How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fortrose
Pause here for a moment when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Fortrose. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Plenty of current diesels on the roads round Fortrose and The Dock carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Fortrose: how it happens
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste follows from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off A832, or on the way home in the car park at The Anderson.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — but a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second thing: a strange motor.
Third, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as readily, and after the tip starts, no part halts it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Fortrose or out in Broomhill.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Raddery or a forecourt in Fortrose, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- On many cars, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Open the flap and look for a label — many motors mark what goes in each filler right there.
- Can't see it next to your diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook will say where.
- The previous driver knows. Ask as you collect a hire car or company car — at Inverness Airport's car park, perhaps — rather than once the light appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
When the light comes on, anywhere across Highland, use this routine.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Station Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Step five is off limits.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Fortrose?
Don't start your motor: that is how the short order of things starts. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, another forecourt nearby or any other — the staff will usually help push your car clear, if you ask. At home around Fortrose? So the vehicle remains where it is.
Already run? Pull over once it's sensible, then switch off. On the M90, over 50 miles from Fortrose, that means the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Inverness, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Fortrose.
Fortrose: what occurs when our engineers arrive
Anywhere the car has stopped, whether outside the local primary school, near Mackerchar Hall Garden of Remembrance or at home, our van travels to it. What fluid got in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because the replies decide the work and quote. You hear that price on the phone, before anybody sets off.
The fuel system is then purged thoroughly, after that tank is drained. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more here than with petrol. After the filter is cleaned — or replaced, if needed — fresh diesel goes in, and finally your vehicle gets tested. We don't go until it has been started and is running properly.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Fortrose and where it is
Fortrose is a coastal town in the Highland region of Scotland, situated on the Moray Firth at an elevation of 27 metres. Fortrose lies approximately 7.9 miles from Inverness and is near the villages of Broomhill, Rosemarkie, and Avoch. Fortrose has a population of around 2318 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Fortrose is located 449.1 miles from London, making it a relatively remote town in the Scottish Highlands.
AdBlue drains in Fortrose and across Highland
Rosemarkie and Avoch are among the places near Fortrose, a coastal town, that the same vans cover, over IV postcodes. Quickest of all: quote a IV10 8 postcode for the van.
The car remains put. Anywhere it stands — beside St Peter & St Boniface, on a lay-by en route to Mackerchar Hall Garden of Remembrance, at home — that's where it gets cleared. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Fortrose War Memorial, on a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
For Fortrose drivers, the short version
Tip nothing till you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep the vehicle switched off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Highland.