AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mungal: Why It Happens and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the motor has not turned, it is emptied and fully cleaned where your car is in Mungal. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
No single fluid but two: that is what many newer diesels around Mungal and Langlees carry, with diesel feeding the motor. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to fresh it, from a separate tank.
Each tank comes with a filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Far less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Mungal: how it happens
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
On a drive off Longdales Road before work, or in the car park outside Carronade Arms heading home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
New-to-you vehicles come next, too. Hire cars, new cars and company cars put their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as easily, and once the tip begins, no part stops it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Mungal or out in Merchiston.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt around Mungal or a drive out in Carron. Seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Falkirk Grahamston? Check with whoever drove it last before leaving, rather than once the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
When the light goes on, wherever across Falkirk, follow this routine.
- Stop somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Longdales Place.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap never came off.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went into the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Stage five stays off limits.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Mungal already?
The short order of things, starting with no starting the engine. Keep your ignition off as well, since on many diesels it by itself runs your pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
The attendants at Esso, Tesco or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing your car clear when asked. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Mungal.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the engine has already run. Mungal sits under 3 miles from the M9; on it, use the first junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Mungal is smaller a job than a trip of under 10 miles to Stirling, so say.
When our engineers turn up in Mungal, what takes place?
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, close to Bainsford Community Centre or on your own drive. The answers settle this work and the quote, so our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it has run. On the call itself, you hear our quote — before anything else.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of it clears out unaided. Hence it matters more. The filter flushed or, where it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a check of your car. The motor is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs smoothly, all before we head off.
Unrun vehicles mostly mean a half-hour visit after arrival. The equipment is fine on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Mungal, for a moment
Mungal is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Falkirk, with a relatively low elevation of 12 metres. Mungal lies close to several nearby places, including Merchiston, Bainsford, and Grahamston, and is approximately 8.8 miles from the city of Stirling. Mungal has a population of around 5218 people, predominantly residing in flat-type housing. Mungal is also located a significant distance from London, at around 345.4 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Mungal, and Falkirk beyond
Mungal is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the places around it, Bainsford and Grahamston among them, across the FK postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting FK2 7.
The car remains where it is. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Dawson Park, a side street near War Memorial: our technicians drain the vehicle where it sits. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Decorated phone box.
Mungal people: the short version
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Falkirk.