Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ladywell
Keep the engine and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Around Ladywell, finding it before your motor runs usually means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page covers the why it occurs and the how to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many newer diesels around Knightsridge, as well as Ladywell, run on two liquids; your engine takes just the diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where spraying cleans the gas.
There's a filler on each tank. Many of cars share a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually comes from a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think what cap to use. It's in that gap that the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Ladywell?
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
Hurry follows from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off Burnbank, or heading home in the car park at 6 Buds Beerhouse.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is the second thing: a new vehicle.
Third, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as readily, and after the tip starts, no part halts it. Whether it happens in Howden or the middle of Ladywell, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Almondvale or a forecourt around Ladywell, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Many vehicles give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel filler? In that case check beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The previous driver will know. Check when you collect a hire car or fleet car — at Livingston North's car park, say — rather than once the warning appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across West Lothian that is.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, engine off, and not in a rush beside Alderbank on the verge.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Never carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Ladywell?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting the motor. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition goes on — and so keep it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the Shell or the Asda, ask the staff to help push the car away from the pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Ladywell.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next junction is the place to leave when you're on the M8, under 3 miles from Ladywell. About how far did it go? Hopping across Ladywell is smaller work than a run of under 15 miles to Dunfermline, and so tell us.
Our arrival around Ladywell, and what occurs next
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, near Livingston Baptist Church or on your own driveway. Our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run, because those answers decide this work and the quote. During the phone call itself, you are told our price — before dispatch.
The fuel system is then rinsed thoroughly, once your tank is cleared. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Filter cleaned or, where it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a test of the vehicle. Next our engineers start it and make sure it runs smoothly before leaving.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once our technicians arrive, provided the engine has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Ladywell itself
Ladywell is a suburban area in West Lothian, situated inland at an elevation of around 148 metres. Ladywell lies near several other communities, including Howden, Livingston, and Craigshill, and is approximately 12 miles from Dunfermline. Ladywell has a population of around 5075 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Ladywell is also relatively distant from major cities in England, being around 333 miles from London.
AdBlue drains round Ladywell, and West Lothian beyond
Livingston and Craigshill are among the places near Ladywell, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over EH postcodes. Give a postcode that starts EH54 6, and our van arrives fastest.
Your car does not need to move. We drain it where it is — a side street close to M C Fitness Solutions, a lay-by on the way to Heatherbank Park, a drive. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Howden Park Centre.
Ladywell people: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it stands, wherever across West Lothian: keep it off and phone 0333 366 0103.