How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Logan
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page down a moment, leave your ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done just where your vehicle sits in Logan, is normally what it takes if found before your engine runs. Here before the event? Then the rest explains how it happens and how to stop it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Many current diesels on the roads around Logan and Cumnock carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where spraying cleans the fumes.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Logan?
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Glen Avenue before work, or in the car park at the pub in the village on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — but a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is the second factor: a strange car.
Third, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and after the tip starts, no part stops it. It's a few seconds, be it out in Lugar or bang in the heart of Logan.
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 Netherthird or a forecourt in Logan.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- The handbook shows where it is when the filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Auchinleck.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — wherever you are around East Ayrshire — a routine to follow.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, motor stopped, and not rushed by Boswell Crescent at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Stop once the tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, pour gently using the own spout.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never opened off.
Find at the second or third step that AdBlue went into the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Don't carry on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Logan?
Short list, then. First: your engine remains off. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the car on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the staff to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the JET or anywhere else. Your own driveway in Logan is the place it should stay.
Already run? Stop when it is safe, then switch off. The next junction is where to come off when you are on the M77, under 25 miles from Logan. A short hop across Logan is a smaller job than a run towards Glasgow, under 50 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Logan, and what happens next
Outside the local primary school, close to War Memorial or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Which liquid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask because the replies set both work and price. The quote comes over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
The fuel system is then cleaned thoroughly, once your tank is drained. 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 the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Once your filter has been flushed — or renewed, where required — clean diesel is added, and then your vehicle gets tested. The motor is started next and checked to make sure it runs properly, all before we go.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once our engineers arrive, provided the motor hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Logan
Logan is a village in East Ayrshire, situated on the banks of a river at an elevation of 158 metres. Logan lies approximately 28 miles from Glasgow and 320 miles from London, making it a rural community with semi-detached housing. Logan is surrounded by nearby places such as Lugar, Barshare, and Craigens, and has a population of around 960 residents.
Logan and East Ayrshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Barshare and Craigens are among the towns near Logan, a village, that the same teams cover, over KA postcodes. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting KA18 3.
Your car does not need to move. Wherever it sits — near Stonepark Monument, on a layby en route to Braehead Plantation, on a drive — that's where it gets emptied. Guessing won't help behind Rosebank Park, close to a boundary, or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
For Logan people, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across East Ayrshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.