Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Peterhead: Why It Happens
Stop reading for a moment if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Peterhead. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to ensure it does not — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Not one liquid but two: that is what many newer diesels near Peterhead and Green Hill carry, with diesel for the engine. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to clean them, from its own tank.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens in Peterhead
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off King Street before work, or in the car park at Station Bar on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — but a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is the second factor: a strange vehicle.
Third, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as easily, and after the tip starts, no part halts it. Whether it occurs in Kirktown or the middle of Peterhead, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Peterhead forecourt or a driveway out in Grange Gardens, take a couple of seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Wherever in Aberdeenshire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time to spare — never rushing on the side of Windmill Street.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, yet it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two share a flap, confirm it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and check again — confirm your diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. Only then, start the car.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Step five stays off limits.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Peterhead?
The short order of things, starting with no starting the motor. Keep the ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels it alone starts the pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
Ask the staff to help push the vehicle clear of the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Morrisons, the Esso or somewhere else. On your own drive around Peterhead? So your car remains put.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. On the M90, over 50 miles from Peterhead, that means the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Aberdeen, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Peterhead.
Our arrival around Peterhead, and what takes place next
The van reaches the car anywhere it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside St Andrew's Church, or by the local primary school. Both the work and our quote depend on three answers — what fluid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. You get that price by phone, before anybody sets off.
Then your tank is cleared and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away by itself. Hence it matters more. A test is at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. The motor is fired up next and checked to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our engineers leave.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once we arrive, as long as the engine has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Peterhead, briefly
Peterhead is a coastal town in Aberdeenshire, situated on the north-east coast of Scotland, with a population of around 10818 people. Peterhead has a relatively low elevation of 19 metres and is located near the villages of Kirktown, Roanheads, and Buchanhaven. Peterhead is characterized by its predominantly flat housing stock and is close to the city of Aberdeen, which is 27 miles away. Peterhead is also a significant distance from London, at approximately 420 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Aberdeenshire, Peterhead included
Roanheads and Buchanhaven are among the towns near Peterhead, a coastal town, that the same teams cover, throughout AB postcodes. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting AB42 1.
The car doesn't need to move. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Victoria Community Park, a side street close to Peterhead Congregational Church: our engineers drain the vehicle where it sits. Tricky to explain, like the back of The Salvation Army - Peterhead? Close to a county line? Asking beats guessing, so ring.
Peterhead drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in Aberdeenshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — and so leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103.