Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Craigie: Why It Occurs
Pause here a minute if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, when the engine has not run, it is drained and fully purged where your car sits in Craigie. Here before the event? In that case what follows explains why it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds your engine — yet plenty of current diesels seen about Craigie and Forehill carry another fluid too. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where spraying treats the gas.
There's a filler for each tank. Other vehicles put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have both together behind one flap. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think what filler to use. That gap is where the error lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Craigie
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Blackhouse Place before work, or in the car park outside The Chase on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar motors come second, too. Rentals, new vehicles and company motors put their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as readily, and once the pour begins, nothing stops it. Holmston or the heart of Craigie: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Masonhill or a forecourt around Craigie.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- On plenty of motors, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many vehicles carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Ayr, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — wherever it is across South Ayrshire — a simple routine to use.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Campbell Court.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both share a flap, confirm it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Stage five is off limits.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Craigie?
Short order, then. First: the motor stays unstarted. Keep the ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on alone starts the fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is sucked from.
The staff at Tesco, another forecourt nearby or another forecourt will usually help pushing the vehicle clear if you ask. On your own drive in Craigie? So your car stays where it is.
Already started? Stop when it is sensible, then turn off. Leave the M77 — under 15 miles out of Craigie — at the next junction. A short hop across Craigie is a smaller job than a run towards Glasgow, under 50 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians get there in Craigie, what takes place?
Anywhere your car came to rest, be it outside the local primary school, beside Ayr Racecourse or at home, our van comes to it. What fluid got in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask since those answers decide both work and price. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
Your system is then flushed thoroughly, once that tank is drained. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Your engine is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before we head off.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive, provided your motor has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Craigie
Craigie is a coastal suburban area in South Ayrshire, situated near the towns of Ayr and Prestwick, with Holmston, Lochside, and Braehead nearby. Craigie has a population of around 1796 people and features predominantly semi-detached housing. Craigie is located at a relatively low elevation of 22 metres above sea level, close to the coast. Craigie is also within commuting distance of Glasgow, which is approximately 31 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Craigie, and South Ayrshire beyond
Lochside and Braehead are among the places around Craigie, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over KA postcodes. Fastest of all: give a KA8 0 postcode to the van.
The car remains put. Wherever it stands — near Wallaces Heel (petrosomatoglyph), on a lay-by en route to Dalmilling Golf Course, at home — that's where it gets cleared. Tricky to pin down, like the back of COILA (2008)? By a border? Checking is better than guessing, so ring.
For Craigie motorists, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle switched off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across South Ayrshire.