How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in North Inch
Pause reading a minute if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around North Inch. Reading before the event? Then the rest covers how it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Many modern diesels in Gannochy, as well as North Inch, run on two liquids; your engine takes just your diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place both side by side behind one flap. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think what cap to use. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place around North Inch
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
Hurry comes from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a drive off Balhousie Street, or on the way home in the car park outside King James.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
Third, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and after the tip starts, no part stops it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of North Inch or out in Quarrymill.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt in North Inch or a drive over in Bridgend. A few seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. 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.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it beside your diesel filler? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Perth, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — wherever you are in Perth and Kinross — a simple routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Kestrel Way, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off first.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, yet it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish when that tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour gently through the built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Stage five is out.
North Inch: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Don't start the motor: that is how the short order of things starts. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of your tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help push the car away from the pump if you are on a forecourt — the Asda, the BP or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in North Inch.
Already run? Stop once it's sensible, then switch off. On the M90, under 3 miles from North Inch, that means the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing North Inch is less a job than a run of under a mile to Perth, so say.
When we get there around North Inch, what happens?
Outside the local primary school, near Balhousie or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. Which fluid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: our engineers ask because the answers set both work and quote. That quote comes on the call, before any van leaves.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals form, some metals corrode, and nothing clears out unaided, however long it is left. Filter cleaned or, where it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a test of your car. The engine is started next and tested to make sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers head off.
If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About North Inch itself
North Inch is a suburban area located on the banks of the River Tay in Perth, with a mix of residential and recreational spaces. North Inch sits at a low elevation of around 13 metres, offering views of the surrounding cityscape and the river. North Inch is close to the city centre of Perth, with nearby neighbourhoods including Quarrymill and Muirton, and is characterized by predominantly flat-type housing.
AdBlue drains across Perth and Kinross, North Inch included
North Inch is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the places near it, Muirton and Perth among them, across the PH postcode area. Give a postcode that starts PH1 5, and our van gets there fastest.
Your car stays put. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Balhousie Castle, a lay-by on the way to North Inch Golf Course, a drive. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Black Watch Stone of Remembrance, ring and ask instead of assuming.
The short version for North Inch motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across Perth and Kinross.