Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Drylaw
Stop here for a moment when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, when your motor hasn't run, it is emptied and thoroughly cleaned where the vehicle sits in Drylaw. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel goes to your motor — yet many newer diesels seen round Drylaw and Muirhouse carry another fluid too. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There is a filler on every tank. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
Drylaw: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a driveway off Easter Drylaw Avenue before work, or in the car park at Ferry Boat Bar heading home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then your car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Nothing halts the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Drylaw or out in Blackhall.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Orchard Brae or a forecourt in Drylaw.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- On many vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — many cars mark which goes in each inlet just there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Haymarket, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
For the day the light comes on — anywhere it is in City of Edinburgh — a routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Wester Drylaw Avenue, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before you start the vehicle, shut the cap and look again that your diesel cap never opened off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Stage five stays out.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Drylaw?
Brief list, then. Top of that: your engine stays off. Keep your ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels switching it on alone runs your pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Sainsbury's, the Shell or anywhere else. Your own driveway in Drylaw is the place it should stay.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M8, under 5 miles from Drylaw, that means the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Drylaw is smaller work than a run of under 3 miles towards Edinburgh, so tell us.
What occurs when our technicians arrive in Drylaw
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, near Drylaw Parish Church or on your own drive. Our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it's run, since the replies decide the work and the price. On the call itself, you are told our quote — ahead of anything else.
The fuel system is then flushed thoroughly, after that tank is cleared. More than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals form, certain metals corrode, and none of it washes away unaided, no matter how long it is left. Filter cleaned or, where it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; then a test of your car. Next we start the engine and make sure it runs correctly before we leave.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after we arrive, as long as your motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. It's worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Drylaw, briefly
Drylaw is a suburban area in the City of Edinburgh, situated approximately 2.4 miles northwest of Edinburgh's city centre. Drylaw occupies a coastal setting, with its elevation at around 56 metres above sea level, and is characterised by predominantly flat-type housing. Drylaw is close to nearby places such as Blackhall, Craigleith, and West Pilton, and is home to a population of around 8316 people.
AdBlue drains across City of Edinburgh, Drylaw included
Over EH postcodes, the vans covering Drylaw — a residential suburb — work the surrounding locations too, West Pilton and Craigleith included. A postcode starting EH4 2 gets our van to you fastest.
Your car doesn't need to shift. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre, a lay-by on the way to Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre Community Garden, a drive. Awkward to explain, like the back of Muirhouse Kingdom Hall? Close to a county line? Checking is better than guessing, and so phone.
Drylaw people: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it sits, anywhere across City of Edinburgh.