Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Menstrie: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. In Menstrie, catching it before your engine runs normally means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the why it happens and the ways to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel goes to the motor — yet plenty of newer diesels driven about Menstrie and Manor Powis carry another fluid as well. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place the two together under one flap. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between them.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Menstrie: how it occurs
Carelessness seldom explains it. Instead is three things lining up together.
On a drive off Park Road before work, or in the car park at The Hollytree on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and once it is gone, limp mode follows.
Then the vehicle is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as easily, and once the tip begins, nothing stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Menstrie or out in Tullibody.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Cambus or a forecourt around Menstrie, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- On plenty of vehicles, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Look for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Alloa? Check with whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, rather than when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
When the light comes on, wherever in Clackmannanshire, use this routine.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time to spare — never rushing on the side of School Lane.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, yet it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two sit under a flap, make sure it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Stop once the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip slowly using the built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, and look again — confirm your diesel cap remained shut throughout. After that, start the vehicle.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Step five stays out.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Menstrie?
Short order, then. First: the motor stays off. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the JET or the Gulf, ask the attendants to help push the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Menstrie.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. On the M9, under 5 miles from Menstrie, that means the next junction. A short hop across Menstrie is a smaller job than a run towards Stirling, under 5 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
What happens when our technicians arrive around Menstrie
The van comes to the vehicle anywhere it stopped — your own drive, near Menstrie Parish Church of Scotland, or outside the local primary school. Both the work and our price rest on three answers — which fluid, which amount, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. Nobody sets off until you've had our price over the phone.
Your system is then flushed thoroughly, once the tank is cleared. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: the crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and nothing clears out unaided, however long it sits. Once the filter is flushed — or replaced, if required — clean diesel goes in, and then the vehicle gets tested. Before we go, our technicians start the engine and make sure that it is running correctly.
Using pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine hasn't run take roughly half an hour once we arrive. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Menstrie and where it is
Menstrie is a village in Clackmannanshire, situated near the coast, with an elevation of 23 metres, and is located close to the city of Stirling. Menstrie has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by terraced homes. Menstrie is part of a wider network of communities, including nearby Tullibody, Blairlogie, and Glenochil Village.
AdBlue drains round Menstrie, and Clackmannanshire beyond
Blairlogie and Glenochil Village are among the places near Menstrie, a coastal village, that the same teams cover, over FK postcodes. Quickest of all: give a FK11 7 postcode to our van.
The car stays put. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Menstrie Wood, a side street near Dumyat Community Centre: our technicians drain the vehicle where it sits. Assuming doesn't help behind Fox Boy, close to a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
In short, for Menstrie drivers
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it is, wherever across Clackmannanshire: switch the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.