Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Shettleston: Why It Occurs
Stop here a minute if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Shettleston. The remainder of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels in Sandyhills, like those in Shettleston, carry on two liquids; your engine takes just the diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. It's in that gap that the slip lives.
Shettleston: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Pettigrew Street before work, or in the car park outside Portland Arms heading home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car warns you, and once it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar cars come next, too. Rentals, new motors and company vehicles put their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
Third, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as easily, and after the pour begins, no part stops it. Barlanark Place or the heart of Shettleston: it is the same few seconds either way.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt in Shettleston or a drive over in Springboig. A few seconds, that's all.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- The handbook says which it is if your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- 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 at the nearest station.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — wherever it is around Glasgow City — a simple routine to use.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Glenalmond Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It seems silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Don't carry on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Shettleston?
Don't start the motor: that is how the short order of things begins. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the attendants to help push the vehicle away from the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Tesco, the Esso or anywhere else. Your own drive around Shettleston is where it should stay.
Already started? Stop when it's safe, then switch off. Come off the M74 — under 3 miles out of Shettleston — at the next junction. Mileage counts — a short hop across Shettleston makes a smaller job than driving under 3 miles towards Glasgow — so say roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Shettleston, and what happens next
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, near Trinity Methodist Church or on your own drive. Our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run, because the answers determine this work and the quote. You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Draining your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the fuel system. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals form, some metals are attacked, and none of it clears out on its own, however long it sits. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. Next we fire it up and make sure it runs properly before we go.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after we get there, as long as the motor has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Shettleston
Shettleston is a suburban area in Glasgow City, situated near the River Clyde at an elevation of 32 metres. Shettleston lies approximately 2.9 miles east of Glasgow city centre, with nearby places including Barlanark, Greenfield, and Tollcross. Shettleston has a population of around 8897 people, predominantly residing in flat-type housing. Shettleston is located near the heart of Scotland's largest city, yet is some 342.5 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains across Glasgow City, Shettleston included
Shettleston is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Greenfield and Tollcross among them, across the G postcode area. A postcode starting G32 7 gets our van to you fastest.
No need to shift the car. Draining takes place on the spot, whether a driveway, a street by Salvation Army, or a lay-by on the way to Budhill Square. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Shettleston New Parish Church, ring and ask instead of assuming.
The short version for Shettleston people
Read the cap before you tip. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it is, wherever in Glasgow City: keep the car off and call 0333 366 0103.