How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Abbey Parks
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, leave the ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Abbey Parks. Here before the event? Then the rest explains why it comes about and how to prevent it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel goes to the engine — yet plenty of newer diesels seen round Abbey Parks and Beveridgewell carry another fluid as well. The exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to fresh it, from its own tank.
Every tank has one filler of its own. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at every filling station call-out, week in, week out. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. It's in that gap that the error lives.
Abbey Parks: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things lining up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Abbey Park Place before work, or in the car park at The Guildhall & Linen Exchange on the way home.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old motor — because a rental car, a new car or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, keeps on. It's a few seconds, be it out in Dunfermline or bang in the heart of Abbey Parks.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Abbey Parks forecourt or a driveway over in Headwell, take a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it next to your diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Dunfermline City.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere across Fife, use this routine.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, motor stopped, and not in a rush by St Margaret Street at the roadside.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It works.
- Both under a single flap? Then confirm the lid on the diesel filler stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Leave out step five entirely.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Abbey Parks?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — so keep it off. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the base rather than mixing — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Tesco, BP or another forecourt will normally help pushing the vehicle away when you ask. On your own drive in Abbey Parks? Then the vehicle remains put.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. On the A823(M), under 3 miles from Abbey Parks, that means the next exit. A short hop across Abbey Parks is a smaller job than a run towards Dunfermline, under a mile away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What takes place when we turn up in Abbey Parks
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, whether by the local primary school, beside Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Both the work and our price depend on three replies — which fluid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. That quote comes over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Draining that tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. Filter flushed or, if it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a test of the car. The motor is started next and tested to confirm it runs smoothly, all before we head off.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor has not run take about half an hour after our engineers are there. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Abbey Parks
Abbey Parks is a suburban area located on the coast of Fife, with Dunfermline situated immediately adjacent. Abbey Parks sits at an elevation of 89 metres, overlooking the surrounding landscape. Abbey Parks is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing, which is typical of many modern Scottish suburban developments.
AdBlue drains round Abbey Parks, and Fife beyond
Throughout KY postcodes, the vans that cover Abbey Parks — a residential suburb — work the surrounding places too, Castleblair Park and Gardeners Lands among them. Fastest of all: give a KY12 7 postcode to the van.
Shifting the car isn't necessary. Draining takes place right there, whether a drive, a street near Shrine of St Margaret, or a lay-by towards Garden for Heroes. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Garden for Heroes.
Abbey Parks drivers: the short version
First, the cap; after that, the tip. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it is, wherever in Fife: keep it off and call 0333 366 0103.