Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Kingsknowe
Stop here for a moment when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done just where your car sits in Kingsknowe, is normally what it needs when found before your motor runs. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page covers the reasons it occurs and the how to prevent it altogether.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Plenty of newer diesels in Hailes, like those in Kingsknowe, carry on two fluids; your motor takes only your diesel. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to clean it, from a separate tank.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on a lot of vehicles. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between them.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Kingsknowe: how it takes place
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things lining up at once.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the car, and running dry means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Kingsknowe Avenue, perhaps at The Kingsknowe on the way home that evening.
New-to-you cars come next, too. Rentals, new cars and company vehicles place their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Kingsknowe or out in Longstone.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt in Kingsknowe or a driveway out in Colinton. Seconds, that's all.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it is if the filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere in City of Edinburgh, use this routine.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — never rushing on the side of Kingsknowe Gardens.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've located the filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Discover during the second or third stage that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Stage five is off limits.
Kingsknowe: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Short list, then. Top of it: the engine remains unstarted. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than mixing — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
At a forecourt — Sainsbury's, Asda or any other — the staff will usually help push the car clear, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Kingsknowe.
When the engine has run already, stop somewhere safe then switch the vehicle off. Leave the M8 — under 3 miles out of Kingsknowe — at the first junction. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Kingsknowe is smaller work than a trip of under 5 miles towards Edinburgh, so tell us.
What takes place when we get there in Kingsknowe
The van comes to your car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, near Longstone Community Centre, or outside the local primary school. Our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and whether it's run, since those answers decide this work and our quote. Nobody sets off before you have had our quote over the phone.
The system is then rinsed thoroughly, once that tank is cleared. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of it washes out unaided, however long it is left. Testing comes last: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. Before we go, we start the car and make sure that it's running properly.
If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Kingsknowe, for a moment
Kingsknowe is a suburban area in the City of Edinburgh, situated near the Water of Leith and overlooking the surrounding countryside. Kingsknowe sits at an elevation of 92 metres, approximately 3.9 miles from Edinburgh city centre. Kingsknowe is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing and forms part of the larger urban area surrounding Edinburgh. Kingsknowe is close to nearby places such as Longstone, Parkhead, and Juniper Green.
AdBlue drains round Kingsknowe, and City of Edinburgh beyond
Throughout EH postcodes, the teams that cover Kingsknowe — a residential suburb — work the surrounding places too, Juniper Green and Parkhead included. Fastest of all: quote a EH14 2 postcode for the van.
Moving the vehicle isn't necessary. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near Colinton Castle Sports Club, a lay-by on the way to Kingsknowe Golf Course, a drive. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of youthagency.
The short version for Kingsknowe people
Read the cap before you pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across City of Edinburgh.