Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Glenboig
Stop reading for a moment when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, carried out just where your vehicle sits in Glenboig, is normally all it needs when found before the engine runs. Reading in advance? Then what follows covers how it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Not one fluid but two: that's how many newer diesels near Glenboig and Greenfoot carry, with diesel for your motor. Your exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place the two together behind one flap. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Glenboig?
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and letting it run out means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Carrick Place, or outside Brickworx Bar & Brasserie on the way home that evening.
Unfamiliar motors are second, too. Rentals, new motors and company cars place their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Third, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as easily, and once the pour begins, no part halts it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Glenboig or out in Garnqueen.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Annathill or a forecourt in Glenboig.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to your diesel filler? In that case check below the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check when you collect a hire car or company car — from Gartcosh's car park, perhaps — not once the warning appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere around North Lanarkshire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Main Street, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as 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, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then check once more — making sure your diesel filler remained closed the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
Find during the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the wrong filler? That's where you stop. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Glenboig?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting the engine. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the vehicle on. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than mixing — and that's where the fuel is pulled from.
At a forecourt — BP, Asda or another — the attendants will usually help push the car clear, if you ask. If you are on your own driveway in Glenboig, leave the car where it sits.
Where your engine has been run already, stop somewhere safe and turn the car off. Glenboig lies under a mile from the M73; there, take the next junction. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Glenboig makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles to Glasgow — so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival around Glenboig, and what occurs next
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, near War Memorial or on your own driveway. We ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it has run, because those replies decide the work and the quote. That quote is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of your system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, some metals are attacked, and nothing washes away on its own, however long it sits. After your filter has been cleaned — or renewed, where needed — fresh diesel is added, and finally your car gets tested. We do not go until it has been started and is running properly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your motor hasn't run take roughly half an hour once our technicians arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Glenboig and where it is
Glenboig is a small village situated on the riverside in North Lanarkshire, with a relatively low elevation of 87 metres. Glenboig lies close to the city of Glasgow, approximately 7.7 miles to the northwest, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Garnqueen, Marnock, and Marnoch. Glenboig has a population of around 546 people and predominantly features detached housing.
Glenboig and North Lanarkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout ML postcodes, our teams that cover Glenboig — a village — work the surrounding places too, Marnoch and Marnock among them. Give a postcode that starts ML5 2, and our van gets there fastest.
There's no need to shift the car. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Glenboig Parish Church, a lay-by on the way to Glenboig Park, a drive. Awkward to explain, like the back of Glenboig Life Centre? Close to a county line? Asking is better than assuming, so ring.
Glenboig motorists: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it is, anywhere across North Lanarkshire: switch the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.