AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Balmossie: How It Happens and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the engine hasn't turned, it's drained and fully purged where the car is in Balmossie. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page explains the reasons it occurs and the how to prevent it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads round Balmossie and Baldovie carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler on every tank. Other motors keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have both together behind one flap. Diesel goes in on each forecourt call-out, again and again. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Balmossie
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and running dry means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Balmossie Road, or at The Bell Tree on the way home that evening.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is a second factor: a new vehicle.
A spouted bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, after begun, keeps on. Whether it occurs in Barnhill or the middle of Balmossie, it's the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a Balmossie forecourt or a drive over in Murroes, spend a couple of seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever across Dundee City, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Balmossie Terrace, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- Both under one flap? Then confirm the cap on the diesel side stays shut before lifting the bottle.
- Stop once your tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip slowly using the built-in spout.
- Before you start your car, shut the cap and check again that your diesel cap was never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip stage five altogether.
Balmossie: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Short order, then. First: your engine stays unstarted. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so leave it off. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Esso or the Sainsbury's, ask the staff to help push your car clear of the pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive around Balmossie.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M90, under 25 miles from Balmossie, that means the next junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Balmossie is less work than a trip of under 10 miles towards Dundee, so tell us.
Balmossie: what happens when our engineers get there
Outside the local primary school, close to Panmurefield Baptist Centre (Broughty Ferry Baptist Church) or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our technicians come to it. What fluid was put in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because the replies set the work and price. No one sets off until you've heard our quote by phone.
Draining the tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of that clears out by itself. Hence it counts more. A test is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. We do not leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Unrun cars usually need a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street late at night. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It is worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Balmossie, briefly
Balmossie is a coastal suburban area in Dundee City, situated approximately 5 miles from Dundee and overlooking the North Sea. Balmossie has a relatively low elevation of 61 metres and is characterised by detached housing. Balmossie is close to nearby places such as Barnhill, Drumsturdy, and Kingennie, and is home to around 1172 residents.
AdBlue drains around Balmossie, and Dundee City beyond
Throughout DD postcodes, the teams that cover Balmossie — a residential suburb — work the nearby locations too, Kingennie and Drumsturdy included. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting DD5 3.
The car stays put. Anywhere it stands — beside Broughty Ferry Tennis Club, on a layby en route to Millenium Forest, at home — that is where it is emptied. Guessing doesn't help behind David Lloyd Clubs, close to a border, or somewhere awkward to describe; phone and ask.
The short version for Balmossie people
Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, anywhere around Dundee City: switch the car off and phone 0333 366 0103.