Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Croftmalloch: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case put this page down a moment, keep your ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Around Croftmalloch, catching it before the engine turns normally means a drain and a full flush on the spot. Reading before the event? In that case the rest explains why it comes about and what to prevent it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Diesel goes to the engine — but plenty of newer diesels driven about Croftmalloch and Longridge carry a second fluid as well. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to fresh it, from its own tank.
Each tank comes with one filler of its own. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on many motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. It's in that gap that the slip happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Croftmalloch
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Gleneagles Court before work, or in the car park outside Olde Market Inn on the way home.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip after it has started. Whether it takes place in Blaeberryhill or the middle of Croftmalloch, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Bents or a forecourt in Croftmalloch, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- On many vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Open the filler flap and look for a label — many cars mark what goes in each inlet right there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Armadale? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, anywhere in West Lothian, use this routine.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, motor off, and not in a rush beside BlaeberryHill Road at the roadside.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after 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 — then leave it on.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Skip step five altogether.
Croftmalloch: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the car on. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of blending — and that is where the fuel is sucked from.
The staff at Shell, BP or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the vehicle away when asked. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in Croftmalloch.
Already started? Stop when it's safe, then turn off. The next exit means the place to come off when you are on the M8, under a mile from Croftmalloch. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Dunfermline, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Croftmalloch.
What takes place when our technicians arrive around Croftmalloch
The van reaches the car wherever it stopped — your own drive, near Connect Community Church, or by the local primary school. Those answers settle the work and the price, and so our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it has run. You get that price by phone, before anybody sets off.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system purged thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and nothing clears out on its own, no matter how long it is left. Testing is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is flushed or replaced as needed. The engine is fired up next and tested to make sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers head off.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once our technicians arrive, as long as the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night outside a house. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Croftmalloch and where it is
Croftmalloch is a suburban area situated on the riverside in West Lothian, with a mix of semi-detached housing and a population of around 2077 residents. Croftmalloch sits at an elevation of 202 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. Croftmalloch is located near several other communities, including Blaeberryhill, Whitburn, and East Whitburn, and is within commuting distance of Dunfermline, the nearest city. Croftmalloch is also relatively distant from major urban centres, being around 333.7 miles from London.
AdBlue drains about Croftmalloch, and West Lothian beyond
Whitburn and East Whitburn are among the towns near Croftmalloch, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over EH postcodes. Give a postcode that starts EH47 8, and our van arrives quickest.
Your car doesn't need to move. Wherever it sits — near Whitburn Community Education Centre, in a layby heading to Blaeberryhill Park, at home — that's where it is drained. Assuming won't help at the back of Whitburn South Parish Church, close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe; ring and check.
The short version for Croftmalloch people
First, the cap; then, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around West Lothian, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave it off and call 0333 366 0103.