Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Blackwood: Why It Happens
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. A drain plus a full flush, done right where your vehicle stands around Blackwood, is normally what it needs when caught before the engine runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of newer diesels around Condorrat, like those in Blackwood, run on two fluids; your engine gets just your diesel. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to fresh it, from its own tank.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that's the layout on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Filling the diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in the gap that the error lives.
Blackwood: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Hurry follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Blackwood West Roundabout, or heading home in the car park at the pub in the village.
Then the vehicle is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Third, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as readily, and after the pour starts, no part stops it. It's seconds, whether out in Smithstone or bang in the centre of Blackwood.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Craigmarloch or a forecourt in Blackwood.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Croy? Ask the person who drove the car last before you set off, rather than when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — anywhere it is around North Lanarkshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Blackwood Road, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Never carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Blackwood?
Short order, then. Top of it: the motor stays unstarted. Keep the ignition off too, since on many diesels it alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of your tank, right where fuel is taken from.
Ask the attendants to help roll your car away from the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Gulf, the BP or somewhere else. Your own drive around Blackwood is the place it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. The next exit is where to leave if you're on the M80, under 3 miles from Blackwood. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Glasgow, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Blackwood.
Blackwood: what occurs when our engineers turn up
The van comes to the vehicle wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, beside Broadwood Leisure Centre, or by the local primary school. Our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and if it has run, since those answers determine this work and the price. You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Draining your tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of it washes out unaided. Hence it counts more. Testing is last: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. The engine is started next and checked to be sure it runs smoothly, all before our technicians leave.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after we get there, provided your engine has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Blackwood
Blackwood is a suburban area situated on the outskirts of Glasgow, near the shores of a lake in North Lanarkshire, with a mix of detached housing and local amenities. Blackwood sits at an elevation of 63 metres, providing views of the surrounding countryside. Blackwood is located close to nearby places such as Smithstone, Westfield, and Croy, and is approximately 9 miles from Glasgow city centre. Blackwood has a population of around 1675 residents, living in predominantly detached homes.
Blackwood and North Lanarkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Over G postcodes, our teams covering Blackwood — a residential suburb — work the nearby places too, Croy and Westfield included. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting G68 9.
Shifting your car is not needed. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Mosswater Local Nature reserve, a side street near Broadwood Stadium: our technicians drain the car where it is. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Broadwood Gymnastics, ring and ask rather than assuming.
For Blackwood drivers, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around North Lanarkshire.