How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Greystone
Pause here a minute when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the engine has not run, it is drained and fully purged where the car is around Greystone. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the why it takes place and the ways to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Many newer diesels around Milldamhead, like those in Greystone, run on two fluids; the motor gets only the diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have both side by side behind one flap. Diesel goes in at every forecourt visit, week in, week out. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think what cap it needs. That gap is where the error lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Greystone: how it takes place
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Marchmount Avenue before work, or in the car park at Hazeldean House on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and if it is empty, limp mode follows.
Unfamiliar cars come next, as well. Rentals, new cars and company motors put their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as easily, and after the tip starts, no part halts it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Greystone or out in Marchmount.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Nunholm or a forecourt around Greystone.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Dumfries, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Dumfries and Galloway that is.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, engine off, and never in a rush beside Carnegie Street at the roadside.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It seems daft. It works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two sit under a flap, confirm it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Step five is out.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Greystone already?
Do not start the engine: that's where the short order of things starts. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of your tank, just where fuel is taken from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the car clear of the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Morrisons, the another forecourt nearby or somewhere else. Your own drive in Greystone is the place it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. On the A74(M), under 10 miles from Greystone, that means the next exit. Mileage matters — a short hop across Greystone is a smaller job than driving under 50 miles towards Carlisle — so say about how far it went.
Our arrival around Greystone, and what occurs next
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, close to David Keswick Athletic Centre or on your own driveway. What liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our technicians ask because the replies decide both work and price. You hear that price on the phone, before anybody sets off.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. More than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals form, certain metals corrode, and nothing washes out unaided, however long it is left. The filter flushed or, if needed, replaced; clean diesel in; then a test of your vehicle. After that our engineers start the car and confirm it runs properly before we go.
If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Greystone itself
Greystone is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Dumfries and Galloway, with a relatively low elevation of 22 metres. Greystone lies near several smaller communities, including Marchmount, Greenbrae, and Stoop, and is located approximately 29 miles from Carlisle. Greystone has a population of around 3291 people, predominantly living in detached housing. Greystone is also relatively distant from major cities, with London being around 285 miles away.
AdBlue drains round Greystone, and Dumfries and Galloway beyond
Being a residential suburb, Greystone has the same vans as nearby places — Greenbrae, Stoop — all the way across DG postcodes and the wider area around them. Fastest of all: give a DG1 1 postcode to our van.
Your car remains where it is. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a lay-by on the way to Fontainbleau Ladypark Nature Reserve, a driveway. Guessing won't help at the back of Gracefield Arts Centre, on a boundary, or somewhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
The short version for Greystone people
Pour no AdBlue until you have read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Dumfries and Galloway.