AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Beancross: How It Occurs and How to Avoid It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, carried out right where the car sits in Beancross, is usually what it takes if caught before the engine runs. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the why it takes place and the how to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels on the roads around Beancross and Parkhill carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there a spray cleans the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of cars share a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at every filling station call-out, again and again. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between them.
Beancross: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things lining up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and running out means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Sandy Loan, or at Tam Bain on the way home that evening.
New-to-you motors are second, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company motors place their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Whether it occurs in Laurieston or the middle of Beancross, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt around Beancross or a drive out in Reddingmuirhead. A few seconds, no more.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- On plenty of vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Polmont, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Wherever across Falkirk the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, motor stopped, and not rushed beside Grahamsdyke Street at the roadside.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — once you have found your filler and read it.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two sit under a flap, make sure it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Skip stage five altogether.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Beancross already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the base rather than mixing — and that's where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the car away from the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the Esso, the Thames or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Beancross.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Leave the M9 — under a mile out of Beancross — at the first junction. Distance counts — a short hop across Beancross makes a smaller job than heading under 15 miles towards Stirling — so say about how far it went.
When our engineers get there in Beancross, what happens?
The van reaches your car wherever it stopped — your own drive, beside War Memorial, or outside the local primary school. We ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run, because those answers decide the work and the quote. Nobody heads out until you've heard the quote over the phone.
Draining your tank comes next, then a full flush of your system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and nothing clears away on its own, no matter how long it sits. The filter cleaned or, where needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a test of the vehicle. Your engine is started next and tested to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our technicians leave.
If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — so use the wait to look at yours.
About Beancross
Beancross is a locality in Falkirk, situated near the coast at an elevation of 36 metres, and is part of the wider area surrounding Stirling. Beancross lies within commuting distance of Stirling, which is 11 miles away, and is close to other nearby places such as Laurieston and Westquarter. Beancross has a population of around 1579 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing.
AdBlue drains around Beancross and across Falkirk
Over FK postcodes, the vans that cover Beancross — a coastal area — work the surrounding places too, Redding and Westquarter included. A postcode starting FK2 9 gets the van to you fastest.
Moving the car is not necessary. Anywhere it stands — near Westquarter Community Project, on a layby en route to Westquarter Glen, at home — that is where it gets emptied. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Laurieston Scout Hall.
In short, for Beancross motorists
First, the cap; after that, the tip. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it is, anywhere across Falkirk: keep the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.