AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Larbert: How It Occurs and How to Stop It
Leave the motor and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out right where your car sits in Larbert, is usually what it needs when caught before your motor runs. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it does not — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads round Larbert and Antonshill carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens around Larbert
Carelessness seldom explains it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
On a drive off Foundry Loan before work, or in the car park outside The Commercial Hotel on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and once it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar cars come next, as well. Rentals, new motors and company cars put their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. It's a few seconds, whether out in South Broomage or right in the centre of Larbert.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Larbert or a driveway out in Carmuirs. Seconds, that's all.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is when the filler isn't next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside the nearest station? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, not when the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Falkirk that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of South Broomage Avenue, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off first.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located your filler and read the cap.
- Both under one flap? So make sure the cap on the diesel filler is still closed before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Skip step five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Larbert?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting the engine. Keep the ignition off too, because on many diesels switching it on alone starts the pump. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help roll your car away from the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the Gulf, the BP or anywhere else. If you're on your own drive around Larbert, leave the vehicle where it sits.
Already started? Stop when it is sensible, then turn off. Larbert sits under a mile from the M876; on it, take the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Stirling, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Larbert.
When we get there around Larbert, what takes place?
Wherever your car has stopped, whether outside the local primary school, beside Larbert Baptist Church or at home, our van travels to it. The replies decide the work and our quote, and so our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. No one sets off before you have heard the price by phone.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. After the fuel filter has been cleaned — or renewed, if needed — fresh diesel goes in, and finally your vehicle gets tested. After that we fire it up and make sure it runs properly before we leave.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after our technicians arrive, provided the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — and so use the wait to check yours.
About Larbert, briefly
Larbert is a locality situated on the banks of the River Carron in central Scotland, with a mix of residential and industrial areas. Larbert has a relatively low elevation of 33 metres and is located near several other small settlements, including South Broomage and North Broomage. Larbert is also close to the larger town of Stenhousemuir and is within commuting distance of Stirling, which is 7.6 miles away. Larbert has a population of around 2936 people, living mostly in detached housing.
AdBlue drains about Larbert, and Falkirk beyond
Being a small village, Larbert has the same vans as nearby places — North Broomage, Stenhousemuir — right across FK postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Quickest of all: give a FK5 4 postcode for our van.
Shifting the vehicle is not necessary. Wherever it sits — near Larbert Bowling Club, in a lay-by en route to Crownest Park, on a drive — that's where it gets emptied. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Larbert West Church of Scotland.
Larbert motorists: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere around Falkirk, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave it off then call 0333 366 0103.