AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Langton: Why It Occurs and How to Stop It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done right where your car sits in Langton, is usually what it takes when caught before the engine runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Many newer diesels on the roads about Langton and Mid Calder carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on a lot of cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Diesel gets filled on each forecourt visit, week in, week out. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think which filler it needs. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur around Langton?
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Langton Road before work, or in the car park at The Grapes on the way home.
New-to-you motors are second, too. Hire cars, new cars and company cars put their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
No part stops the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Calderhall or the middle of Langton: it is the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Camps or a forecourt in Langton.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Kirknewton? Check with the person who drove the car last before leaving, rather than when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — wherever you are in West Lothian — a simple routine to use.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, engine stopped, and not in a rush beside Langton Gardens at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- 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.
Find during the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the wrong filler? That's where you stop. Never go on to step five.
Langton: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Do not switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of the tank, just where fuel is taken from.
On a forecourt — Shell, Asda or any other — the attendants will normally help roll the vehicle clear, when you ask. Your own driveway around Langton is where it stays.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next junction is the place to leave if you are on the M8, under 3 miles from Langton. A short hop across Langton is a smaller job than a run towards Edinburgh, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
What happens when our engineers turn up in Langton
Outside the local primary school, near East Calder Sports Centre or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because the replies decide this work and the quote. That quote is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, after your tank is cleared. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. The filter flushed or, where needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a test of your car. Before leaving, we start it and confirm that it's running smoothly.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour job after arrival. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Langton, briefly
Langton is a suburban area situated on the riverside in West Lothian, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Langton sits at an elevation of around 135 metres, near the towns of Calderhall, East Calder, and Oakbank. Langton is located approximately 11 miles west of Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city. Langton has a population of around 4085 people, living in a variety of housing types, predominantly semi-detached homes.
AdBlue drains round Langton, and West Lothian beyond
As a residential suburb, Langton has the same vans as nearby areas — East Calder, Oakbank — all the way across EH postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Fastest of all: quote a EH53 0 postcode for our van.
No need to shift the car. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near East Calder Bowling Club, a lay-by on the way to Langton Park, a driveway. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Kirknewton and East Calder Parish Church.
Langton drivers: the short version
Tip no AdBlue till you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere around West Lothian.