AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Whitecraig? Don't Start It
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then leave the engine off — and your ignition too. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. The harm starts once it is sucked through your lines — it will not burn, and it won't combine with diesel. Caught before your motor has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Whitecraig. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
Whitecraig, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do at once
Do:
- Keys out — that way no one can switch anything on.
- Put the hazards on if you are anywhere close to moving traffic.
- The empty bottle or your receipt tells us the product and the quantity, and so do not throw it away.
- Ring right where you are. Quote a EH21 8 postcode or the closest street name, and nobody has to search for you.
Do not:
- No starting the engine — not for a second, not to shift the vehicle.
- Switching the key to ignition by itself starts the pump running on plenty of diesels. Avoid it.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel will not thin it.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short distance along Deantown Drive.
- Do not try to drain the car yourself at the roadside.
The attendants on duty at any Whitecraig filling station — the BP included — will normally lend a hand rolling it aside if you ask. If you're on your own drive, leave the vehicle exactly where it stands.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the motor. Its own tank holds it, and from there it's sprayed into your exhaust, and there it treats the gas. Nothing inside an injection pump is designed for this fluid — and no part of that was intended to travel through one.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. The intake takes fuel from the deepest part of your tank, and that's precisely where AdBlue settles: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Old Craighall last night, and has not been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
After it is drawn in, the harm comes in two forms. What remains when the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they lodge in tiny passages and block filters. Worse, it eats at some metals in a fuel system, and carries on until it's flushed out. A vehicle left sitting in Whitecraig with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank isn't. The water in it does damage of its own: your high-pressure pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger problem?
A problem of thin fuel is what you end up with from fuelling a diesel with petrol at the Tesco. It mixes with your diesel, and while it is inside the tank it causes no damage; the damage comes from running the engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Since it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Crystals and corrosion stay after the next tankful, and AdBlue separates back out of the diesel, and so thinning it can't help. That is why the flush matters more, and turning your key "to see" costs more here than nearly any other mistake — in Stoneybank or the centre of Whitecraig equally.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest part on any fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever in East Lothian the car sits.
Whitecraig: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, now and then under one flap — can appear the same. No one means it; many designs invite it. It usually occurs at home, from a bottle bought on the journey home, rather than at the filling station.
Usually, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. Rushing, outside the local primary school, after a warning lamp came on during the school run, a parent refills the vehicle. After work, a container goes in on a drive close to Whitecraig Gardens East. Otherwise, in dim light by Mercat Grill, the vehicle is refilled by someone opening that flap the first time.
Rented motors, new cars, fleet vehicles, or the second car in a home with one of each: the least familiar vehicles get it most. Wherever you are in Whitecraig or the remainder of East Lothian, it is the same error and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Whitecraig?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. Your filter and lines have had it sucked along, and any running time takes it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Maybe returning from Smeaton Glen, or part way across Whitecraig, your motor might run rough, smoke, drop power, flash your dash or stall. Once you safely can, pull over then turn everything off — without restarting to test. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Whitecraig sits under 15 miles from the M8; if you were on it, leave by the first junction and stop somewhere safe instead of driving on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into your system. That's why a hop across Whitecraig to park beside Whitecraig Community Hub and a drive of under 10 miles for Edinburgh are such different jobs. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out after your engine has been run. If it is noticed soon, lasting damage is very uncommon.
Whitecraig: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
We come to the car, wherever it has stopped in Whitecraig: a side street near St John's Whitecraig, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The job rests on three replies, which we get before all else — what was put in, the quantity, and if the engine has run.
Then your tank is cleared where your car waits, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. The fuel system is purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Clean diesel goes in once the filter is flushed — or swapped, when it needs to be — and then your car is tested. About half an hour on site is usual for most jobs where the motor has not run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they run quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
New diesel goes in to bleed the fuel system, and that is the final step. Starting the engine comes next, and then you head off from where your car is parked, at Musselburgh or on a drive in Whitecraig. Our engineers confirm it runs properly on new diesel before we go. No workshop is needed at any stage, with the whole job done then and there. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Whitecraig itself
Whitecraig is a small village in East Lothian, situated near the coast and approximately 6 miles east of Edinburgh. Whitecraig has a relatively low elevation of 34 metres and is characterised by predominantly flat housing. Whitecraig is part of the wider Edinburgh urban area, with nearby places including The Byres, Inveresk, and Monktonhall.
AdBlue drains across East Lothian, Whitecraig included
Throughout the EH postcode area, the vans taking AdBlue call-outs in Whitecraig serve much of East Lothian too, The Byres, Inveresk and Monktonhall included. Close to a boundary, or somewhere awkward to explain? Asking is better than guessing, and so ring.
A mobile service fits Whitecraig, a coastal village: you have no need to take your car to us, since our engineers empty it there, on a drive, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Whitecraig?
Every job is different, and so not one single quote is honest. Three things change the cost: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the car is. That last one comes down to whether a technician can get to it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight gap behind Carberry Tower.
Ahead of any quote, never after, every enquiry from Whitecraig opens with the same three checks: the fuel, the quantity, and whether the engine ran. When those are answered, a range becomes one fixed figure.
Our price is given on the call, before anyone leaves; settling up happens on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
Whitecraig: still beside your car?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to the car. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103 and tell us it is AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, in Whitecraig or anywhere across East Lothian.