Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Polton: Why It Occurs
Stop here a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, carried out right where your vehicle stands around Polton, is usually all it needs when caught before the motor runs. Not happened yet? Further down, the page covers the why it occurs and the how to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels around Staiside Court, like those in Polton, run on two liquids; your engine gets only the diesel. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from its own tank.
There's a filler for each tank. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have the two together under one flap. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
Polton: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Polton Road before work, or in the car park at The Masons Arms heading home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
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 after it has started. Poltonhall or the heart of Polton: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Polton or a drive over in New Pentland. Seconds, that's all.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- Plenty of cars fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — many vehicles mark what goes in each filler just there.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Eskbank? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, not once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Midlothian that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Polton Bank, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off first.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've located your filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap, and look again — making sure the diesel filler remained closed throughout. After that, start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Skip step five altogether.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Polton?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the base of your tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help roll the vehicle away from the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the Costco, the Sainsbury's or somewhere else. Your own driveway around Polton is where it stays.
Where your engine has been run by now, stop safely then switch the vehicle off. On the M8, under 10 miles from Polton, that means the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Edinburgh, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Polton.
Our arrival in Polton, and what occurs next
By the local primary school, close to War Memorial or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our technicians come to it. We ask what went in, about how much, and whether it's run, because those answers determine the work and our price. You hear that price on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Once the filter is flushed — or replaced, where needed — fresh diesel goes in, and then the vehicle gets tested. The engine is started next and tested to make sure it runs smoothly, all before our technicians head off.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine has not run need about half an hour after our engineers arrive. No money upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Polton, for a moment
Polton is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Midlothian, with a relatively low elevation of 77 metres. Polton lies approximately 6 miles south of Edinburgh and is surrounded by nearby places such as Poltonhall, Loanhead, and Wadingburn. Polton has a population of around 976 residents and predominantly features semi-detached housing. Polton is located about 325 miles north of London, making it a relatively distant suburb from the English capital.
AdBlue drains across Midlothian, Polton included
Loanhead and Wadingburn are among the towns around Polton, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over EH postcodes. Quote a postcode beginning EH18 1, and the van arrives quickest.
Moving the vehicle isn't necessary. Draining takes place on the spot, be it a driveway, a street near Roman Fort, or a lay-by towards Mavisbank Walled Garden. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Mavisbank House? By a border? Checking is better than guessing, so ring.
For Polton motorists, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around Midlothian.