How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Chapelton
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page down for now, leave the ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, done just where the car stands around Chapelton, is normally all it needs if found before your motor runs. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to your engine — but many modern diesels driven round Chapelton and Cammachmore hold another liquid as well. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler on every tank. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at each forecourt visit, week in, week out. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side gets filled — normally from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Chapelton
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from your car, and running dry leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Rothesay Street, perhaps outside Quoiters on the way home after work.
Then the vehicle is new. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once begun, keeps on. Windyedge or the middle of Chapelton: it is the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these first, at a forecourt in Chapelton or a driveway over in Cookney. A few seconds, no more.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Check for it.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and 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 at Portlethen, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, wherever in Aberdeenshire, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Bunting Place, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've located your filler and read the cap.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look again — confirm your diesel filler remained shut throughout. After that, start the vehicle.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Stage five stays off limits.
Chapelton: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Brief order, then. Top of that: your motor stays off. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Asda, EG On the Move or any other — the attendants will normally help roll your car away, if you ask. Your own driveway in Chapelton is where it stays.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next exit is where to leave when you are on the M90, over 50 miles from Chapelton. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Aberdeen, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Chapelton.
When our engineers arrive around Chapelton, what happens?
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, close to Elsick House or on your own driveway. Those answers determine the work and our quote, so our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it has run. You hear that price by phone, before anyone sets off.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, once your tank is drained. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. Testing is last: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the fuel filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. Next our technicians fire it up and make sure it runs smoothly before we go.
Unrun cars mostly mean a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Chapelton itself
Chapelton is a small locality in Aberdeenshire, situated on the coast near Aberdeen. Chapelton sits at an elevation of 102 metres, looking out to the North Sea, and is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock. Chapelton is close to other nearby places such as Windyedge, Newtonhill, and Muchalls, and is about 8.7 miles from Aberdeen. Chapelton has a population of around 626 people.
Chapelton and Aberdeenshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Over AB postcodes, our teams that cover Chapelton — a coastal area — work the nearby spots too, Muchalls and Newtonhill included. A postcode starting AB39 8 gets our van to you fastest.
Your car does not need to move. Anywhere it stands — beside Newtonhill Parish Church, on a lay-by en route to Hume Square, on a drive — that's where it gets drained. Assuming doesn't help behind Newtonhill Library, close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe; ring and check.
Chapelton drivers: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it is, anywhere in Aberdeenshire: keep it off and ring 0333 366 0103.