How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Monktonhall
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page down a moment, keep your ignition and engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Monktonhall. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Diesel feeds your engine — but plenty of modern diesels seen round Monktonhall and Stoneyhill Steading carry a second liquid too. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Many of cars have a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think what filler to use. It is in the gap that the mistake lives.
Monktonhall: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off B6415 before work, or in the car park outside The Riverside Tavern on the way home.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's a second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
Nothing stops the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Stoneybank or the middle of Monktonhall, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Inveresk or a forecourt in Monktonhall.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- Plenty of vehicles give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many motors carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Musselburgh, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever around East Lothian the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Ferguson Drive.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The two under a single flap? So confirm the cap on the diesel side stays shut before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Discover during the second or third stage that the bottle went into the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Don't go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Monktonhall?
Do not start the motor: that's how the short order of things starts. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. Diluting it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue sinks to the base instead of mixing — and that's where the fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — BP, Tesco or any other — the staff will normally help roll the vehicle away, if you ask. If you're on your own drive around Monktonhall, leave the car where it sits.
Where your engine has run already, pull over safely then turn the car off. Monktonhall lies under 10 miles from the M8; there, take the next junction. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Monktonhall is a smaller job than driving under 10 miles towards Edinburgh — so say roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Monktonhall, and what takes place next
Anywhere the vehicle came to rest, be it by the local primary school, near War Memorial or on your own drive, the van travels to it. Both the work and our quote depend on three replies — what liquid, which quantity, and whether it has run — so we ask. You get that price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The engine is started next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before we head off.
Unrun cars mostly need a half-hour job from arrival. The equipment is safe on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Monktonhall itself
Monktonhall is a suburban area in East Lothian, situated near the coast and approximately 5 miles from Edinburgh. Monktonhall has a relatively low elevation of 22 metres and is characterized by semi-detached housing. Monktonhall is close to other nearby places such as Stoneybank and Whitehill, and is part of the wider Edinburgh urban area. Monktonhall is located a significant distance from London, at around 328 miles away.
Monktonhall and East Lothian: AdBlue drains across the area
Monktonhall is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Whitehill and Old Craighall among them, across the EH postcode area. Fastest of all: give a EH21 6 postcode for the van.
The vehicle stays put. Anywhere it stands — beside St Michael's Kirk Inveresk, on a layby heading to Musselburgh Golf Course, at home — that's where it gets cleared. Assuming won't help behind Stoneyfarm Community Centre, close to a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
Monktonhall motorists: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep the car switched off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout East Lothian.