Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Dykehead
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done right where the vehicle sits around Dykehead, is usually what it takes when caught before your motor runs. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the reasons it happens and the how to avoid it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Diesel goes to your engine — but many current diesels driven around Dykehead and Stane carry another liquid too. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Many of cars have a single flap for the two, while some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the pump happens all the time. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between them.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur around Dykehead?
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Park Road before work, or in the car park outside The Old Wine Store on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
Unfamiliar vehicles are next, as well. Hire cars, new cars and company cars put their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, after begun, keeps on. Whether it occurs in Shotts or the middle of Dykehead, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Dykehead forecourt or a driveway over in Torbothie, take a few seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check as you collect a hire car or fleet car — at Shotts's car park, perhaps — rather than when the light appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across North Lanarkshire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Shottskirk Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've located your filler and read the cap.
- The two under one flap? Then make sure the cap on your diesel side is still shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, close the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap was never opened off.
Discover at the second or third step that AdBlue went into the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Never go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Dykehead already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Keep your ignition off too, because on many diesels it alone starts the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Shell, another forecourt nearby or another forecourt will normally lend a hand to push the vehicle clear if you ask. On your own drive in Dykehead? Then the vehicle remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. Come off the M8 — under 3 miles out of Dykehead — at the first junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Dykehead is smaller a job than a run of under 25 miles towards Glasgow, so tell us.
Our arrival in Dykehead, and what takes place next
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, near Shotts Giant or on your own driveway. The answers decide the work and the quote, and so our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and whether it's run. You get that price on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears out unaided. That is why it matters more. After the fuel filter has been flushed — or replaced, if needed — clean diesel is added, and finally your vehicle gets tested. Your engine is started next and tested to make sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers head off.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the engine has not run need roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Dykehead and where it is
Dykehead is a suburban area situated on the riverside in North Lanarkshire, with a mix of terraced housing and a population of around 4188 residents. Dykehead sits at an elevation of 222 metres, near the towns of Shotts and Calderhead, and is located approximately 16.9 miles from Glasgow. Dykehead is part of the wider Glasgow urban area, with the city's amenities and services within reach. Dykehead's riverside setting provides a distinctive character to the area.
AdBlue drains around Dykehead and across North Lanarkshire
Calderhead and Burnbrae are among the towns near Dykehead, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over ML postcodes. A postcode starting ML7 4 gets our van to you fastest.
The car remains where it is. Anywhere it stands — beside Mining Memorial, on a lay-by heading to Shotts Nature Park, at home — that's where it is emptied. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Dykehead Orange Hall.
The short version for Dykehead motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave it switched off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across North Lanarkshire.