AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Pathhead: Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page down for now, keep your ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Pathhead. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Diesel feeds the engine — yet plenty of newer diesels driven round Pathhead and Sinclairtown hold another fluid as well. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that's the layout on many motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Pathhead: how it takes place
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Mitchell Place before work, or in the car park at The Path Tavern heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle tells you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Whether it takes place in Port Brae or the middle of Pathhead, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Kirkcaldy or a forecourt in Pathhead, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Kirkcaldy? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, not once the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Fife that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Hawksmuir, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have found your filler and read the cap.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. 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 have already poured into your diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Pathhead?
Don't start the motor: that is how the short order of things begins. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't weaken it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
The staff at BP, Esso or any forecourt will usually help to push the vehicle away if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Pathhead.
When your engine has been run by now, stop safely and turn the vehicle off. Pathhead sits under 10 miles from the M90; there, use the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Edinburgh, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Pathhead.
Pathhead: what takes place when our technicians get there
By the local primary school, close to Congregational Church Pathhead or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and the quote depend on three replies — what fluid, which quantity, and if it's run — so our engineers ask. No one heads out until you've had our quote by phone.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. A test comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the fuel filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Next our technicians start it and confirm it runs correctly before we leave.
Unstarted cars usually need a half-hour visit from arrival. The kit is fine on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Pathhead and where it is
Pathhead is a coastal suburban area in Fife, situated near the towns of Port Brae and Smeaton, with Hayfield also nearby. Pathhead sits at an elevation of 37 metres, looking out towards the Firth of Forth, and is located approximately 11.7 miles from Edinburgh. Pathhead is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing, which is typical of many Scottish coastal towns. Pathhead has a population of around 4055 residents, who enjoy the scenic coastal setting.
AdBlue drains in Pathhead and across Fife
As a residential suburb, Pathhead shares its vans surrounding places — Smeaton, Hayfield — right through KY postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. A postcode starting KY1 2 gets our van to you fastest.
The car remains where it is. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Melville Brodie Engineering Memorial, a lay-by on the way to Denfield Park, a drive. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Ravenscraig Castle, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Pathhead people: the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it is, wherever in Fife: switch the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.