Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Laurencekirk
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page down for now, keep your ignition and engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. In Laurencekirk, finding it before your engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. Reading before the event? In that case the rest covers why it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads around Laurencekirk and Garvock carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of motors 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 your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think which cap to use. It is in that gap that the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens in Laurencekirk
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Farquhar Street before work, or in the car park outside the pub in the village on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and once it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then the vehicle is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand hits for the cap it would have 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 takes a few seconds, whether out in West Burnside or right in the heart of Laurencekirk.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Laurencekirk forecourt or a drive over in Sauchieburn, take a few seconds over these before any is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Check when you pick up a rental or fleet car — at the nearest station's car park, say — rather than once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Aberdeenshire that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Ruddiman Drive.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have located the filler and read the cap.
- Both behind one flap? Then confirm the lid on your diesel filler is still closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap never opened off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Stage five stays out.
Laurencekirk: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Brief order, then. First: your engine stays unstarted. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than blending — and that's where the fuel is sucked from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the the nearest petrol station or the another forecourt nearby, ask the attendants to help push the car clear of the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Laurencekirk.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. On the M90, under 50 miles from Laurencekirk, that means the next exit. A short hop across Laurencekirk is a smaller job than a run towards Aberdeen, under 50 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Laurencekirk, and what happens next
Outside the local primary school, close to Mearns and Coastal Health Living Network or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it has run, since the answers determine this work and our quote. You get that price by phone, before anyone sets off.
Then that tank is emptied and your system purged thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. Hence it counts more. The filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of the car. Before leaving, we start the engine and confirm that it's running properly.
Using pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine hasn't run need about half an hour after our engineers are there. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Wrong-fuel cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Laurencekirk, briefly
Laurencekirk is a town situated in the valley of the River Esk in Aberdeenshire, with a mix of older and modern housing, predominantly detached homes. Laurencekirk sits at an elevation of around 85 metres, near the villages of West Burnside and Haulkerton. Laurencekirk is located approximately 26 miles south of Aberdeen, making it a commuter town for the city. Laurencekirk has a population of around 3283 people, living in a riverside setting with nearby rural areas like Scotston.
AdBlue drains around Laurencekirk and across Aberdeenshire
Over AB postcodes, our teams that cover Laurencekirk — a riverside town — work the surrounding places too, Scotston and Haulkerton among them. A postcode starting AB30 1 gets the van to you fastest.
There's no need to shift your car. Wherever it stands — near Dickson Memorial Hall, in a lay-by heading to Laurencekirk Memorial Park, on a drive — that's where it is drained. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Laurencekirk Memorial Park.
The short version for Laurencekirk drivers
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave it switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Aberdeenshire.