How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fairfield
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page down for now, leave your ignition and engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Around Fairfield, catching it before your motor turns normally leaves a drain and a full flush where it stands. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Diesel goes to your motor — but plenty of current diesels driven about Fairfield and Branshill carry another fluid too. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others have both together behind one flap. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. It's in the gap that the slip happens.
Fairfield: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things coming up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Craigview before work, or in the car park at Mansfield arms on the way home.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old car — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip after it has started. It takes seconds, whether in Sauchie or right in the heart of Fairfield.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Fishcross or a forecourt in Fairfield, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- On many motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Alloa? Check with the person who drove it last before you set off, not once the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever across Clackmannanshire the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Craigbank, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have found the filler and read the cap.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both share a flap, confirm it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Skip step five entirely.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Fairfield?
Don't start your motor: that's how the short order of things begins. Keep your ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels it alone runs your pump. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Asda, Morrisons or any forecourt will usually help to push your car away when asked. At home around Fairfield? Then your car stays put.
Where your motor has run already, stop somewhere safe then switch the car off. On the M876, under 10 miles from Fairfield, that means the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Stirling, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Fairfield.
When our engineers arrive in Fairfield, what happens?
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, be it outside the local primary school, near Sauchie Parish Church or at home, the van comes to it. Those replies determine this work and our price, and so our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and if it's run. The quote comes over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the fuel system. 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. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The motor is started next and tested to make sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers go.
Unstarted vehicles usually need a half-hour visit after arrival. The kit is fine on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. The 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. It's worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Fairfield
Fairfield is a coastal locality in Clackmannanshire, situated near the city of Stirling and close to the communities of Sauchie and Alloa. Fairfield lies at an elevation of 43 metres, with its predominant housing stock consisting of flats. Fairfield is part of the wider Stirling urban area, with the city centre approximately 6 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Fairfield, and Clackmannanshire beyond
Keilarsbrae and Hallpark are among the towns around Fairfield, a coastal area, that the same vans cover, throughout FK postcodes. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting FK10 3.
Your car remains put. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near Beechwood Park, a lay-by on the way to Schawpark Golf course, a driveway. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Sauchie Resource Centre.
For Fairfield people, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Clackmannanshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.