Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Braehead: Why It Occurs
Stop reading a minute if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Braehead. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it does not — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Diesel feeds the motor — but plenty of current diesels driven about Braehead and Dalmilling hold a second fluid too. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to clean them, from its own tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of motors have a single flap for both, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on every filling station call-out, week in, week out. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. That gap is where the error lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank take place around Braehead?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and letting it run dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Thomson Street, perhaps at Thistle Inn on the way home that evening.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's the second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
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 once it has started. Whether it takes place in Lochside or the middle of Braehead, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Braehead or a driveway out in Newton on Ayr. A few seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many motors. Check for it.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel filler? Then check beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The previous driver will know. Check when you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Newton-On-Ayr's car park, perhaps — not when the light appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
For the day the warning appears — anywhere it is in South Ayrshire — a routine to use.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Gould Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check again — making sure your diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. After that, start your car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Do not go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Braehead already?
Do not start the motor: that is where the short order of things starts. The fuel pump runs on many diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than mixing — and that is where your fuel is sucked from.
The staff at Tesco, Asda or another forecourt will normally help to push the vehicle away when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Braehead.
When your motor has run by now, pull over safely and turn the vehicle off. The next junction means the place to come off when you are on the M77, under 15 miles from Braehead. Distance matters — a quick hop across Braehead is a smaller job than driving under 50 miles to Glasgow — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Braehead, and what occurs next
Wherever your car has stopped, whether outside the local primary school, near Crookmoss Bowling Club or at home, the van comes to it. Which fluid got in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask since those replies set both work and quote. You get that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off.
The fuel system is then rinsed thoroughly, after that tank is cleared. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes out by itself. Hence it matters more. The filter flushed or, where needed, replaced; clean diesel in; then a check of the vehicle. Your engine is fired up next and tested to make sure it runs correctly, all before we leave.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Braehead itself
Braehead is a coastal suburban area in South Ayrshire, situated near the towns of Lochside, Whitletts, and Heathfield. Braehead lies at a low elevation of around 15 metres, with the majority of its housing stock consisting of flats. Braehead is located approximately 30 miles from Glasgow, making it a commuter base for the city. Braehead has a population of around 5334 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains in Braehead and across South Ayrshire
Over KA postcodes, the teams that cover Braehead — a residential suburb — work the surrounding locations too, Heathfield and Whitletts among them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting KA8 9.
No need to move the vehicle. Anywhere it sits — beside Whitletts Activity Centre, on a lay-by heading to King George V Park, on a drive — that is where it gets cleared. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Heathfield Community Centre.
In short, for Braehead people
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across South Ayrshire.