Almondbank: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Pause here for a moment when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the motor has not run, it's emptied and thoroughly purged where your vehicle is around Almondbank. Here in advance? Then what follows explains why it comes about and what to prevent it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Plenty of newer diesels in Huntingtower, as well as Almondbank, carry on two fluids; the motor takes only the diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Plenty of cars have a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Almondbank: how it happens
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things coming up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from your car, and letting it run out leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off College Mill Road, or outside Pitcairngreen Inn on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's the second factor: a new car.
No part halts the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's a few seconds, whether out in Pitcairngreen or bang in the centre of Almondbank.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Almondbank forecourt or a drive out in Huntingtower Haugh, spend a couple of seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- The handbook says where it is if the filler isn't next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Perth? Ask whoever drove the car last before you set off, not once the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Perth and Kinross that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Kirkhall Road, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish once the tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, tip slowly through the own spout.
- Close the cap, then check again — making sure the diesel cap remained closed the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Leave out step five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Almondbank?
Brief list, then. Top of that: your motor remains unstarted. Keep the ignition off as well, because on many diesels switching it on by itself runs your fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of your tank, right where fuel is taken from.
The attendants at Almondbank Filling Station, Tesco or any forecourt will usually lend a hand to push your car away if you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Almondbank.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. Leave the M90 — under 3 miles out of Almondbank — at the next junction. Mileage matters — a short hop across Almondbank is a smaller job than driving under 5 miles to Perth — so say about how far it went.
Our arrival in Almondbank, and what occurs next
The van comes to the vehicle anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, near War Memorial, or outside the local primary school. Our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run, since the replies determine the work and the quote. You get that price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Then that tank is cleared and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. Filter flushed or, where needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a check of your vehicle. After that our engineers start it and make sure it runs properly before we leave.
Unstarted vehicles mostly mean a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is fine on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Almondbank itself
Almondbank is a village situated on the banks of the River Almond in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Almondbank lies close to the city of Perth, approximately 3.4 miles to the northwest, and is near other local places such as Pitcairngreen and Huntingtowerfield. Almondbank has a population of around 933 people and is set in a relatively low-lying area, at an elevation of 38 metres. Almondbank is located near Lochty and other scenic areas, making it a pleasant place to live.
AdBlue drains around Almondbank, and Perth and Kinross beyond
As a village, Almondbank shares its vans nearby areas — Huntingtowerfield, Lochty — right through PH postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Quote a postcode beginning PH1 3, and our van gets there quickest.
There's no need to shift the car. Wherever it sits — near Almondbank Tibbermore (St Serfs) Parish Church, on a layby heading to Pitcairn Village Green, at home — that is where it gets cleared. Tricky to pin down, like the back of College Mill? By a county line? Asking beats assuming, and so ring.
For Almondbank drivers, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the vehicle switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout Perth and Kinross.