How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Greenock West
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page down for now, keep your ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Around Greenock West, catching it before the engine turns usually leaves draining and a thorough flush on the spot. The remainder of this page covers why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Diesel goes to your engine — but many current diesels seen about Greenock West and Bow Farm carry another liquid too. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where a spray cleans the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on a lot of vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think what cap it needs. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Greenock West: how it occurs
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things lining up together.
On a driveway off Union Street before work, or in the car park outside Horseshoe Bar on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old motor — since a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
Lastly, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as readily, and once the pour starts, no part halts it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Greenock West or out in Lyle Hill.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Greenock West forecourt or a driveway over in Greenock, spend a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- Open the flap and check for a label — many vehicles mark what belongs in each inlet right there.
- Cannot see it beside your diesel inlet? Then look below the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook says which.
- Ask 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 the nearest station.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Anywhere around Inverclyde the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, motor stopped, and not rushed beside Newark Street on the verge.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, but 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.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Greenock West?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting your engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
At a forecourt — Tesco, BP or any other — the staff will normally help roll the vehicle clear, if you ask. On your own drive around Greenock West? So the car remains put.
Where the motor has run by now, stop safely then switch it off. The next junction means where to leave if you are on the M8, under 10 miles from Greenock West. Distance counts — a short hop across Greenock West makes a smaller job than driving under 25 miles towards Glasgow — so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians turn up around Greenock West, what takes place?
By the local primary school, close to Finnart St Paul's Church or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Both the work and the price rest on three answers — what fluid, what amount, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. During the call itself, you are told our quote — ahead of dispatch.
Emptying that tank comes next, then a full flush of your system. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and nothing clears out unaided, no matter how long it sits. Once the filter has been flushed — or replaced, where required — clean diesel goes in, and then the vehicle gets tested. We don't leave until it has been started and is running correctly.
If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Wrong-fuel cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Greenock West and where it is
Greenock West is a coastal suburban area in Inverclyde, situated near the town centre and overlooking the Firth of Clyde. Greenock West has a relatively low elevation of 28 metres and is characterised by predominantly flat-type housing. Greenock West is located approximately 21 miles west of Glasgow and is a significant residential community within the Inverclyde area.
AdBlue drains around Greenock West and across Inverclyde
Greenock West is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Fort Matilda and Central among them, across the PA postcode area. Quote a postcode beginning PA16 8, and the van gets there fastest.
Shifting the vehicle isn't necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Lyle Park, a side street near Lyle Kirk: our engineers drain the car where it stands. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Diocese of Paisley -- St. Mary's Catholic Church, ring and ask instead of guessing.
For Greenock West drivers, the short version
First, the cap; after that, the tip. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave the car switched off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across Inverclyde.