Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in New Stevenston: Why It Happens
Keep the motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, done just where your vehicle sits around New Stevenston, is usually all it needs when found before your engine runs. Reading in advance? In that case what follows explains how it comes about and what to prevent it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single fluid but two: that is what many newer diesels near New Stevenston and Carfin carry, with diesel feeding the motor. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
Separate tanks, different fillers. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually comes from a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think what filler it needs. The mistake lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in New Stevenston?
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
On a drive off Jerviston Street before work, or in the car park outside The Corner House on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old car — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
Nothing halts the tip after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of New Stevenston or out in Holytown.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Milnwood or a forecourt in New Stevenston, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Holytown, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in North Lanarkshire that is.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Union Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both sit under a flap, make sure it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start your car, shut the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap was never opened off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Leave out step five entirely.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around New Stevenston?
Don't start your engine: that's where the short order of things begins. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Thinning it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of blending — and that is where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at JET, Esso or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push the car clear if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in New Stevenston.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. The next junction is the place to come off when you are on the M8, under 3 miles from New Stevenston. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Glasgow, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across New Stevenston.
New Stevenston: what takes place when we turn up
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, close to New Stevenston Community Centre or on your own drive. Both the work and our quote depend on three answers — what liquid, which quantity, and if it's run — so we ask. Nobody sets off until you've had the price over the phone.
Draining that tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the 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 does not wash out on its own. Testing comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. After that our technicians start the engine and confirm it runs correctly before we leave.
If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; many include cover for misfuelling.
About New Stevenston, for a moment
New Stevenston is a suburban area in North Lanarkshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 98 metres, with terraced housing being the predominant type of accommodation. New Stevenston lies near the towns of Holytown and Motherwell, and is approximately 10.8 miles from Glasgow. New Stevenston has a population of around 5606 people, and is part of the wider Glasgow urban area. New Stevenston is located in a scenic area, with the River Clyde nearby.
AdBlue drains around New Stevenston and across North Lanarkshire
Over ML postcodes, our teams covering New Stevenston — a residential suburb — work the nearby locations too, Wester Holytown and Yett among them. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting ML1 4.
Moving your car is not needed. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Wrangholm Kirk, a lay-by on the way to People's Republic of Holsor, a drive. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of War Memorial.
In short, for New Stevenston motorists
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it waits, anywhere across North Lanarkshire.