Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mearns: Why It Happens
Pause here for a moment if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Mearns. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it does not — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
No single fluid but two: that's how many modern diesels around Mearns and Kirkhill carry, with diesel for the engine. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there a spray cleans the gas.
Every tank has one filler of its own. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at every forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually comes from a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think what filler it needs. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Mearns: how it happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from your car, and running dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Mearns Road, or at the pub in the village on the way home that evening.
New-to-you motors come second, too. Hire cars, new cars and company cars put their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and once the tip starts, no part stops it. It's a few seconds, be it out in Burnhouse or bang in the centre of Mearns.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, at a forecourt in Mearns or a drive out in Crookfur. A few seconds, that's all.
- Check the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- Many vehicles give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Whitecraigs.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
For the day the light comes on — wherever you are across East Renfrewshire — a routine to use.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, engine stopped, and never rushed beside Waterfoot Road on the verge.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, but it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Discover at the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Never carry on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Mearns already?
Short list, then. Top of it: your motor stays unstarted. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
At a forecourt — Esso, BP or any other — the staff will usually help push your car clear, when you ask. If you're on your own driveway in Mearns, leave it where it sits.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. The next junction means the place to come off if you are on the M77, under 3 miles from Mearns. Distance matters — a quick hop across Mearns is a smaller job than driving under 10 miles towards Glasgow — so say about how far it went.
When we arrive in Mearns, what occurs?
The van comes to the car anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, beside Mearns Parish Kirk, or by the local primary school. What fluid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: we ask because the replies decide both work and quote. That price comes on the call, before any van leaves.
The fuel system is then purged thoroughly, once that tank is emptied. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. A test comes last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or changed as needed. The motor is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers go.
If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Mearns
Mearns is a suburban area in East Renfrewshire, situated near the River Cart and close to the larger settlement of Newton Mearns. Mearns sits at an elevation of around 137 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Mearns is located near several other small communities, including Burnhouse and Broom, and is approximately 7 miles from Glasgow. Mearns has a population of around 4238 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains across East Renfrewshire, Mearns included
Over G postcodes, our teams covering Mearns — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Newton Mearns and Broom among them. Fastest of all: give a G77 5 postcode to our van.
Your car doesn't need to move. Draining takes place right there, be it a driveway, a road near Mother Earth Temple, or a layby towards Shawwood Park. Guessing won't help behind Glasgow Reform Synagogue, on a border, or anywhere awkward to describe; phone and check.
Mearns motorists: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. 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 waits, anywhere in East Renfrewshire.