Selkirk: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Pause here a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, when the motor has not turned, it's emptied and fully rinsed where your vehicle sits in Selkirk. Reading in advance? Then the rest explains how it comes about and what to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds the motor — but plenty of modern diesels driven round Selkirk and High Sunderland hold a second fluid as well. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray cleans the gas.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Other cars put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place both side by side under one flap. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side gets filled — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place around Selkirk
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off High Street, or at Town Arms Inn on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — but a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is a second factor: a new vehicle.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, after started, keeps on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Selkirk or out in Hartwoodburn.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Lindean or a forecourt around Selkirk.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- Many vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — many motors mark what belongs in which filler right there.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Galashiels.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
When the light goes on, anywhere around Scottish Borders, follow this routine.
- Stop somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — not rushing on the side of Douglas Place.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, but it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look again — confirm your diesel cap stayed shut the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Don't carry on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Selkirk?
Brief order, then. Top of that: the motor remains off. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch it on. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — JET, Asda or another — the attendants will normally help push your car clear, if you ask. On your own drive in Selkirk? So your car stays put.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Selkirk lies under 50 miles from the A74(M); on it, take the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Edinburgh, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Selkirk.
Our arrival in Selkirk, and what happens next
Our van comes to your car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, near Sir Walter Scottʼs Courtroom, or by the local primary school. Which fluid got in, the quantity, and if it ran: our engineers ask since those answers decide both work and price. You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Draining the tank comes next, then a full flush of the system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and none of that clears away on its own, no matter how long it sits. A test is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Before we go, our technicians fire it up and make sure that it's running smoothly.
Unstarted vehicles mostly mean a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Selkirk itself
Selkirk is a town situated in the Scottish Borders, lying on the banks of the River Ettrick at an elevation of around 175 metres. Selkirk sits near several smaller communities, including Hartwoodburn and Philiphaugh, and is located approximately 31 miles from Edinburgh. Selkirk has a population of around 5528 people, predominantly residing in flats. Selkirk is also relatively distant from London, at around 300 miles away.
Selkirk and Scottish Borders: AdBlue drains across the area
As a town, Selkirk shares its vans surrounding places — Bridgelands, Philiphaugh — all the way across TD postcodes and the wider area beyond. Fastest of all: give a TD7 4 postcode to our van.
Moving the vehicle isn't needed. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Selkirk Bowling Club, a side street close to Sir Walter Scott Memorial: we drain the car where it sits. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Border Rifles Boer War Memorial? By a county line? Asking is better than assuming, and so phone.
The short version for Selkirk people
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle switched off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Scottish Borders.