Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Chirnside: Why It Occurs
Stop reading a minute when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your motor has not run, it's drained and thoroughly rinsed where your car sits around Chirnside. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page explains the reasons it occurs and the ways to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Not one liquid but two: that is what many modern diesels near Chirnside and West Foulden carry, with diesel for your motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there spraying treats the gas.
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. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Chirnside: how it occurs
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Dominies Loan before work, or in the car park outside The Waterloo Arms heading home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car warns you, and if it is gone, limp mode follows.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old motor — because a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
Lastly, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as readily, and after the pour starts, no part halts it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Chirnside or out in Chirnsidebridge.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these first, at a forecourt in Chirnside or a driveway out in Edrom. Seconds, that's all.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- Can't see it next to your diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask when you pick up a hire car or company car — from Reston's car park, perhaps — not once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Scottish Borders that is.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of The Loaning.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Discover during the second or third step that the bottle went into the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Chirnside?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of the tank, right where the fuel is taken from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the pump if you are on a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the another forecourt nearby or somewhere else. At home in Chirnside? Then the vehicle stays put.
Where your engine has run by now, pull over safely and switch the vehicle off. Chirnside lies under 50 miles from the M8; there, use the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Edinburgh, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Chirnside.
Our arrival in Chirnside, and what occurs next
By the local primary school, close to Chirnside Community Centre or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and whether it has run, since the replies settle the work and the quote. During the phone call itself, you hear the price — before anything else.
Then that tank is drained and your system flushed thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. We do not leave until it has been started and is running properly.
If the engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Chirnside itself
Chirnside is a village in the Scottish Borders, situated inland at an elevation of 126 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Chirnside lies near the villages of Chirnsidebridge, Allanton, and Blanerne, and is approximately 39 miles from Edinburgh. Chirnside has a population of around 1005 residents, and its location is relatively rural. Chirnside is also a considerable distance from London, at around 309 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Scottish Borders, Chirnside included
As a rural village, Chirnside has the same vans as surrounding places — Allanton, Blanerne — right through TD postcodes and the surrounding area around them. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting TD11 3.
Shifting the vehicle is not necessary. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Comrades Park, a side street near Jim Clark Memorial: our engineers drain the car where it is. Awkward to explain, like the back of South View Evangelical Church? By a border? Checking is better than guessing, and so ring.
For Chirnside motorists, the short version
Pour no AdBlue until you have read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Scottish Borders.