Cradlehall: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Around Cradlehall, finding it before the engine turns normally leaves a drain and a full flush on the spot. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels in Resaurie, as well as Cradlehall, run on two liquids; the motor takes only your diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Other motors put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have the two together behind one flap. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen around Cradlehall?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from your car, and running dry leads to limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Barn Church Road, or outside the pub in the village on the way home that evening.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once begun, keeps on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Cradlehall or out in Culloden.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Cradlehall forecourt or a drive out in Milton, take a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — plenty of motors mark which belongs in which inlet just there.
- Cannot find it beside your diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Inverness.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever across Highland, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Smithton Industrial Estate, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have located your filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, close the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap was never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Step five stays out.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Cradlehall?
Short order, then. First: the motor remains unstarted. Leave your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Tesco, Highland Fuels or another — the attendants will normally help roll the vehicle clear, when you ask. If you're on your own driveway in Cradlehall, leave the car where it stands.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. Cradlehall lies over 50 miles from the M90; there, take the next junction. Distance counts — a short hop across Cradlehall makes a smaller job than driving under 5 miles to Inverness — so say about how far it went.
What takes place when we turn up around Cradlehall
Our van comes to the car anywhere it has come to rest — your own driveway, near St. Mary-in-the-Field, or by the local primary school. Those answers determine the work and our price, so our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it has run. You hear that price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. That is why it counts more. Once the filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where needed — clean diesel goes in, and then your vehicle is tested. Your engine is fired up next and tested to make sure it runs properly, all before our engineers head off.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is fine on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. It's worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Cradlehall, briefly
Cradlehall is a coastal locality in the Scottish Highlands, situated near the city of Inverness and close to the Moray Firth. Cradlehall has a relatively low elevation of 37 metres and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Cradlehall is part of the wider Inverness urban area, with nearby places including Culloden and Smithton.
AdBlue drains around Cradlehall and across Highland
Over IV postcodes, the teams that cover Cradlehall — a coastal area — work the nearby places too, Woodside of Culloden and Smithton included. Quote a postcode beginning IV2 7, and the van arrives fastest.
Your car doesn't need to move. Wherever it stands — beside Gospel Hall, on a layby heading to Smithton Park, at home — that's where it is cleared. Guessing doesn't help at the back of The Gruffalo's Child, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
For Cradlehall drivers, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Highland, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.