Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Glenfarg: Why It Occurs
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and your ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the motor has not run, it is emptied and thoroughly purged where the vehicle sits in Glenfarg. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Many modern diesels in Middleton, as well as Glenfarg, run on two liquids; the motor takes just your diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler for each tank. Many of cars share a single flap for both, while some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled all the time. Far less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Glenfarg: how it happens
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the vehicle, and letting it run dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Greenbank Crescent, perhaps at the pub in the village on the way home after work.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — but a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second thing: a new car.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip once it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Glenfarg or out in Duncrievie.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Burnside or a forecourt in Glenfarg, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- Cannot find it next to the diesel inlet? Then check below the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Perth? Ask whoever drove it last before you set off, rather than once the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Perth and Kinross that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Main Street, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap never opened off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Glenfarg: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Short list, then. Top of it: the engine remains off. Leave the ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels switching it on alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Thames, the another forecourt nearby or somewhere else. On your own drive in Glenfarg? So the car stays put.
Where the motor has run by now, pull over safely and switch it off. The next junction is where to come off if you're on the M90, under a mile from Glenfarg. Mileage counts — a short hop across Glenfarg is a smaller job than heading under 10 miles towards Perth — so say roughly how far it went.
When our engineers turn up in Glenfarg, what occurs?
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, close to Glenfarg Community Centre or on your own driveway. The answers settle this work and the price, so our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and whether it's run. You get that price on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Then your tank is cleared and your system flushed thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away unaided. That is why it counts more. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before we go, our engineers start the car and check that it's running correctly.
If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Glenfarg and where it is
Glenfarg is a small village situated on the banks of the River Farg in Perth and Kinross, with a mix of rural and residential areas at an elevation of around 147 metres. Glenfarg has a population of approximately 665 people, living in predominantly detached housing. Glenfarg is located near several other small settlements, including Duncrievie, Fordel, and Newton of Balcanquhal, and is about 8 miles from the city of Perth. Glenfarg enjoys a scenic riverside setting, with the surrounding countryside offering opportunities for outdoor activities.
AdBlue drains across Perth and Kinross, Glenfarg included
Glenfarg is a village, and the vans that cover it also work the places near it, Fordel and Newton of Balcanquhal among them, across the PH postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting PH2 9.
Your car doesn't need to shift. We drain it where it is — a side street near War Memorial, a lay-by on the way to Glenfarg Green, a drive. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Arngask Church, on a border, or anywhere hard to describe; ring and check.
In short, for Glenfarg drivers
Tip no AdBlue until you have read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Leave the vehicle switched off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across Perth and Kinross.