Bishopmill: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Leave the motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Around Bishopmill, catching it before the motor runs normally leaves a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page explains the reasons it happens and the how to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
No single liquid but two: that is what many newer diesels around Bishopmill and Pittendreich carry, with diesel for your engine. The exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to clean it, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Some cars keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have both side by side behind one flap. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled constantly. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. It's in that gap that the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Bishopmill: how it takes place
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Caroline Street before work, or in the car park outside Mckerron’s on the way home.
Unfamiliar motors are next, as well. Rentals, new motors and company motors put their fillers in new places, and habit goes 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, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. It takes seconds, be it in Elgin or right in the centre of Bishopmill.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Quarrywood or a forecourt around Bishopmill, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- On many cars, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many cars carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it beside your diesel inlet? Then look below the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Elgin, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever around Moray, follow this routine.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine stopped, and never rushed by Morriston Road on the verge.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, yet it works.
- The two behind a single flap? So confirm the lid on your diesel filler is still closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to step five.
Bishopmill: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Do not start the motor: that is how the short order of things starts. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Tesco, another forecourt nearby or another forecourt will normally help pushing the vehicle clear if you ask. Your own drive in Bishopmill is where it stays.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. On the M90, over 50 miles from Bishopmill, that means the next junction. A short hop across Bishopmill is a smaller job than a run towards Inverness, under 50 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Bishopmill, and what takes place next
Wherever your car has stopped, whether outside the local primary school, near Elgin Motor Museum or on your own drive, our van travels to it. Our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run, because those replies decide this work and our quote. No one heads out before you have heard the price over the phone.
Then the tank is cleared and your system flushed thoroughly. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of it washes out by itself. Hence it counts more. Testing comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is flushed or changed if necessary. We do not go until it has been started and is running correctly.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. No money upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Bishopmill and where it is
Bishopmill is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Moray, with a mix of detached housing and a population of around 4004 residents. Bishopmill sits at an elevation of 30 metres, close to the towns of Elgin and New Elgin, and is located near Moycroft. Bishopmill is also within commuting distance of Inverness, which is approximately 35.7 miles away. Bishopmill benefits from its scenic riverside setting, which is characteristic of many areas in this part of Scotland.
AdBlue drains around Bishopmill and across Moray
Bishopmill is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the towns near it, New Elgin and Moycroft among them, across the IV postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting IV30 4.
The vehicle does not need to move. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to Gleaner Arena, a lay-by on the way to Cooper Park, a driveway. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Borough Briggs.
Bishopmill people: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it stands, anywhere in Moray: keep it off and phone 0333 366 0103.