Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Carfin: Why It Happens
Stop here a minute when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, when your engine has not run, it is drained and thoroughly cleaned where the vehicle is in Carfin. Here before the event? In that case what follows covers why it happens and how to stop it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many current diesels on the roads around Carfin and Newarthill carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. 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. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled constantly. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, poured by a driver who has to stop and think which cap to use. The error lives in that gap.
Carfin: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle 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 drive off New Stevenston Road before work, or in the car park at The Raven's Cliff on the way home.
Then your car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once begun, carries on. Whether it happens in Cleekhimin or the middle of Carfin, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Carfin forecourt or a driveway out in Holytown, take a couple of seconds over these before any goes in.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The previous driver will know. Check when you pick up a hire car or fleet car — from the nearest station's car park, perhaps — not once the warning appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — anywhere you are around North Lanarkshire — a routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Newarthill Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing 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.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap never came off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Carfin: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Brief list, then. Top of that: your motor remains off. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so leave it off. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of blending — and that's where your fuel is drawn from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the JET or the Esso, ask the staff to help push the car away from the petrol pump. Your own driveway in Carfin is the place it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. Carfin lies under 3 miles from the M8; on it, take the next junction. Mileage matters — a short hop across Carfin makes a smaller job than heading under 15 miles to Glasgow — so tell us roughly how far it went.
What happens when our engineers turn up in Carfin
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, close to Phoenix Park Sculpture or on your own drive. Both the work and our quote depend on three replies — which fluid, which quantity, and whether it has run — so we ask. That price comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the fuel system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and nothing washes away on its own, no matter how long it sits. Filter flushed or, if needed, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a check of the vehicle. The engine is started next and tested to make sure it runs properly, all before we go.
Unstarted vehicles usually need a half-hour job after arrival. The equipment is safe on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. It is worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Carfin, briefly
Carfin is a suburban area in North Lanarkshire, situated approximately 11.5 miles east of Glasgow. Carfin sits inland at an elevation of around 117 metres, with nearby places including Cleekhimin, Yett, and New Stevenston. Carfin is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its residential nature. Carfin is located relatively close to major urban centres, yet remains a distinct community within the wider Glasgow area.
AdBlue drains around Carfin and across North Lanarkshire
Over ML postcodes, our vans covering Carfin — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, New Stevenston and Yett among them. Give a postcode that starts ML1 4, and our van gets there quickest.
The car remains where it is. The drain takes place on the spot, whether a drive, a street near St Francis Xavier's Catholic Church, or a layby towards Carfin Grotto Park. Assuming won't help behind Keir Hardie Memorial Primary School, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
In short, for Carfin people
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the car off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout North Lanarkshire.