Northfield: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and your ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Northfield. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the reasons it takes place and the ways to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds the motor — but many current diesels seen round Northfield and Portobello hold another liquid as well. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
There is a filler on each tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on a lot of motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less often, 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.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Northfield: how it takes place
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Northfield Square, or on the way home in the car park outside The Scottie Pub.
New-to-you motors come second, too. Rentals, new motors and company vehicles put their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Nothing stops the pour after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's a few seconds, whether out in Willowbrae or right in the centre of Northfield.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Northfield forecourt or a driveway over in Craigentinny, spend a few seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- On plenty of vehicles, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it beside the diesel filler? Then look beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Brunstane.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — wherever it is across City of Edinburgh — a simple routine to use.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Northfield Broadway.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and 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.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap never opened off.
Discover at the second or third step that AdBlue went in the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Leave out stage five entirely.
Northfield: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the Morrisons, ask the staff to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Northfield.
Already started? Stop when it's sensible, then switch off. Northfield lies under 10 miles from the M8; on it, use the first junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Northfield is less a job than a run of under 3 miles towards Edinburgh, so tell us.
What happens when our technicians get there in Northfield
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, close to Northfield Willowbrae Community Education Centre or on your own drive. Both the work and our quote depend on three replies — which liquid, which quantity, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. On the phone call itself, you are told our quote — ahead of anything else.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. After your filter has been cleaned — or renewed, where required — clean diesel is added, and finally your vehicle is tested. The engine is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers leave.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our engineers get there, provided the engine has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Northfield
Northfield is a coastal suburban area in the City of Edinburgh, situated approximately 2 miles from Edinburgh city centre. Northfield sits at an elevation of 36 metres, with its predominant housing stock consisting of flats. Northfield is located near other suburban areas such as Willowbrae, Piershill, and Duddingston, and is home to a population of around 7867 people.
AdBlue drains across City of Edinburgh, Northfield included
Piershill and Duddingston are among the towns around Northfield, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout EH postcodes. A postcode starting EH8 7 gets our van to you fastest.
The car stays where it is. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Baronscourt Park, a side street near Edinburgh Jewish Soldiers Memorial: our technicians drain the car where it stands. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Abercorn Sports Club, on a border, or anywhere hard to describe; ring and check.
For Northfield motorists, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep the car off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across City of Edinburgh.