Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Dailly
Stop reading a minute when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Dailly. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page explains the reasons it takes place and the how to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel goes to the engine — but many modern diesels driven around Dailly and Ruglen carry a second liquid too. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Other motors keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have the two side by side under one flap. Diesel goes in at each filling station call-out, again and again. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Dailly?
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from your car, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Linfern Road, or outside Greenhead Hotel on the way home after work.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old car — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
Lastly, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as easily, and after the pour begins, no part halts it. Kilgrammie or the middle of Dailly: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt in Dailly or a drive over in Old Dailly. A few seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it beside your diesel filler? In that case check below the bonnet or inside the boot — the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Girvan.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, wherever around South Ayrshire, use this routine.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine stopped, and never rushed beside Greenhead Street on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Stop when the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip slowly using its built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? So stop just there. Skip step five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Dailly?
Do not start the engine: that is how the short order of things starts. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
The attendants at the nearest petrol station, another forecourt nearby or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing your car clear when you ask. If you are on your own drive around Dailly, leave the car where it sits.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. Come off the M77 — under 50 miles out of Dailly — at the first junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Dailly is smaller a job than a trip of under 50 miles to Glasgow, so tell us.
Our arrival around Dailly, and what happens next
By the local primary school, close to War Memorial or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Both the work and the quote depend on three answers — what fluid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. During the call itself, you are told the quote — before dispatch.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. A test comes last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. The engine is started next and tested to make sure it runs correctly, all before our technicians head off.
If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Dailly itself
Dailly is a village situated on the banks of a river in South Ayrshire, with a relatively low elevation of 26 metres. Dailly lies near the villages of Kilgrammie and Wallacetown, and is close to the Roan of Craigoch. Dailly has a mix of housing types, but terraced houses are the most common, and the village is located approximately 44 miles from Glasgow.
AdBlue drains around Dailly and across South Ayrshire
As a village, Dailly has the same vans as surrounding places — Wallacetown, Roan of Craigoch — right across KA postcodes and the wider area around them. Give a postcode that starts KA26 9, and our van gets there fastest.
There's no need to move the vehicle. Draining happens on the spot, be it a driveway, a street near Dailly Community Centre, or a lay-by towards Brunston Plantation. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Carrick Sports Centre.
In short, for Dailly motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere across South Ayrshire.