AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Willowbrae: What Now?
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank depends on one thing more than any other: whether your motor has been run since it went in. If it hasn't, keep it that way, whether the car is around Willowbrae itself or out in Sunnybank. Switch nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, then count on a thorough flush after a drain, carried out just where the car sits in Willowbrae. Pull over the moment you safely can then turn off, if it has already run. A bigger job, then, but the identical first move.
Match your case to a situation from the ones below, wherever around City of Edinburgh you happen to be.
Willowbrae forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you only notice it while you're standing at the petrol pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. Whether Morrisons, Esso or anywhere else in Willowbrae, the case is identical.
What it means: this is the best location to find out. The AdBlue is inside that tank and nowhere else. Nothing has pulled it in.
What to do: do not get back in and fire it up to clear the petrol pump. A few things: a shove into a bay with the staff assisting, the bottle kept, and a ring to us from where you stand. If it can't be shifted, it can be cleared at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
At home in Willowbrae with AdBlue in the diesel tank
The warning light had been on for days. Only by the recycling, the empty bottle in your hand, did you look back at the cap you had opened at the drive. It happens on driveways just off Paisley Crescent as commonly as anywhere.
Meaning? Provided the car has not moved since, it is second to the pump case. On the floor of your tank is where AdBlue waits, since it will not mix with diesel — and a night passing changes nothing of the difference.
Keep your keys indoors tonight — otherwise a person may drive it away at breakfast — then call us. Your drive is where it gets emptied, be it around Willowbrae or Northfield. Even at night, our pumps stay quiet enough for a residential street.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel in Willowbrae?
A mile or two beyond filling up, the engine began misbehaving: rough running, smoke, less power, warnings on the dash. Somewhere on Meadowfield Drive or heading towards Edinburgh — under 3 miles away.
The point: the system has drawn AdBlue through already. It's been through the fuel filter and the fuel lines and, the further you went, into the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors. Every restart, like each mile, carries it deeper.
What to do: pull over where it's safe then switch off. Service stations further on can wait: from the M8, under 10 miles out of Willowbrae, take the next junction. No test starts: clearing itself is not something AdBlue will do. About what distance had it gone? Say so when you call.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
It's a car you have had for a week. The AdBlue filler sits right next to the diesel filler, which you did not know, since your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. It can happen to anyone, anywhere across City of Edinburgh.
Put simply: an extra step on top of the situations above, which depend on whether it has run. Work on your vehicle often requires the owner's approval under rental or company terms.
Next: phone the rental company or your fleet manager first, and then us — sorting it before our arrival is faster. Hanging on for an answer in the car park outside Edinburgh Waverley, or near Abercorn Sports Club? Keep the car off throughout.
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Not sure, around Willowbrae
Honestly, the best answer may be that you think it did. Lighter, that bottle; a hint of ammonia round your filler; no clear recollection of which cap. Sound familiar? A rushed stop by the gates of the local primary school, or a call to a friend in Restalrig: both fit.
The point: the motor is not harmed by some AdBlue spilled on the outside. If it is inside the diesel tank, though, it does. Any AdBlue in that tank will be drawn in by turning on your car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Assume it went in, and never turn your engine. Tell us what you saw on the phone. A clear tank checked counts as a better outcome than an already-run one drained.
Each AdBlue drain around Willowbrae shares these steps
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Forecourt, driveway, Porters Bar's car park or a street by Dunsapie — the van comes to the vehicle, and three questions come next: what fluid, what amount, and if it ran. On the phone, before anything else, you are told the quote, and those answers shape the work too.
Draining your tank comes first, followed by a careful flush — more important after urea than with petrol, since crystals and corrosion will not go on their own, no matter how long you wait. Then comes the filter — cleaned, or replaced where necessary — followed by clean diesel, and a test of the car. If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
Our engineers fire it up at the end. Before our engineers leave, it's checked to confirm it runs properly on fresh diesel. Lasting damage is very rare if it's caught early, and the whole job is done where the vehicle is. Nothing is taken upfront, settlement happens on the day, and you get what your insurer wants: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Willowbrae, briefly
Willowbrae is a coastal suburban area in the City of Edinburgh, situated approximately 1.7 miles from Edinburgh city centre. Willowbrae sits at an elevation of around 75 metres, overlooking the surrounding landscape. Willowbrae is characterised by its predominantly flat-type housing, which is typical of many suburban areas in the region. Willowbrae is close to nearby places such as Northfield, Piershill, and Meadowbank.
AdBlue drains around Willowbrae, and across City of Edinburgh too
Piershill and Meadowbank have the same vans as Willowbrae, a residential suburb, plus other places throughout EH postcodes. Giving us your EH8 7 postcode pins you quickest of all.
Centre of Willowbrae or a lay-by towards Meadowfield Park: wherever it is, your vehicle doesn't need to move at all for us. Our technicians drain it where it sits. Phone and ask instead of guessing when you are by Northfield Willowbrae Community Education Centre, near a border, or somewhere tricky to explain.
In one line: your scenario
Not run yet: keep the car off and ring. Whatever case applies, Petrol in Diesel handles from there on 0333 366 0103, throughout City of Edinburgh and in Willowbrae — once you stop, switch off and ring, if it's run.