AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Kirkwood: How It Occurs and How to Stop It
Leave the engine and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Normally, when your motor has not turned, it is emptied and thoroughly cleaned where your car sits around Kirkwood. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Diesel feeds the motor — but many newer diesels driven around Kirkwood and Bargeddie carry another liquid as well. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray treats the fumes.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at each forecourt call-out, again and again. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Kirkwood: how it occurs
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and running dry leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Bankhead Avenue, or outside The Woodside on the way home after work.
Unfamiliar cars are second, too. Rentals, new vehicles and company cars put their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as easily, and once the tip starts, no part stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Kirkwood or out in Kirkshaws.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Drumpellier or a forecourt around Kirkwood.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — many cars show which belongs in each inlet right there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Bargeddie, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
The day the light goes on, anywhere across North Lanarkshire, use this routine.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Viewfield Road.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Find during the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Kirkwood?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. Keep the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels switching it on alone starts your pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Gulf, BP or another forecourt will normally help pushing the car clear if asked. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Kirkwood.
Already started? Pull over once it's safe, then switch off. On the M8, under a mile from Kirkwood, that means the next junction. About how far did it go? Hopping across Kirkwood is less a job than a run of under 10 miles to Glasgow, so tell us.
Kirkwood: what happens when our technicians turn up
Anywhere your car has stopped, whether outside the local primary school, beside Showcase Cinemas or at home, the van comes to it. Both the work and our price rest on three answers — which fluid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. On the phone call itself, you are told our quote — ahead of anything else.
Then your tank is drained and your system purged thoroughly. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. Filter flushed or, where needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a check of the car. The motor is started next and checked to confirm it runs properly, all before our technicians go.
If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Kirkwood itself
Kirkwood is a suburban area situated on the riverside in North Lanarkshire, with an elevation of 61 metres and a mix of terraced housing. Kirkwood lies approximately 7 miles east of Glasgow, near the communities of Kirkshaws and Old Monkland. Kirkwood is part of the larger Glasgow urban area, but retains its own distinct character. Kirkwood has a population of around 3880 residents.
Kirkwood and North Lanarkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Kirkwood shares its vans surrounding places — Old Monkland, Kirkshaw — all the way across ML postcodes and the wider area beyond. A postcode starting ML5 5 gets our van to you fastest.
The car remains put. Draining happens right there, whether a driveway, a road near Monks Statue, or a layby on the way to Luggie Glen wood. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of St Kevin's Community Hub, ring and ask rather than guessing.
In short, for Kirkwood people
First, the cap; then, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it waits, anywhere in North Lanarkshire.