Edinburgh: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Leave your motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, done just where the car sits around Edinburgh, is usually what it needs when caught before your motor runs. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page explains the reasons it happens and the how to prevent it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of modern diesels around Canongate, like those in Edinburgh, run on two liquids; your motor gets just your diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on many cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Filling your diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think what cap it needs. It is in the gap that the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs around Edinburgh
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things coming up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off North Bridge, or at Waterloo Bar on the way home that evening.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Edinburgh or out in Roxburghs Court.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in New Town or a forecourt around Edinburgh.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — many cars mark what belongs in which filler just there.
- The handbook says where it is when the filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Edinburgh Waverley, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever around City of Edinburgh the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Leith Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The two behind one flap? So confirm the lid on your diesel filler is still shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Finish when that tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, pour slowly through the own spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? So stop right there. Do not go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Edinburgh?
Short list, then. First: the motor remains off. Leave the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels it alone starts the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at BP, JET or another forecourt will normally help pushing your car clear if you ask. At home in Edinburgh? Then the vehicle stays put.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Come off the M8 — under 10 miles out of Edinburgh — at the next junction. A short hop across Edinburgh is a smaller job than a run towards Dunfermline, under 15 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Edinburgh, and what happens next
Outside the local primary school, near Duke of Wellington Statue or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, our technicians come to it. The replies determine the work and the price, and so our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. On the call itself, you are told the price — before dispatch.
Draining that tank comes next, then a full flush of the system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither washes out unaided. That is why it counts more. Testing is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. Before leaving, our technicians fire it up and check that it's running correctly.
Unrun vehicles usually need a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is fine on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Edinburgh
Edinburgh is a coastal city in Scotland, situated on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth at an elevation of around 75 metres. Edinburgh sits in a strategic location, with nearby places such as Roxburghs Court, Greenside, and Old Town contributing to its urban landscape. Edinburgh is predominantly composed of flat housing, reflecting its dense and compact city centre. Edinburgh is a significant urban centre, with a population of approximately 198,614 people.
Edinburgh and City of Edinburgh: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a capital city, Edinburgh shares its vans surrounding places — Greenside, Old Town — all the way across EH postcodes and the wider area beyond. A postcode starting EH1 3 gets our van to you fastest.
Shifting the vehicle is not needed. Anywhere it stands — near Waverley Market, in a lay-by en route to Archivists' Garden, on a drive — that is where it is emptied. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of The Jellicoe Express -- 1917 - 2017.
For Edinburgh motorists, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it stands, wherever around City of Edinburgh: switch it off then phone 0333 366 0103.