How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Rosyth
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, leave the ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. In Rosyth, finding it before your engine runs normally means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels around Pitcorthie, as well as Rosyth, run on two fluids; the engine gets just your diesel. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to clean them, from a separate tank.
There's a filler on every tank. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for both, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on each forecourt visit, again and again. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
Rosyth: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and letting it run out leads to limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Crossroads Roundabout, or at Gothenburg Hotel on the way home after work.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — but a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is a second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle.
No part stops the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's seconds, whether out in Inverkeithing or bang in the centre of Rosyth.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Rosyth forecourt or a driveway out in Duloch, take a couple of seconds on these before any goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- On plenty of cars, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to the diesel inlet? Then look beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Inverkeithing, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever around Fife, use this routine.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, engine stopped, and not in a rush beside Castlandhill Road at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Stage five stays off limits.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Rosyth?
Short list, then. First: the engine remains unstarted. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Shell, Gulf or any other — the staff will usually help push the car clear, when you ask. Your own drive around Rosyth is the place it should stay.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next junction is where to come off when you're on the M90, under a mile from Rosyth. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Rosyth is less a job than a run of under 5 miles towards Dunfermline, and so tell us.
Our arrival around Rosyth, and what happens next
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, near St John & St Columba or on your own driveway. Both the work and the quote depend on three answers — what fluid, what amount, and if it's run — so we ask. That price is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Emptying that tank comes next, then a full flush of your system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of it washes away unaided. Hence it counts more. Filter flushed or, where it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a test of your vehicle. Before we leave, we start the car and check that it's running properly.
If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Rosyth, for a moment
Rosyth is a coastal locality in Fife, situated near the town of Dunfermline and overlooking the Firth of Forth. Rosyth has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by terraced homes. Rosyth is close to nearby places such as Inverkeithing, Jamestown, and Pattiesmuir, and is approximately 340 miles from London. Rosyth sits at a relatively low elevation of around 25 metres above sea level.
Rosyth and Fife: AdBlue drains across the area
Jamestown and Pattiesmuir are among the places near Rosyth, a coastal area, that the same vans cover, throughout KY postcodes. Quote a postcode that starts KY11 2, and the van gets there quickest.
There's no need to shift the car. Anywhere it stands — beside Rosyth Library, in a lay-by heading to Rosyth Public Park, at home — that's where it gets drained. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Parkgate Community Centre? Close to a county line? Asking is better than guessing, and so phone.
In short, for Rosyth motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Fife, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103.