Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hillhead: Why It Occurs
Stop reading a minute if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Hillhead. Reading in advance? Then what follows explains how it comes about and what to prevent it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel feeds the engine — but many current diesels driven about Hillhead and Altonhill carry another fluid too. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where a spray cleans the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Other vehicles put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place both side by side behind one flap. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Hillhead
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and letting it run dry means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Cuthbert Place, or outside Black's Bar on the way home after work.
Unfamiliar cars come next, as well. Rentals, new motors and company vehicles put their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
Nothing halts the tip after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Longpark or the middle of Hillhead: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Kilmarnock or a forecourt around Hillhead.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- On many cars, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — many motors show which goes in which inlet just there.
- Can't see it beside the diesel inlet? Then look below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook says where.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Kilmarnock.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — wherever it is across East Ayrshire — a routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Dean Street, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — once you have located the filler and read it.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two share a flap, make sure it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check once more — confirm the diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. After that, start the car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Step five is off limits.
Hillhead: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Short list, then. First: the engine stays unstarted. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch it on. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of blending — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — Morrisons, BP or another — the attendants will usually help push your car away, when you ask. If you are on your own driveway in Hillhead, leave the vehicle where it stands.
Already run? Stop when it's safe, then turn off. The next exit is the place to come off when you're on the M77, under 3 miles from Hillhead. Distance matters — a short hop across Hillhead makes a smaller job than heading under 25 miles towards Glasgow — so say roughly how far it went.
Hillhead: what occurs when we turn up
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, near Townholm Bowling Club or on your own drive. What fluid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: we ask since the answers set the work and price. On the call itself, you hear the quote — ahead of dispatch.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, once that tank is drained. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals form, some metals are attacked, and nothing washes out unaided, no matter how long it is left. Testing comes last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Before leaving, our technicians start the engine and make sure that it's running smoothly.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor hasn't run need roughly half an hour after our engineers are there. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Hillhead itself
Hillhead is a suburban area situated on the lakeside in East Ayrshire, with a relatively low elevation of 53 metres. Hillhead lies near several smaller communities, including Longpark, Beansburn, and Knockinlaw, and is located approximately 19.8 miles from Glasgow. Hillhead has a population of around 3702 people, predominantly residing in flat-type housing. Hillhead is also relatively distant from major English cities, being around 335.6 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across East Ayrshire, Hillhead included
Hillhead is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Beansburn and Knockinlaw among them, across the KA postcode area. Give a postcode beginning KA3 1, and our van arrives quickest.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. Wherever it sits — beside The Synergy Arena, on a layby en route to Kay Park, at home — that is where it is emptied. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Reformer's Monument, ring and ask rather than guessing.
In short, for Hillhead motorists
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it sits, anywhere around East Ayrshire.