Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Barnhill
Leave the engine and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. In Barnhill, finding it before the engine turns normally leaves draining and a thorough flush where it stands. Reading in advance? Then what follows covers why it happens and what to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to your motor — but plenty of modern diesels seen round Barnhill and Baldovie carry another liquid as well. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the fumes to fresh it, from its own tank.
Each 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. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less frequently. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur around Barnhill?
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off Edzell Street, or heading home in the car park at The Barn.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old motor — because a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
No part halts the pour once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes a few seconds, be it out in Broughty Ferry or bang in the heart of Barnhill.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these first, at a forecourt around Barnhill or a drive out in Monifieth. Seconds, that's all.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- On many vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask as you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Balmossie's car park, perhaps — rather than once the warning comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere in Dundee City the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Nursery Road, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off first.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Do not go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Barnhill?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Leave your ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels it alone runs the pump. Topping up with diesel will not thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of your tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the Sainsbury's, ask the staff to help roll the car away from the petrol pump. On your own drive in Barnhill? So your car remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. The next junction means the place to leave if you are on the M90, under 25 miles from Barnhill. A short hop across Barnhill is a smaller job than a run towards Dundee, under 5 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What occurs when our technicians get there in Barnhill
Anywhere the car has stopped, be it outside the local primary school, near Barnhill St Margaret's Church or at home, the van travels to it. Those answers decide the work and the quote, and so our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. On the phone call itself, you hear our price — ahead of anything else.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. Once the fuel filter has been cleaned — or renewed, where required — fresh diesel goes in, and finally your car gets tested. We don't leave until it has been started and is running properly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once our technicians arrive, as long as the motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Barnhill
Barnhill is a suburban area located on the coast of Dundee City, sitting at an elevation of 38 metres and approximately 4.6 miles from Dundee city centre. Barnhill is characterized by its semi-detached housing and is situated near other nearby places such as Broughty Ferry and West Ferry. Barnhill has a population of around 4960 residents and is part of the larger Dundee urban area. Barnhill's coastal setting provides scenic views and a unique environment for its residents.
Barnhill and Dundee City: AdBlue drains across the area
Balmossie and West Ferry are among the places near Barnhill, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over DD postcodes. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting DD5 2.
Moving the vehicle isn't needed. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Gillies Park, a side street near Broughty Ferry Tennis Club: our engineers drain it where it sits. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of War Memorial, ring and ask instead of guessing.
In short, for Barnhill people
Read the cap before you pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the car switched off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Dundee City.