How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Newmilns
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. Around Newmilns, catching it before the motor runs usually leaves draining and a full flush on the spot. Here in advance? Then the rest covers how it happens and what to stop it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Many modern diesels in Sornhill, as well as Newmilns, carry on two liquids; the engine takes only the diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in that gap that the mistake happens.
Newmilns: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and letting it run dry means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Main Street, or at the pub in the village on the way home that evening.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, keeps on. It takes a few seconds, be it in Greenholm or right in the heart of Newmilns.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these first, at a forecourt in Newmilns or a drive out in Galston. Seconds, that's all.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it beside the diesel inlet? Then look beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook will say which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask as you collect a rental or fleet car — at Kilmarnock's car park, say — rather than once the warning appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around East Ayrshire that is.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, motor stopped, and never rushed beside Castle Street at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both share a flap, confirm it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Stop when that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip slowly through the own spout.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Find during the second or third step that AdBlue went into the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Don't go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Newmilns already?
Do not start your engine: that's how the short order of things begins. Keep your ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
The attendants at the nearest petrol station, another forecourt nearby or any forecourt will normally help pushing the car away if asked. Your own driveway around Newmilns is the place it should stay.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Newmilns sits under 10 miles from the M77; on it, take the first exit. Distance counts — a short hop across Newmilns is a smaller job than heading under 25 miles towards Glasgow — so tell us about how far it went.
Newmilns: what occurs when our engineers arrive
The van reaches your car wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, beside Newmilns Library, or by the local primary school. The answers settle the work and our quote, so we ask what got in, about how much, and if it has run. You get that quote on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither washes away by itself. Hence it matters more. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. The motor is started next and tested to make sure it runs correctly, all before we head off.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after we get there, provided the engine hasn't run — and the pumps we use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Newmilns
Newmilns is a town situated on the banks of the River Irvine in East Ayrshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Newmilns sits at an elevation of 74 metres, near the communities of Greenholm, Gilfoot, and Darvel. Newmilns is located approximately 18 miles from Glasgow, making it a commuter town for those working in the city. Newmilns has a population of around 2656 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains around Newmilns, and East Ayrshire beyond
Newmilns is a riverside town, and the teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Gilfoot and Darvel among them, across the KA postcode area. Quote a postcode beginning KA16 9, and the van arrives fastest.
The vehicle doesn't need to move. Wherever it sits — beside Newmilns Tower, in a lay-by en route to Craigs Wood, on a drive — that is where it gets drained. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Loudon Old Parish Church, ring and ask instead of assuming.
For Newmilns motorists, the short version
First, the cap; then, the pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in East Ayrshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.