AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Claddens: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, carried out just where your vehicle sits in Claddens, is usually all it needs if found before the engine runs. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Not one fluid but two: that's how many newer diesels near Claddens and Woodilee run, with diesel for your engine. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to clean it, from its own tank.
There's a filler on every tank. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think what filler it needs. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Claddens
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up together.
On a drive off Dungoil Road before work, or in the car park at The Golden Pheasent on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle warns you, and if it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's filler is where your hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's a second thing: a new 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 pour after it has started. Millersneuk or the heart of Claddens: it is the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Wester Auchinloch or a forecourt in Claddens, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- Many vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many cars. Check for it.
- Cannot find it beside the diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Lenzie? Check with whoever drove the car last before you set off, rather than when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in East Dunbartonshire that is.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Carron Crescent.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Step five is out.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Claddens?
Brief list, then. Top of that: the motor stays off. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
The staff at Gulf, JET or another forecourt will normally help pushing the car away when you ask. Your own driveway around Claddens is where it stays.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. On the M80, under 3 miles from Claddens, that means the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Claddens is smaller a job than a trip of under 10 miles towards Glasgow, so tell us.
Claddens: what occurs when we turn up
Anywhere the vehicle came to rest, be it outside the local primary school, near Lenzie Old Parish or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — what fluid, which quantity, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. The quote comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. A test comes at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and the fuel filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. We don't leave until it has been started and is running properly.
If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Claddens
Claddens is a suburban area situated on the riverside in East Dunbartonshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Claddens sits at an elevation of 68 metres, close to the nearby suburbs of Millersneuk and Orchard Park. Claddens is located near Lenzie and is approximately 5.4 miles from Glasgow, making it a commuter-friendly area. Claddens has a population of around 3205 residents.
Claddens and East Dunbartonshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout G postcodes, our teams covering Claddens — a residential suburb — work the nearby places too, Lenzie and Orchard Park among them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting G66 5.
The car doesn't need to move. Wherever it sits — beside Lenzie Union Parish Church, on a layby heading to Lenzie Rugby Football Club, on a drive — that is where it gets emptied. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Lenzie Hall.
For Claddens motorists, the short version
First, the cap; then, the pour. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave the vehicle switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across East Dunbartonshire.