Largs: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, leave the ignition and engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. In Largs, catching it before the engine runs normally means draining and a full flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page covers the reasons it occurs and the ways to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels around Skelmorlie, like those in Largs, carry on two liquids; the engine gets only your diesel. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to fresh it, from a separate tank.
There is a filler on every tank. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at every forecourt call-out, again and again. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in that gap that the slip lives.
Largs: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and letting it run out means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Main Street, perhaps at The George on the way home after work.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
Third, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as easily, and once the tip starts, nothing stops it. Fairlie or the heart of Largs: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Upper Skelmorlie or a forecourt in Largs.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Many cars give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it next to your diesel inlet? In that case check below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook says where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside the nearest station? Ask whoever drove the car last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around North Ayrshire that is.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Gallowgate Street.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap works — after you've located your filler and read the cap.
- Both under a single flap? Then confirm the lid on your diesel filler is still shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Step five is out.
Largs: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the base instead of mixing — and that is where the fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — Gulf, Esso or any other — the attendants will usually help push your car away, if you ask. At home around Largs? So the vehicle remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. Largs sits under 15 miles from the M8; there, use the first exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Glasgow, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Largs.
When our engineers arrive around Largs, what occurs?
The van comes to your car anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, beside Largs Museum, or by the local primary school. What liquid went in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since the replies set the work and quote. During the call itself, you are told the quote — ahead of dispatch.
Then that tank is cleared and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. After your filter is cleaned — or replaced, where required — clean diesel goes in, and finally your vehicle gets tested. Before leaving, we start it and make sure that it's running correctly.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor has not run need about half an hour after our technicians arrive. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Largs itself
Largs is a coastal town in North Ayrshire, situated on the Firth of Clyde, with a population of around 9806 people. Largs has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly composed of flats, and is located near the towns of Fairlie and Millport. Largs is close to Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, which is approximately 25 miles away. Largs benefits from its scenic coastal setting, with the town centre being only 7 metres above sea level.
AdBlue drains across North Ayrshire, Largs included
Largs is a coastal town, and our teams that cover it also work the places near it, Millport and Meigle among them, across the KA postcode area. Quote a postcode beginning KA30 8, and our van gets there fastest.
Moving the vehicle is not necessary. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Clark Memorial Parish Church, a lay-by on the way to Anderson Park, a driveway. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of St John's Church.
The short version for Largs motorists
Before you pour, read the cap. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it stands, anywhere around North Ayrshire: keep the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.