Lanark: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case put this page down for now, keep the ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. In Lanark, finding it before the engine runs usually means a drain and a full flush on the spot. Here before the event? Then the rest covers how it happens and how to prevent it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many current diesels on the roads about Lanark and Jerviswood carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Many of vehicles share a single flap for both, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less frequently. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Lanark: how it takes place
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off High Street, or heading home in the car park outside Clydesdale Inn.
Unfamiliar cars come next, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
Third, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as easily, and after the tip starts, nothing stops it. Whether it happens in Kingsons Knowe or the middle of Lanark, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Cleghorn or a forecourt around Lanark, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally are not.
- On many vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to your diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around South Lanarkshire that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of South Vennel.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've located your filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then check once more — confirm the diesel filler stayed shut throughout. After that, start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never carry on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Lanark?
Short order, then. Top of that: the engine stays unstarted. Keep the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself runs your pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
Ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the pump if you are on a forecourt — the Esso, the Gulf or anywhere else. Your own drive in Lanark is the place it should stay.
Where the motor has been run already, pull over safely then turn the car off. The next exit means the place to leave when you are on the M74, under 5 miles from Lanark. A short hop across Lanark is a smaller job than a run towards Glasgow, under 25 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Lanark, and what happens next
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, close to Memorial Hall or on your own driveway. Which fluid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask because those answers set both work and quote. The quote is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
Then the tank is drained and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly. 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 matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Testing comes last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and your filter is cleaned or changed as needed. We don't go until it has been started and is running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our technicians arrive, provided the motor has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Lanark itself
Lanark is a town in South Lanarkshire, situated inland at an elevation of 216 metres, approximately 22 miles southeast of Glasgow. Lanark lies near several smaller communities, including Kingsons Knowe, New Lanark, and Kirkfieldbank. Lanark has a population of around 9101 people, with a predominance of detached housing. Lanark is also relatively distant from London, at a distance of 324 miles.
AdBlue drains in Lanark and across South Lanarkshire
As a town, Lanark shares its vans nearby places — New Lanark, Kirkfieldbank — all the way across ML postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Fastest of all: quote a ML11 7 postcode to the van.
No need to shift the car. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to St Mary's RC Church, a lay-by on the way to Delves Park, a driveway. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Universal Connections, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Lanark people: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, wherever in South Lanarkshire: switch it off and phone 0333 366 0103.