AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Netherthird: How It Happens and How to Stop It
Keep your motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. In Netherthird, catching it before the motor runs normally leaves a drain and a full flush where it stands. Not happened yet? Below, the page covers the reasons it happens and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single liquid but two: that's what plenty of modern diesels around Netherthird and Holmhead run, with diesel for the motor. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray treats the gas.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Plenty of motors share a single flap for both, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled constantly. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, poured by a driver who must stop and think which cap it needs. That gap is where the mistake lives.
Netherthird: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Ryderston Drive before work, or in the car park at the pub in the village on the way home.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old car — since a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
Nothing halts the pour once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Craigens or the middle of Netherthird, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Logan or a forecourt around Netherthird, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Check as you pick up a hire car or fleet car — from Auchinleck's car park, perhaps — rather than when the warning comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in East Ayrshire that is.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, engine off, and not in a rush beside Menzies Avenue at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Don't carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Netherthird?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the staff to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the JET or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Netherthird.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. Netherthird sits under 25 miles from the M77; there, use the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Glasgow, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Netherthird.
Our arrival in Netherthird, and what takes place next
Anywhere the car came to rest, be it by the local primary school, near Netherthird Community Centre or at home, our van comes to it. The replies determine the work and our price, so we ask what got in, about how much, and whether it has run. Nobody heads out before you've heard the quote over the phone.
Then that tank is emptied and your system purged thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears out by itself. That is why it counts more. A test is at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Then our technicians start the car and check it runs properly before we go.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our engineers get there, as long as the motor has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Netherthird itself
Netherthird is a suburban area situated on the riverside in East Ayrshire, with a mix of residential properties including a predominance of flats. Netherthird sits at an elevation of 157 metres, near the communities of Craigens, Barshare, and Cumnock. Netherthird is located approximately 29 miles from Glasgow, making it a commuter base for the city. Netherthird has a population of around 1661 residents.
AdBlue drains around Netherthird and across East Ayrshire
Netherthird is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the places near it, Barshare and Cumnock among them, across the KA postcode area. A postcode starting KA18 3 gets the van to you fastest.
Moving your car isn't necessary. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to War Memorial, a lay-by on the way to Shankston Wood, a driveway. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of St John's RC Church.
In short, for Netherthird drivers
Tip no AdBlue till you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across East Ayrshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — so leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103.