AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Colinton: Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It
Pause here for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out right where the car stands in Colinton, is usually what it takes when found before the engine runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Not one fluid but two: that's what many modern diesels around Colinton and Kingsknowe carry, with diesel feeding your motor. 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 each 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. Diesel goes in on each filling station call-out, again and again. Far less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Colinton: how it occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from your car, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Colinton Road, or outside Colinton Inn on the way home that evening.
Then the vehicle is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle 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.
Lastly, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as easily, and after the pour begins, nothing halts it. It takes seconds, be it out in Hailes or bang in the heart of Colinton.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Juniper Green or a forecourt in Colinton.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the flap and look for a label — many vehicles mark which belongs in which inlet right there.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Kingsknowe.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
For the day the light appears — anywhere it is in City of Edinburgh — a simple routine to use.
- Stop on level, engine off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Woodhall Road.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — once you have found your filler and read it.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and look once more — making sure your diesel filler stayed closed throughout. After that, start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Do not go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Colinton already?
The short order of things, starting with not starting the motor. Leave your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it alone runs the pump. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the base instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the Tesco or the Shell, ask the attendants to help push the car clear of the petrol pump. Your own driveway around Colinton is the place it should stay.
Already run? Stop when it is safe, then turn off. Come off the M8 — under 3 miles out of Colinton — at the next exit. Distance counts — a quick hop across Colinton makes a smaller job than heading under 5 miles to Edinburgh — so tell us roughly how far it went.
When we turn up in Colinton, what happens?
Wherever the vehicle has stopped, be it outside the local primary school, beside St Cuthbert's or at home, the van travels to it. Our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it has run, because the answers determine the work and our price. Nobody sets off until you've had our quote by phone.
Then your tank is drained and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly. More than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, some metals corrode, and none of that clears away unaided, no matter how long it sits. After the filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where needed — clean diesel is added, and then your vehicle gets tested. Before we leave, our technicians start the engine and check that it's running smoothly.
If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It is worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Colinton itself
Colinton is a suburban area situated on the Water of Leith in Scotland, with Colinton being a residential community near Edinburgh. Colinton sits at an elevation of 117 metres, close to the nearby places of Hailes, Bonaly, and Dreghorn. Colinton has a population of approximately 3307 people, with detached housing being the predominant type. Colinton is located 4 miles from Edinburgh and 329.8 miles from London, making it a riverside suburb with a mix of local amenities and commuter links.
AdBlue drains across City of Edinburgh, Colinton included
Bonaly and Dreghorn are among the places near Colinton, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout EH postcodes. A postcode starting EH13 0 gets the van to you fastest.
The vehicle remains where it is. Draining happens right there, be it a driveway, a street by Colinton Timeline Railings, or a layby on the way to Colinton Triangle. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Colinton Parish War Memorial, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Colinton motorists: the short version
Tip nothing until you have read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep it off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout City of Edinburgh.