips outside the filler never touch your engine at all. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. If there is AdBlue in your tank, firing up your car would pull it in, and it wouldn't tell you which either.
Take it that it went in, and don't turn your key. Tell us what you noticed on your phone. A clean tank checked counts as a better outcome than a run one drained.
Each AdBlue drain in Smeaton shares these stages
Every situation has the same opening to the work. Three things come when our technicians reach the car — at a filling station, a drive, a street by Hayfield Community Centre or the car park outside The White Heather: the liquid, the amount, and if it has run. Over the phone, ahead of dispatch, you are told the quote, and those replies decide the job too.
Then that tank is cleared and the system flushed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not rinse out on its own. Clean diesel is put in once the fuel filter has been cleaned or replaced, and your car is finally tested. Most unrun cars are a half-hour job after the moment our engineers turn up.
Starting it comes last. Before our engineers head off, it is tested to be sure it runs smoothly on clean diesel. Permanent damage is very uncommon if it's spotted quickly, and the whole job is done where your car is. Paying is on the day, never upfront. For your insurer, there is a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer. Many policies cover misfuelling, so look at yours as we head over.
About Smeaton itself
Smeaton is a suburban area in Fife, situated on the coastal fringe of Scotland, with a relatively low elevation of 62 metres. Smeaton lies within commuting distance of Edinburgh, which is approximately 12 miles away, and is part of the wider residential area that includes nearby Hayfield, Dunnikier, and Pathhead. Smeaton has a population of around 2264 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Smeaton is located some 342 miles north of London, in the eastern part of Scotland.
AdBlue drains around Smeaton, and across Fife too
Being a residential suburb, Smeaton shares its vans with the surrounding places — Pathhead, Dunnikier — all the way across KY postcodes. Giving us a KY1 2 postcode pins you fastest of all.
Centre of Smeaton or a lay-by towards Middle Den: wherever it sits, your car never needs to shift an inch for us. Our technicians drain the vehicle where it stands. Ring and ask rather than guess when you're by Salvation Army Community Church, on a border, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
The one-line version
Still unrun? Keep it that way then ring. Already run: stop, switch off and call. Either way, Petrol in Diesel takes it from there around Smeaton and anywhere across Fife on 0333 366 0103.