AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Duntocher: Why It Happens and How to Prevent It
Keep your motor and ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Normally, when the motor hasn't run, it's drained and fully flushed where the car is around Duntocher. Reading in advance? In that case what follows explains how it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels around Mountblow, as well as Duntocher, carry on two liquids; your motor takes only the diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place the two side by side under one flap. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Duntocher
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Haste follows from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Roman Road, or on the way home in the car park at The Glenhead Tavern.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: an unfamiliar car.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once started, carries on. Whether it happens in Parkhall or the middle of Duntocher, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Dalmuir or a forecourt around Duntocher, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- Many cars give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Dalmuir? Ask the person who drove it last before you set off, not once the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
On the day the warning appears — anywhere it is around West Dunbartonshire — a routine to follow.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, engine off, and never rushed beside Veitches Court at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both sit under a flap, make sure it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then look once more — making sure the diesel cap stayed shut throughout. Only then, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Duntocher?
Don't start the motor: that is where the short order of things starts. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel will not dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of that tank, right where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Esso, JET or any forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing your car clear when asked. Your own drive in Duntocher is where it should stay.
When your motor has been run already, pull over somewhere safe then turn the car off. On the Toll Plaza Interchange, under 3 miles from Duntocher, that means the next junction. About how far did it go? Hopping across Duntocher is less a job than a trip of under 10 miles to Glasgow, so tell us.
Our arrival around Duntocher, and what happens next
Wherever the vehicle has stopped, be it by the local primary school, near War Memorial or at home, our van travels to it. Our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and whether it has run, since the replies settle the work and the quote. On the phone call itself, you are told our price — before dispatch.
Emptying the tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the fuel system. More than with petrol, it matters here: crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and none of that clears out unaided, however long it sits. Filter cleaned or, where needed, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a test of the car. Before we leave, we start the engine and check that it's running properly.
If your engine has not run, the majority of 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 after dark. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Duntocher
Duntocher is a suburban area in West Dunbartonshire, situated near the coast and approximately 8 miles northwest of Glasgow. Duntocher sits at an elevation of around 55 metres, overlooking the Clyde Valley. Duntocher is characterised by its predominantly flat-type housing and is located near other suburban areas such as Parkhall and Hardgate.
AdBlue drains around Duntocher, and West Dunbartonshire beyond
Hardgate and Faifley are among the towns around Duntocher, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over G postcodes. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting G81 6.
There's no need to shift your car. The drain happens right there, be it a drive, a road by Duntocher Trinity Parish Church, or a layby towards Goldenhill Park. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Duntocher Wall Base, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Duntocher drivers: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep it switched off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout West Dunbartonshire.