Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Haddington Place
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page down a moment, leave your ignition and engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Around Haddington Place, finding it before your engine runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. Reading before the event? In that case the rest explains how it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels around Spittal, like those in Haddington Place, carry on two fluids; the motor gets only the diesel. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to clean it, from a separate tank.
There is a filler for each tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, poured by a driver who must stop and think which filler it needs. That gap is where the slip lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Haddington Place
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from your car, and running dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Haddington Place, or outside the pub in the village on the way home that evening.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a rental car, a new car or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
Lastly, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as easily, and once the tip starts, no part halts it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Haddington Place or out in Aberlady.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Saltcoats Steading or a forecourt in Haddington Place, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many cars carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it is when the filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Longniddry.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — wherever it is around East Lothian — a routine to follow.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of The Gardens.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, yet it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the 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.
- Shut the cap, and look again — making sure your diesel cap stayed closed throughout. Only then, start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Leave out step five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Haddington Place?
Don't start your engine: that's how the short order of things starts. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of that tank, right where the fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — BP, Shell or another — the attendants will usually help push the car clear, when you ask. At home around Haddington Place? So your car stays where it is.
Already started? Stop when it's safe, then turn off. The next junction means the place to leave if you're on the M8, under 25 miles from Haddington Place. Mileage matters — a short hop across Haddington Place makes a smaller job than driving under 15 miles to Edinburgh — so say about how far it went.
What occurs when our technicians get there in Haddington Place
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, close to Aberlady Village Hall or on your own drive. Those replies settle the work and our quote, so our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it has run. That quote is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Then your tank is emptied and your system cleaned thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that matters more here than with petrol. A test is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the filter is flushed or changed if necessary. Before we go, our technicians start the car and confirm that it is running correctly.
Unrun vehicles mostly mean a half-hour visit after arrival. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Haddington Place, briefly
Haddington Place is a coastal locality in East Lothian, situated near the towns of Aberlady and Craigielaw, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Haddington Place lies close to the sea, at an elevation of around 10 metres, and is approximately 13 miles east of Edinburgh. Haddington Place is part of the wider East Lothian area, which is known for its scenic coastline and rural landscapes.
AdBlue drains in Haddington Place and across East Lothian
Craigielaw and Ballencrieff are among the towns around Haddington Place, a coastal area, that the same vans cover, over EH postcodes. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting EH32 0.
The car stays put. We drain it where it is — a side street near Mercat Cross, a lay-by on the way to Loany Wood, a driveway. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Aberlady Parish Church, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The short version for Haddington Place drivers
Pour no AdBlue until you've read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it is, wherever in East Lothian: keep the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.