Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hairmyres
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, leave the ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, if your engine has not turned, it is drained and thoroughly rinsed where your vehicle is in Hairmyres. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the reasons it occurs and the how to avoid it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single fluid but two: that is what many modern diesels around Hairmyres and Jackton carry, with diesel for your motor. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there spraying treats the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of motors share a single flap for both, while some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think what filler to use. That gap is where the slip lives.
Hairmyres: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Eaglesham Road, or heading home in the car park at Gardenhall Inn.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip after it has started. Whether it takes place in Peel Park or the middle of Hairmyres, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Newlandsmuir or a forecourt in Hairmyres, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- 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 vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of motors carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it next to your diesel filler? In that case check below the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook will say where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside the nearest station? Check with whoever drove it last before you set off, rather than once the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in South Lanarkshire that is.
- Stop somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Strathtay Avenue.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish when the tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, pour slowly through its own spout.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never opened off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Hairmyres?
Do not start your engine: that's where the short order of things begins. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
At a forecourt — BP, Morrisons or any other — the staff will usually help push the vehicle away, when you ask. At home around Hairmyres? So the car remains put.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next junction means where to leave if you are on the M77, under 5 miles from Hairmyres. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Glasgow, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Hairmyres.
When we get there around Hairmyres, what happens?
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, near Pharos or on your own drive. We ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, since the replies determine this work and the price. On the phone call itself, you hear the price — before dispatch.
The fuel system is then cleaned thoroughly, once that tank is drained. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and none of it washes away unaided, however long it is left. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Then we fire it up and confirm it runs smoothly before we go.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our engineers get there, as long as your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Hairmyres
Hairmyres is a suburban area situated on the riverside in South Lanarkshire, with a mix of detached housing and local amenities. Hairmyres sits near the city of Glasgow, approximately 7 miles from the city centre, and is close to nearby places such as Peel Park and Mossneuk. Hairmyres has a population of around 4220 people and is located at an elevation of 162 metres, providing views of the surrounding landscape. Hairmyres is also relatively distant from London, at around 338 miles away.
Hairmyres and South Lanarkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Mossneuk and Westwood are among the places near Hairmyres, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over G postcodes. A postcode starting G74 5 gets the van to you fastest.
The car does not need to move. The drain takes place on the spot, whether a drive, a road by Church of Mossneuk, or a lay-by on the way to Hairmyres / Mossneuk Park. Tricky to explain, like the back of Orbital Road opening memorial? Close to a border? Asking beats guessing, so ring.
In short, for Hairmyres motorists
Tip no AdBlue till you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in South Lanarkshire.