AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Almondhill: How It Happens and How to Stop It
Pause reading for a moment when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Around Almondhill, catching it before your motor turns usually leaves a drain and a full flush on the spot. Here before the event? Then what follows explains why it comes about and what to prevent it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Many modern diesels around Newbridge, as well as Almondhill, run on two fluids; your engine takes just the diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of vehicles share a single flap for both, while others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in Almondhill?
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and letting it run out means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Catelbock Gardens, perhaps at the pub in the village on the way home after work.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Almondhill or out in Kirkliston.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt around Almondhill or a drive out in Dalmeny. Seconds, that's all.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- On plenty of cars, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel filler? In that case look beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the handbook will say which.
- The previous driver knows. Check when you pick up a hire car or company car — at Dalmeny's car park, perhaps — rather than when the light appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across City of Edinburgh that is.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, engine stopped, and not in a rush beside Crawford Green on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, confirm it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Stop once your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, tip gently using its built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, then look again — making sure your diesel filler stayed shut throughout. After that, start the car.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Stage five is out.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Almondhill?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting your engine. The fuel pump runs on many diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — so keep it off. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of mixing — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at BP, another forecourt nearby or another forecourt will usually lend a hand to push the car clear if you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Almondhill.
Already run? Stop when it is sensible, then switch off. Almondhill lies under a mile from the M90; on it, take the next exit. About how far did it go? Crossing Almondhill is smaller a job than a run of under 10 miles towards Edinburgh, and so say.
Our arrival around Almondhill, and what takes place next
Outside the local primary school, close to War Memorial or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Which fluid went in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask since those replies decide the work and price. On the call itself, you hear our price — ahead of anything else.
The fuel system is then purged thoroughly, after the tank is cleared. With AdBlue that counts 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. Once the fuel filter has been cleaned — or replaced, if required — fresh diesel goes in, and finally the vehicle gets tested. Before we go, our engineers fire it up and confirm that it's running smoothly.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor hasn't run need about half an hour once our technicians are there. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is part of many insurance policies — and so use the wait to check yours.
About Almondhill
Almondhill is a small coastal hamlet in the City of Edinburgh, situated near the shores of the Firth of Forth. Almondhill sits at an elevation of 46 metres, looking out towards the sea, and is located approximately 7.9 miles from Edinburgh. Almondhill is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, which reflects the area's residential nature.
AdBlue drains around Almondhill and across City of Edinburgh
Over EH postcodes, our teams covering Almondhill — a rural hamlet — work the nearby locations too, Ratho Station and Ingliston among them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting EH29 9.
No need to shift your car. Wherever it sits — near Kirkliston Library, on a layby en route to Kirkliston Community Garden, on a drive — that's where it is emptied. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Kirkliston Community Church, ring and ask rather than assuming.
In short, for Almondhill motorists
First, the cap; after that, the tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across City of Edinburgh, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.