AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Meiklemill: How It Occurs and How to Stop It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, leave the ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, done just where your vehicle stands in Meiklemill, is usually all it needs when found before your motor runs. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page explains the reasons it happens and the how to prevent it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Many modern diesels around Kinharrachie, like those in Meiklemill, run on two liquids; the motor takes only your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
There is a filler for every tank. Other vehicles put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have both side by side under one flap. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, poured by a driver who has to stop and think what cap it needs. It's in that gap that the error happens.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Meiklemill
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Teal Street before work, or in the car park outside The Bridge Bar on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches 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 once it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Meiklemill or out in Craighall.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Cookston or a forecourt around Meiklemill, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- On many cars, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of cars have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it lives if your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask when you collect a hire car or fleet car — at Dyce's car park, perhaps — rather than once the warning comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Aberdeenshire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Widgeon Way, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two sit under a flap, make sure it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and look again that the diesel cap never opened off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Meiklemill?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting the engine. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the attendants to help push the car clear of the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Esso, the another forecourt nearby or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Meiklemill.
Already run? Pull over once it is sensible, then switch off. Meiklemill lies over 50 miles from the M90; there, take the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Meiklemill is smaller a job than a run of under 15 miles to Aberdeen, so say.
When our engineers get there around Meiklemill, what happens?
By the local primary school, close to Ellon Wheel Park Circuit or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. We ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because the answers decide this work and our quote. On the phone call itself, you hear our quote — before dispatch.
Draining your tank comes next, then a full flush of the system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once our technicians get there, as long as your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Meiklemill
Meiklemill is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Aberdeenshire, with a relatively low elevation of 14 metres. Meiklemill lies near the towns of Ellon and Craighall, and is approximately 14.6 miles from Aberdeen. Meiklemill has a population of around 2588 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Meiklemill is also close to Esslemont, another nearby settlement.
AdBlue drains across Aberdeenshire, Meiklemill included
As a residential suburb, Meiklemill has the same vans as surrounding areas — Ellon, Esslemont — all the way across AB postcodes and the wider area beyond. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting AB41 9.
There's no need to shift the car. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Living Truth Parish, a lay-by on the way to Meiklemill Park, a drive. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Catholic Parish Church of Our Lady & St John the Baptist.
Meiklemill people: the short version
Pour nothing till you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep the car off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout Aberdeenshire.