Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Crosslee: Why It Happens
Leave the engine and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out right where the car sits in Crosslee, is normally all it takes if caught before your engine runs. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the why it happens and the how to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels around Ranfurly, as well as Crosslee, run on two fluids; the motor takes just the diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of motors have a single flap for both, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side gets filled — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. It is in that gap that the mistake happens.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank take place around Crosslee?
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off Back O Hill, or on the way home in the car park outside Fox and Hounds.
Then the vehicle is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Nothing stops the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Craigends or the heart of Crosslee: it takes the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in East Fulton or a forecourt in Crosslee, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- On plenty of cars, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it next to your diesel filler? In that case check beneath the bonnet or inside 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 — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Johnstone.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Wherever around Renfrewshire the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Houston Road.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you've located the filler and read it.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap never opened off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Crosslee: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Don't start your engine: that's where the short order of things starts. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
Ask the staff to help push the car away from the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Morrisons, the Tesco or anywhere else. If you're on your own drive around Crosslee, leave the car where it sits.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next exit means the place to leave if you are on the M8, under 3 miles from Crosslee. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Crosslee is smaller work than a trip of under 15 miles to Glasgow, so say.
What occurs when we get there in Crosslee
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, near St Fillans or on your own drive. Which fluid got in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask since those replies set both work and price. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody sets off.
Then the tank is drained and the system rinsed thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters 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 cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs correctly, all before our technicians go.
If the motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. No money in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Crosslee itself
Crosslee is a village situated on the riverside in Renfrewshire, with a relatively low elevation of 28 metres. Crosslee lies near several other small communities, including Craigends, Houston, and Brookfield, and is approximately 11.8 miles from Glasgow. Crosslee has a population of around 1504 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Crosslee is also relatively distant from London, at around 350.8 miles away.
AdBlue drains in Crosslee and across Renfrewshire
Over PA postcodes, the teams that cover Crosslee — a village — work the nearby spots too, Brookfield and Houston among them. A postcode starting PA6 7 gets the van to you fastest.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Houston & Killellan Kirk, a lay-by on the way to Crosslee Park, a driveway. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Carrick Centre, ring and ask instead of assuming.
For Crosslee drivers, the short version
First, the cap; then, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around Renfrewshire.