AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hallglen: How It Happens and How to Avoid It
Stop here for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Around Hallglen, catching it before your engine turns normally means a drain and a full flush on the spot. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to ensure it does not — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of modern diesels around Falkirk, as well as Hallglen, run on two liquids; your motor takes only your diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on many cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. It is in that gap that the mistake happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Hallglen: how it takes place
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and running out means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off New Hallglen Road, perhaps at Woodside Inn on the way home after work.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old car — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as easily, and after the tip begins, no part halts it. It's seconds, whether in Glen Village or right in the heart of Hallglen.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around Hallglen or a drive out in Arnothill. A few seconds, that's all.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually aren't.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask when you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Falkirk High's car park, say — not once the warning appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere across Falkirk the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Glenburn Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, but it works.
- Both under a single flap? Then make sure the cap on the diesel side stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Finish when that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip gently through the own spout.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap was never came off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Hallglen?
Do not start your motor: that's where the short order of things begins. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
On a forecourt — Morrisons, Tesco or another — the attendants will normally help push the vehicle away, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Hallglen.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Hallglen sits under 3 miles from the M9; on it, take the first exit. A short hop across Hallglen is a smaller job than a run towards Stirling, under 15 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
When our engineers turn up in Hallglen, what takes place?
Our engineers come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, near Hallglen Sports Hall or on your own drive. Those replies determine this work and the quote, so we ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run. No one sets off before you've heard the quote over the phone.
Emptying the tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. Once your filter has been cleaned — or renewed, where required — fresh diesel is added, and finally your car gets tested. We do not leave until it has been started and is running properly.
If your engine hasn't run, the majority of 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. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Hallglen
Hallglen is a village situated on the riverside in Falkirk, with a mix of terraced housing and a population of around 2053 residents. Hallglen sits at an elevation of 105 metres, close to the nearby Glen Village and Callendar Park. Hallglen is located near the Woodlands area and is approximately 10.7 miles from Stirling, the nearest city. Hallglen's riverside setting provides a unique character to the village.
AdBlue drains across Falkirk, Hallglen included
Callendar Park and Woodlands are among the towns around Hallglen, a village, that the same teams cover, throughout FK postcodes. A postcode starting FK1 2 gets the van to you fastest.
There's no need to move the vehicle. Anywhere it sits — beside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in a lay-by en route to Callendar Woods, at home — that's where it gets drained. Assuming won't help behind The Milk Barn, close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe; ring and check.
The short version for Hallglen drivers
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Falkirk, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.