AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Whitburn, and What to Do Next
Everything turns on one detail: if your engine has started after the AdBlue went in — more than anything else. Wherever your vehicle stands — Longridge, Whitburn — never start an engine that has not run yet. Ring 0333 366 0103 with your ignition and engine still off. In Whitburn, such a case is typically emptied and flushed on the spot. When your motor has been run, pull in safely first, then turn it off. The job is bigger, yet the first stage is the same.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever around West Lothian it happened.
Whitburn forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
You are 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. Possibly you are at the Shell, maybe at the Asda, perhaps somewhere else in Whitburn.
What it means: this is the best place to find out. No pump has pulled it through, so the AdBlue sits only in that tank.
What to do: don't get back in and fire it up to clear the pump. Have the staff to help rolling it into a bay, hold on to the receipt, then phone us right there. Our equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a live forecourt, so a car that can't be pushed clear gets drained right at the petrol pump.
AdBlue in the diesel tank on a Whitburn drive?
The warning light had been on 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 a second time at the cap. It takes place on drives just off West Main Street as regularly as anywhere.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. Being unable to blend, AdBlue settles low inside your tank and stays. A night standing alters nothing.
Next: the keys indoors, and so no one drives your vehicle off at breakfast. After that, phone. Your driveway is where it gets drained, whether around Whitburn or Croftmalloch. Night-time clears beside a house are no problem: the pumps are low-noise.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel around Whitburn?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your motor began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Possibly it was on East Main Street, perhaps on the way out towards Dunfermline, under 25 miles away.
In short: the AdBlue has been pulled into the fuel system. Mileage decides how deep it goes: filter and lines to begin with, then the high-pressure pump and each injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
Pull in somewhere safe — that's the first job — then switch it off. Service stations further on are too far: from the M8, under a mile out of Whitburn, use the first junction. It won't have cleared, and so there is no sense starting it again to check. Roughly what distance did it gone? Tell us when you call.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You've only had this vehicle a week. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is absent or somewhere else. On this one, the cap is just next to the diesel inlet — a surprise to you. Anyone, anywhere around West Lothian, might make it.
In short: one extra step on top of the situations above, which turn on if it has run. Any work on your car frequently needs the owner's approval under rental or fleet terms.
Settling it before we arrives is quicker, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. Hanging on for a reply in the car park outside Armadale, or near Miners’ Strike 1984-85 Memorial? Leave your engine off throughout.
Unsure about AdBlue in your diesel tank around Whitburn?
Now and then, "I think so" is the most you can honestly say. Which cap came off, you cannot recall; meanwhile the bottle feels lighter than expected, and ammonia lingers 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 Mayfield.
Put simply: spillage round the filler leaves the engine no harm. A diesel tank with AdBlue in it is another story. You can't tell which by turning the key, and doing so would pull in any AdBlue that is in your tank.
Next: assume it went in, then leave your motor off. Checking a tank that proves clean is better than draining one after it's been run — so phone then describe to us what you saw.
The common ground in every Whitburn AdBlue drain
Every case has the same start to the job. Filling station, drive, Olde Market Inn's car park or a street beside Whitburn Partnership Centre — our van reaches the vehicle, and three answers come next: which fluid, what quantity, and if it ran. Answers set the work; the price follows by phone while no one has left yet.
A thorough flush follows the drain. With petrol it's routine; with AdBlue it's essential, because crystals form and certain metals are attacked, and none of that washes away unaided. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Not started? In that case roughly half an hour once we are there covers most jobs.
Starting it comes last. Our engineers make sure it runs correctly on clean diesel before we go. If it's caught quickly, the vehicle very rarely has lasting damage, and the whole job happens where it is. For your insurer: an engineer's report and the VAT invoice. For you: payment on the day, no money in advance. It is worth remembering: lots of insurers include misfuelling cover, and so a check of your policy while we travel pays.
About Whitburn
Whitburn is a town situated on the riverside in West Lothian, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential types. Whitburn sits at an elevation of 172 metres, looking out over the surrounding countryside. Whitburn is located near several smaller communities, including Croftmalloch and Blaeberryhill, and is within commuting distance of Dunfermline. Whitburn has a population of around 10576 people, making it a sizable settlement in the area.
AdBlue drains around Whitburn and across West Lothian
Whitburn is a riverside town, and the same teams that cover it work the towns near it too, Blaeberryhill and East Whitburn among them, across the EH postcode area. The whereabouts comes clearest from a postcode that starts EH47 0.
Whether your car is on a lay-by on the way to Blaeberryhill Park or in a car park in the middle of Whitburn, it doesn't need to move. Our technicians drain it where it is. If you are somewhere hard to explain, close to Mining Memorial or close to a boundary, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Your scenario, summed up
Where it has not started, ring then leave it that way. Run by now? Pull over, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder whichever it is, in Whitburn and West Lothian, on 0333 366 0103.