How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Gillies Knowe
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page aside a moment, leave the 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 Gillies Knowe. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the why it occurs and the how to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Plenty of current diesels on the roads around Gillies Knowe and Bellsbank carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Some motors keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have both side by side under one flap. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, poured by someone who must stop and think which filler to use. The mistake lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen around Gillies Knowe?
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
On a drive off Gillies Knowe before work, or in the car park outside the pub in the village heading home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and once it's empty, limp mode follows.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is a second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
No part halts the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Dalmellington or the middle of Gillies Knowe: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, on a forecourt in Gillies Knowe or a driveway over in Waterside. Seconds, that's all.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Plenty of vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it next to your diesel filler? In that case check below the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside New Cumnock? Ask the person who drove it last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, anywhere in East Ayrshire, use this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Armour Wynd.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- Both behind one flap? So confirm the lid on your diesel filler stays closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Finish when your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip gently through the own spout.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Gillies Knowe?
The short order of things, starting with no starting your motor. Leave the ignition off too, since on many diesels it by itself starts the pump. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of the tank, just where fuel is taken from.
At a forecourt — JET, another forecourt nearby or another — the staff will normally help roll the vehicle away, if you ask. Your own drive in Gillies Knowe is the place it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. Leave the M77 — under 25 miles out of Gillies Knowe — at the next exit. About how far did it go? Hopping across Gillies Knowe is less work than a trip of under 50 miles towards Glasgow, and so tell us.
When our technicians get there in Gillies Knowe, what occurs?
Outside the local primary school, near Doon Valley Leisure Centre or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Those replies decide this work and our quote, and so our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. You get that quote by phone, before anyone sets off.
The system is then rinsed thoroughly, once your tank is emptied. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before leaving, we start the car and confirm that it is running correctly.
If the engine hasn't 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. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Gillies Knowe and where it is
Gillies Knowe is a suburban area situated on the riverside in East Ayrshire, with a mix of flat housing and local amenities. Gillies Knowe sits at an elevation of 184 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. Gillies Knowe is located near several small settlements, including Dalmellington, Burnton, and Pennyvenie, and is within commuting distance of Glasgow, which is approximately 37 miles away.
AdBlue drains across East Ayrshire, Gillies Knowe included
Throughout KA postcodes, the vans covering Gillies Knowe — a residential suburb — work the nearby places too, Pennyvenie and Burnton among them. A postcode starting KA6 7 gets our van to you fastest.
No need to move the car. The drain takes place right there, whether a driveway, a street by Dalmellington Motte, or a layby towards Bogton Plantation. Awkward to explain, like the back of Station Park? By a county line? Checking is better than guessing, so ring.
Gillies Knowe motorists: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep the vehicle switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across East Ayrshire.