How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Saltcoats Steading
Keep the motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. A drain plus a full flush, carried out just where the vehicle stands around Saltcoats Steading, is usually all it takes when found before the motor runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels on the roads around Saltcoats Steading and Haddington Place carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
There's a filler on each tank. Many of vehicles have a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in that gap that the slip happens.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Saltcoats Steading?
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things coming up at once.
Haste comes from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off East Links Road, or on the way home in the car park outside the pub in the village.
New-to-you vehicles come next, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company motors place their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Third, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as easily, and once the tip begins, no part stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Saltcoats Steading or out in Rosebery Place.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Saltcoats Steading forecourt or a drive over in Archerfield The Village, spend a few seconds on these before any goes in.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it next to the diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask when you pick up a hire car or company car — at Drem's car park, say — not once the warning comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
On the day the warning appears — wherever it is across East Lothian — a simple routine to use.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Hall Crescent.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Never go on to stage five.
Saltcoats Steading: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting your motor. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the car on. Filling up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of the tank, right where the fuel is taken from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the another forecourt nearby, ask the attendants to help push the car clear of the pump. At home around Saltcoats Steading? Then the car stays put.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next junction is the place to leave when you're on the M8, under 25 miles from Saltcoats Steading. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Edinburgh, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Saltcoats Steading.
When our technicians get there in Saltcoats Steading, what happens?
Outside the local primary school, near Gullane Parish Church or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Both the work and the price rest on three answers — which fluid, which quantity, and if it's run — so our engineers ask. During the call itself, you are told the price — before anything else.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of your system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals form, certain metals corrode, and nothing clears away on its own, no matter how long it sits. A test comes last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. We don't leave until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Saltcoats Steading
Saltcoats Steading is a coastal locality in East Lothian, situated near the towns of Gullane and New Mains, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Saltcoats Steading sits at a low elevation of 19 metres, close to the shoreline, and is located approximately 14.9 miles east of Edinburgh. Saltcoats Steading is part of the wider East Lothian area, which is known for its scenic coastline and rural landscapes. Saltcoats Steading has a small population of around 553 residents.
AdBlue drains across East Lothian, Saltcoats Steading included
Being a coastal area, Saltcoats Steading shares its vans surrounding places — Gullane, New Mains — right through EH postcodes and the wider area beyond. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting EH31 2.
Moving the car isn't needed. Wherever it stands — near Saltcoat Castle (remains);Saltcoats Castle (Remains), in a lay-by en route to Gullane Childrens Course, on a drive — that's where it is emptied. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Gullane Village Hall, ring and ask instead of assuming.
In short, for Saltcoats Steading motorists
Read the cap before you pour. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it is, anywhere in East Lothian: switch it off then ring 0333 366 0103.