Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Holmhead
Leave your motor and ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before your engine runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Holmhead. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to your motor — but plenty of modern diesels driven about Holmhead and Barshare hold a second liquid as well. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There is a filler for every tank. Many of cars share a single flap for the two, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Topping up your diesel side at the pump happens all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think what cap to use. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Holmhead?
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things lining up at once.
On a driveway off Auchinleck Road before work, or in the car park at Boswell Arms heading home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and once it is gone, limp mode follows.
New-to-you motors come second, as well. Rentals, new motors and company vehicles place their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as easily, and after the pour begins, no part halts it. It takes a few seconds, be it in Knockroon or bang in the heart of Holmhead.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Birnieknowe or a forecourt in Holmhead, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Look for it.
- The handbook says where it lives when the filler is not next to the diesel cap: the 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 Auchinleck.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — anywhere you are across East Ayrshire — a simple routine to use.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Lorimer Crescent.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- The two under one flap? So confirm the lid on your diesel side is still shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? So stop just there. Stage five is off limits.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Holmhead already?
Don't start your engine: that's where the short order of things begins. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the car on. Topping up with diesel will not thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, JET or any other — the staff will usually help push the car away, when you ask. If you're on your own drive in Holmhead, leave it where it sits.
Already started? Pull over once it is safe, then turn off. Come off the M77 — under 25 miles out of Holmhead — at the first junction. A short hop across Holmhead is a smaller job than a run towards Glasgow, under 50 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Holmhead, and what occurs next
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, near Visions Leisure Centre or on your own drive. Our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because the answers determine this work and the price. During the call itself, you are told the price — ahead of dispatch.
Then that tank is emptied and the system cleaned thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. Once the fuel filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where needed — fresh diesel goes in, and then your car is tested. We do not go until it has been started and is running correctly.
Using pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine has not run take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Holmhead and where it is
Holmhead is a suburban area situated on the riverside in East Ayrshire, with a mix of detached housing and a relatively small population of around 2165 residents. Holmhead sits at an elevation of 116 metres, near the communities of Knockroon and Cumnock, and is located approximately 28 miles from Glasgow. Holmhead is part of the wider residential area surrounding the town of Cumnock, with The Rigg nearby. Holmhead's location in southern Scotland puts it around 322 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains around Holmhead, and East Ayrshire beyond
Being a residential suburb, Holmhead has the same vans as nearby areas — Cumnock, The Rigg — all the way through KA postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Quote a postcode beginning KA18 1, and our van arrives fastest.
The car does not need to shift. Draining takes place right there, whether a driveway, a road by Terringzean Castle, or a lay-by on the way to Knockroon Wood. Guessing won't help behind Baird Institute, close to a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
Holmhead drivers: the short version
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, wherever around East Ayrshire: switch the car off then call 0333 366 0103.