Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Livingston: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case put this page down for now, keep your ignition and engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, if your motor has not turned, it is emptied and thoroughly cleaned where the vehicle sits in Livingston. Reading in advance? Then what follows explains how it comes about and what to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads around Livingston and Howden carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Different tanks, different fillers. Many of cars have a single flap for both, while some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. The mistake lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen in Livingston?
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things lining up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Bubbles Roundabout before work, or in the car park at 6 Buds Beerhouse on the way home.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, carries on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Livingston or out in Almondvale.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Ladywell or a forecourt around Livingston, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- On plenty of motors, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Look for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Livingston South, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Wherever across West Lothian the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Almondvale Avenue.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop once the tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, pour gently using its own spout.
- Close the cap, then look once more — making sure the diesel filler remained shut the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
Find during the second or third step that the bottle went in the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Skip stage five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Livingston?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting your motor. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment your ignition goes on — so keep it off. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the car away from the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Asda, the Sainsbury's or anywhere else. On your own drive around Livingston? So your car stays where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. The next exit means where to leave if you are on the M8, under 3 miles from Livingston. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Dunfermline, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Livingston.
Our arrival in Livingston, and what takes place next
Outside the local primary school, near M&S Outlet or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. The replies determine this work and the price, so we ask what went in, about how much, and if it's run. On the phone call itself, you hear the quote — before dispatch.
Draining that tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: the crystals form, some metals are attacked, and none of it washes away unaided, however long it sits. A test is at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. Your engine is fired up next and checked to make sure it runs smoothly, all before our technicians go.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after our technicians get there, provided your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night outside a house. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Livingston and where it is
Livingston is a significant urban centre in Scotland, situated in a riverside location. It is positioned in West Lothian, near the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and close to other local towns. Livingston is known for being a planned new town, developed to meet the needs of a growing population. The town's setting along the River Almond adds to its natural charm.
AdBlue drains around Livingston and across West Lothian
Dedridge and Adambrae are among the places near Livingston, a new town, that the same teams cover, over EH postcodes. Quote a postcode beginning EH54 6, and our van gets there fastest.
Your car remains put. Wherever it stands — beside Vue, in a lay-by heading to Howden Park, on a drive — that's where it gets cleared. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Livingston Designer Outlet.
For Livingston people, the short version
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep the car off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout West Lothian.