Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Currie: Why It Occurs
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Currie. Reading in advance? Then the rest explains why it comes about and what to stop it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel feeds your motor — but plenty of newer diesels seen round Currie and Baberton carry another liquid too. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to clean it, from a separate tank.
There's a filler for every tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on many motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Currie?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a drive off Forth View Crescent before work, or in the car park outside The Riccarton Inn heading home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and if it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar cars come next, as well. Rentals, new vehicles and company cars put their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Third, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as easily, and once the pour starts, no part stops it. It takes a few seconds, whether out in Riccarton or right in the centre of Currie.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around Currie or a driveway out in Malleny Mills. Seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by position.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — many motors show what goes in each filler just there.
- Cannot see it beside your diesel inlet? In that case check below the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook says which.
- Ask 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 Curriehill.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Anywhere in City of Edinburgh the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Curriehill Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both sit under a flap, make sure it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Skip step five altogether.
Currie: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Short order, then. First: your engine remains unstarted. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the vehicle on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
At a forecourt — Sainsbury's, BP or another — the attendants will normally help push the car away, when you ask. If you're on your own driveway in Currie, leave the vehicle where it is.
Already started? Stop once it's safe, then turn off. On the M8, under 3 miles from Currie, that means the next exit. About how far did it go? Crossing Currie is less a job than a run of under 10 miles to Edinburgh, so say.
Currie: what occurs when our technicians get there
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, close to Our Lady, Mother Of The Church or on your own driveway. Those replies decide this work and our quote, and so our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and whether it has run. The price comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Then that tank is drained and the fuel system purged thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and nothing clears away on its own, however long it is left. Filter flushed or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a check of your car. The motor is started next and checked to confirm it runs properly, all before our technicians go.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Currie itself
Currie is a suburban area in the City of Edinburgh, situated near the Water of Leith and overlooking the surrounding countryside. Currie sits at an elevation of 136 metres, approximately 6 miles west of Edinburgh's city centre. Currie has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are particularly prevalent in the area. Currie is close to nearby places such as Riccarton and Gowanhill, making it a connected residential community.
AdBlue drains in Currie and across City of Edinburgh
Over EH postcodes, the vans that cover Currie — a residential suburb — work the surrounding spots too, Warriston and Gowanhill among them. Fastest of all: quote a EH14 5 postcode for our van.
Your car does not need to move. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Pentland View Park, a side street near Currie Library: our engineers drain it where it sits. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Dougal Haston Memorial Stone? By a county line? Asking is better than assuming, so ring.
In short, for Currie drivers
Pour no AdBlue until you've read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it is, wherever in City of Edinburgh: keep the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.