How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Clydebank
Pause reading for a moment when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. In Clydebank, catching it before the engine turns normally leaves a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. Here before the event? In that case what follows explains how it happens and how to prevent it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Many current diesels on the roads round Clydebank and Mountblow carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the 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 vehicles 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 pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs around Clydebank
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Dumbarton Road before work, or in the car park at The Mountblow heading home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle warns you, and once it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's the second factor: a strange car.
A spouted bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, keeps on. Whether it takes place in Dalmuir or the middle of Clydebank, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Town Centre or a forecourt in Clydebank.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- On many motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many cars carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask as you pick up a hire car or company car — from Dalmuir's car park, perhaps — not when the warning appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Wherever across West Dunbartonshire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Duntocher Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Stop once your tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour gently through its built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, and check once more — making sure your diesel filler remained closed the whole time. After that, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Clydebank?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting your engine. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. 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 drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help push the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the Henry's, the JET or anywhere else. Your own driveway around Clydebank is the place it should stay.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the Toll Plaza Interchange, under 3 miles from Clydebank, that means the next exit. Mileage counts — a short hop across Clydebank makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles towards Glasgow — so say about how far it went.
What takes place when our technicians turn up in Clydebank
Our engineers come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, close to Beardmore Sculpture or on your own driveway. We ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run, because those replies determine the work and the price. You get that price by phone, before anybody heads out.
The fuel system is then flushed thoroughly, after your tank is emptied. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. The filter cleaned or, where needed, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a check of the vehicle. The engine is started next and tested to confirm it runs properly, all before we leave.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once we arrive, provided the engine hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Clydebank, for a moment
Clydebank is a coastal town in West Dunbartonshire, situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, with Dalmuir and Radnor Park to the west and Parkhall to the east. Clydebank sits at a low elevation of around 13 metres, looking out across the Clyde estuary towards the hills of Dunbartonshire. Clydebank is predominantly composed of flat housing, reflecting its urban character and proximity to Glasgow, which lies just 8 miles to the east. Clydebank is a significant residential centre, with a population of approximately 16,632 people.
Clydebank and West Dunbartonshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Radnor Park and Parkhall are among the towns around Clydebank, a coastal town, that the same vans cover, over G postcodes. A postcode starting G81 4 gets the van to you fastest.
There's no need to shift the car. The drain happens on the spot, be it a drive, a street near William Beardmore & Company Ltd War Memorial, or a lay-by towards Beardmore Community Park. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Dalmuir Community Centre? By a county line? Checking is better than guessing, and so ring.
Clydebank motorists: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in West Dunbartonshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — and so leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103.