Bishop Burn: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the engine hasn't run, it's drained and fully flushed where your vehicle is in Bishop Burn. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the why it occurs and the ways to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Many newer diesels around Dicks Hill, as well as Bishop Burn, carry on two liquids; the motor takes only the diesel. The exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from a separate tank.
There is a filler for every tank. On a lot of motors 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 topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Bishop Burn: how it occurs
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from your car, and running dry leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Palmer Drive, or at The Pub on the way home after work.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, carries on. It takes seconds, be it in Culhorn or right in the centre of Bishop Burn.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Lime Kiln or a forecourt in Bishop Burn.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of motors show what belongs in which inlet just there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Stranraer? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than once the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Anywhere across Dumfries and Galloway the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Lochview Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off first.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, but it works.
- The two behind a single flap? Then make sure the lid on your diesel filler is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and look again that your diesel cap was never came off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Stage five is out.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Bishop Burn?
Don't start the engine: that's where the short order of things starts. Do not switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't weaken it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of that tank, right where fuel is taken from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the car away from the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Morrisons, the Solo or anywhere else. Your own driveway around Bishop Burn is the place it should stay.
Where your motor has run already, pull over safely and turn it off. On the M77, over 50 miles from Bishop Burn, that means the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Bishop Burn is smaller work than a run of under 50 miles to Belfast, and so say.
Our arrival in Bishop Burn, and what happens next
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, near Stair Park or on your own driveway. We ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it's run, because the answers decide the work and our price. You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, once your tank is cleared. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes away by itself. That is why it matters more. A test is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. Your engine is started next and tested to make sure it runs properly, all before our engineers go.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor has not run need about half an hour once our engineers arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It's worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Bishop Burn and where it is
Bishop Burn is a small suburban area situated on the coast of Dumfries and Galloway, with Culhorn and Stranraer nearby. Bishop Burn has a low elevation of around 5 metres, reflecting its coastal setting. Bishop Burn is characterized by its semi-detached housing, which is typical of many suburban areas in Scotland. Bishop Burn is located near Stranraer Town, which provides amenities and services to the local population.
AdBlue drains across Dumfries and Galloway, Bishop Burn included
Throughout DG postcodes, our teams covering Bishop Burn — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Stranraer Town and Stranraer included. Fastest of all: quote a DG9 8 postcode to our van.
The car stays put. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Watermark, a lay-by on the way to London Road Recreation Ground, a drive. Awkward to pin down, like the back of North West Castle? Close to a border? Checking beats assuming, and so phone.
Bishop Burn motorists: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep it off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout Dumfries and Galloway.