How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Gateside
Stop here a minute if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your engine hasn't run, it is drained and thoroughly rinsed where the car is around Gateside. Reading in advance? Then what follows explains why it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds your motor — but plenty of newer diesels seen round Gateside and Levernside hold another fluid too. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to fresh them, from a separate tank.
Different tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on a lot of motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Diesel gets filled at every filling station visit, again and again. Far less often, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
Gateside: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things lining up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle 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 Wraes View before work, or in the car park at The Killoch Bar on the way home.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is the second factor: a strange car.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after started, carries on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Gateside or out in Lochlibo.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Gateside forecourt or a drive over in Hillside, take a couple of seconds on these before anything goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- On many vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Neilston.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
For the day the light appears — anywhere you are across East Renfrewshire — a routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Gateside Road, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've located your filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Skip step five entirely.
Gateside: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Brief list, then. Top of it: the engine stays unstarted. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — so keep it off. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of that tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help roll the car clear of the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the Gulf, the Asda or anywhere else. If you are on your own drive in Gateside, leave it where it sits.
Already started? Stop once it's safe, then switch off. The next junction is where to leave when you're on the M77, under 3 miles from Gateside. A short hop across Gateside is a smaller job than a run towards Glasgow, under 10 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Gateside: what happens when our technicians turn up
Outside the local primary school, close to Neilston Leisure Centre or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. The replies determine this work and our quote, so our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it's run. Nobody heads out until you've heard our quote by phone.
Then that tank is drained and your system purged thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and nothing clears out unaided, however long it sits. Once the fuel filter has been flushed — or replaced, if required — clean diesel goes in, and then the car gets tested. Before we leave, we fire it up and check that it's running smoothly.
If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Gateside, for a moment
Gateside is a suburban area situated on the riverside in East Renfrewshire, with a mix of detached housing and local amenities. Gateside sits at an elevation of around 80 metres, close to the nearby settlements of Lochlibo, Nether Kirkton, and West Arthurlie. Gateside is located approximately 8 miles from Glasgow, making it a commuter-friendly location. Gateside has a population of around 1355 residents, who enjoy the scenic riverside setting.
Gateside and East Renfrewshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Nether Kirkton and West Arthurlie are among the places around Gateside, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout G postcodes. Fastest of all: quote a G78 1 postcode to our van.
The car stays where it is. Wherever it sits — beside Neilston Library, on a lay-by heading to McDiarmid Park, at home — that's where it gets cleared. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Neilston Parish Church? By a border? Asking beats guessing, and so ring.
The short version for Gateside people
Pour nothing till you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in East Renfrewshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — and so leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.