Lochwinnoch: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the engine hasn't run, it's emptied and thoroughly flushed where the vehicle sits in Lochwinnoch. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the why it takes place and the ways to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Diesel feeds the motor — but plenty of current diesels driven around Lochwinnoch and Kilbirnie carry a second liquid too. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Far less often, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Lochwinnoch: how it happens
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and letting it run out leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Craw Place, or outside The Corner Bar on the way home after work.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
Nothing stops the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Howwood or the middle of Lochwinnoch: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Lochwinnoch or a drive over in Spateston. Seconds, no more.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- Plenty of cars give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it lives if the filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere around Renfrewshire, use this routine.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Johnstone Drive.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have found your filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Finish once that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, pour gently using its own spout.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Discover during the second or third stage that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Never carry on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Lochwinnoch already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the car on. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than blending — and that's where your fuel is pulled from.
Ask the staff to help push the vehicle clear of the pump if you're on a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the Tesco or anywhere else. At home around Lochwinnoch? Then the car stays put.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. Lochwinnoch sits under 10 miles from the M8; on it, take the first exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Lochwinnoch is smaller work than a run of under 25 miles to Glasgow, so tell us.
Lochwinnoch: what takes place when our technicians arrive
Our van reaches the car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, beside Lochwinnoch Library, or outside the local primary school. Those answers determine the work and the quote, so our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and whether it has run. You get that quote by phone, before anybody sets off.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the fuel system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. Filter flushed or, if needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a test of your vehicle. The motor is started next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before we go.
If the motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Lochwinnoch
Lochwinnoch is a village situated on the banks of the River Calder in Renfrewshire, with a mix of flat housing and other residential properties. Lochwinnoch lies approximately 15 miles west of Glasgow and is close to the villages of Howwood, Beith, and Gateside. Lochwinnoch has a population of around 2330 people and is located at an elevation of 36 metres above sea level. Lochwinnoch is also relatively distant from London, being around 349 miles northwest of the city.
AdBlue drains across Renfrewshire, Lochwinnoch included
Over PA postcodes, the vans that cover Lochwinnoch — a village — work the surrounding locations too, Gateside and Beith among them. Quickest of all: give a PA12 4 postcode to the van.
The car remains where it is. Wherever it sits — beside War Memorial, on a layby en route to Lochhead Gardens, at home — that's where it is emptied. Guessing won't help behind Lochwinnoch Parish Church, on a border, or somewhere awkward to describe; phone and ask.
In short, for Lochwinnoch motorists
Pour nothing till you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around Renfrewshire.