Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Redding
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, keep the ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Around Redding, catching it before your engine turns usually leaves draining and a thorough flush on the spot. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
No single fluid but two: that is how plenty of newer diesels around Redding and Beancross carry, with diesel for your engine. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there spraying treats the gas.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. Many of motors share a single flap for the two, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on each filling station visit, again and again. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Redding: how it takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Hurry follows from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Woodburn Avenue, or heading home in the car park outside Quoit Bar.
New-to-you motors come next, as well. Hire cars, new cars and company vehicles put their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
Third, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as easily, and once the pour begins, no part stops it. Whether it occurs in Westquarter or the middle of Redding, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Redding forecourt or a drive out in Brightons, spend a few seconds over these before any is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- On plenty of vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — plenty of motors mark which belongs in which filler right there.
- Can't see it next to your diesel inlet? In that case look below the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Polmont? Ask the person who drove it last before leaving, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
For the day the light appears — wherever you are around Falkirk — a routine to use.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Mayfield Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, yet it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both sit under a flap, confirm it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Stop once that tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip slowly through the built-in spout.
- Close the cap, then look once more — confirm the diesel cap remained closed throughout. Only then, start the car.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Stage five is off limits.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Redding?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting your engine. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Diluting it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of blending — and that's where your fuel is pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help push the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Esso, the Thames or somewhere else. Your own driveway around Redding is where it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. Leave the M9 — under a mile out of Redding — at the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Stirling, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Redding.
Our arrival in Redding, and what happens next
By the local primary school, close to Redding Mining Disaster Memorial or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. Which liquid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask because the replies set both work and price. The price comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, after your tank is emptied. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears out unaided. That is why it counts more. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. We do not go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our technicians get there, provided your motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night outside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Redding
Redding is a village in Falkirk, situated near the coast at an elevation of 72 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Redding lies close to the nearby settlements of Westquarter, Parkhill, and Reddingmuirhead, and is approximately 11.7 miles from the city of Stirling. Redding has a population of around 2202 residents, who live in a relatively small and tight-knit community. Redding is also relatively distant from major cities like London, being around 342.8 miles away.
AdBlue drains about Redding, and Falkirk beyond
Over FK postcodes, our teams covering Redding — a coastal village — work the nearby spots too, Reddingmuirhead and Parkhill among them. A postcode starting FK2 9 gets the van to you fastest.
Moving the car isn't necessary. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Grange Community Education Centre, a lay-by on the way to Westquarter Community Backyard, a driveway. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Westquarter Community Project.
Redding people: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Falkirk, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.