How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Dalshannon
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. Around Dalshannon, finding it before the motor turns normally means draining and a thorough flush where it stands. Reading before the event? In that case the rest explains why it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads round Dalshannon and Smithstone carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler on each tank. Many of motors have a single flap for both, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
Dalshannon: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things coming up together.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the car, and letting it run dry means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Woodmill Gardens, perhaps at Brodens on the way home after work.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second factor: a new motor.
Nothing halts the pour once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Dalshannon or out in Mollinsburn.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a drive in Blackwood or a forecourt in Dalshannon.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Check with 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 outside Greenfaulds.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere around North Lanarkshire, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Gainburn Crescent, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your 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.
- Shut the cap, then look again — making sure the diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. Only then, start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip stage five entirely.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Dalshannon already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the base rather than blending — and that's where the fuel is drawn from.
The staff at BP, Gulf or another forecourt will usually lend a hand to push the car away when asked. At home in Dalshannon? Then the car stays put.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Leave the M80 — under a mile out of Dalshannon — at the first junction. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Dalshannon is smaller a job than a trip of under 10 miles to Glasgow, so tell us.
What happens when we turn up in Dalshannon
Outside the local primary school, near Condorrat Parish Church or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Which liquid got in, the amount, and if it ran: our technicians ask since those replies decide both work and quote. During the call itself, you are told our quote — before anything else.
Then your tank is emptied and the system purged thoroughly. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. Once the filter has been cleaned — or replaced, if required — clean diesel is added, and then the car gets tested. The engine is fired up next and checked to confirm it runs properly, all before our engineers leave.
If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Wrong-fuel cover is part of many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Dalshannon itself
Dalshannon is a suburban area situated on the riverside in North Lanarkshire, with a mix of terraced housing and local amenities. Dalshannon sits at an elevation of around 80 metres, close to the nearby communities of Mollinsburn, Westfield, and Condorrat. Dalshannon is located near Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, which is approximately 8.9 miles away. Dalshannon has a population of around 1968 residents, who enjoy the area's riverside setting and proximity to local services.
Dalshannon and North Lanarkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Over G postcodes, our vans covering Dalshannon — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Condorrat and Westfield among them. Quote a postcode that starts G67 4, and the van arrives quickest.
Your car doesn't need to move. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Spouty Braes, a side street near Weavers, Miners and Lost Servicemen Memorial: our engineers drain the car where it stands. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Condorrat Library, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Dalshannon people: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep it switched off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout North Lanarkshire.