Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Boness: Why It Happens
Pause here a minute when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. In Boness, finding it before your engine runs normally means a drain and a full flush on the spot. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the why it happens and the how to prevent it altogether.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Diesel feeds your motor — but many current diesels driven around Boness and Grangepans hold another liquid as well. The exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the fumes to clean them, from a separate tank.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. Many of vehicles have a single flap for the two, while some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Boness
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Commissioner Street, perhaps outside The Anchor Tavern on the way home that evening.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand hits for the cap it would have 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 tip after it has started. Whether it takes place in Grahamsdyke or the middle of Boness, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Mingle or a forecourt in Boness, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it beside your diesel filler? Then look beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Linlithgow, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Falkirk that is.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, motor stopped, and not in a rush beside North Street on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and check again — making sure the diesel filler remained shut throughout. Only then, start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Step five stays out.
Boness: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
At a forecourt — Hastons of Bo'ness, Esso or any other — the attendants will usually help push the car away, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Boness.
Where your engine has run already, pull over somewhere safe then turn the car off. Boness lies under 3 miles from the M9; there, take the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Boness is smaller work than a run of under 10 miles towards Dunfermline, and so tell us.
What happens when our technicians get there around Boness
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, near George Lovell Denholm Memorial or on your own drive. What fluid went in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because those answers set the work and price. During the call itself, you are told our price — before anything else.
The system is then rinsed thoroughly, after the tank is cleared. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of that clears away unaided. Hence it matters more. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. We don't leave until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
Unstarted vehicles mostly mean a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Boness, briefly
Boness is a coastal town in Scotland, situated on the southern bank of the Firth of Forth, with nearby settlements including Grahamsdyke and Newtown. Boness has a relatively low elevation of around 7 metres above sea level and is located near the city of Dunfermline. Boness is characterised by its predominantly flat-type housing and is home to a population of approximately 10923 people. Boness is also close to other nearby places such as Corbiehall.
AdBlue drains around Boness and across Falkirk
Throughout EH postcodes, our teams that cover Boness — a coastal town — work the surrounding locations too, Corbiehall and Newtown included. Quickest of all: give a EH51 9 postcode for the van.
There's no need to move your car. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Glebe Park, a side street close to Jubilee Fountain: our engineers drain the vehicle where it is. Tricky to pin down, like the back of The Hippodrome? Close to a county line? Asking beats assuming, so ring.
For Boness people, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it stands, anywhere across Falkirk: keep the car off then call 0333 366 0103.