Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Forres: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page down for now, leave your ignition and engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Forres. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels in Broom of Moy, as well as Forres, run on two liquids; the motor gets only the diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there spraying cleans the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have the two side by side behind one flap. Topping up the diesel side at the pump happens constantly. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. That gap is where the slip lives.
Forres: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off North Street before work, or in the car park outside Carlton Hotel on the way home.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after begun, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Forres or out in Bogton.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around Forres or a driveway over in Mundole. Seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it beside your diesel filler? Then check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside the nearest station? Check with whoever drove it last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever in Moray the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of High Street, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off first.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you've found the filler and read it.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Forres?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting the motor. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the Sea Park Filling Station, ask the staff to help push the car clear of the pump. On your own drive in Forres? Then the car remains put.
When your engine has run by now, pull over safely and turn the car off. On the M90, over 50 miles from Forres, that means the next junction. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Forres is a smaller job than heading under 25 miles towards Inverness — so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians arrive in Forres, what occurs?
Wherever your car came to rest, whether outside the local primary school, beside The Tolbooth or at home, the van travels to it. The answers determine this work and our price, and so our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run. Nobody sets off before you've heard the price by phone.
Then your tank is cleared and the system flushed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The engine is started next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before our technicians head off.
If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. It is worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Forres itself
Forres is a coastal town in Moray, situated on the Moray Firth at an elevation of 23 metres, with a mix of detached housing and other types of homes. Forres is located near several smaller communities, including Bogton, Thornhill, and Pilmuir, and is approximately 24 miles from the city of Inverness. Forres has a population of around 8036 people and is a significant urban centre in the area. Forres sits in a scenic part of Scotland, with the North Sea to the north and rolling countryside to the south.
Forres and Moray: AdBlue drains across the area
Forres is a coastal town, and the teams that cover it also work the places around it, Thornhill and Pilmuir among them, across the IV postcode area. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting IV36 1.
No need to shift the vehicle. We drain it where it is — a side street near Falconer Museum, a lay-by on the way to Grant Park, a driveway. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Mercat Cross.
The short version for Forres people
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Moray, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — and so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.