Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Slateford: Why It Occurs
Pause here for a moment when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the engine hasn't turned, it's drained and fully rinsed where the vehicle sits around Slateford. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Plenty of modern diesels in Kingsknowe, as well as Slateford, run on two liquids; the motor gets only the diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on many motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. It's in the gap that the mistake happens.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen around Slateford?
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things lining up together.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Inglis Green Road, or outside Village Inn on the way home after work.
Unfamiliar vehicles come second, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company motors place their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as easily, and after the pour begins, no part halts it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Slateford or out in Craiglockhart.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Parkhead or a forecourt around Slateford.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Plenty of cars fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in your 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 — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside the nearest station.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Wherever in City of Edinburgh the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, motor stopped, and never in a rush by Inglis Green Gait at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two share a flap, confirm it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and look once more — making sure the diesel cap remained closed throughout. After that, start your car.
Discover at the second or third stage that the bottle went into the wrong filler? That's where you stop. Leave out stage five altogether.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Slateford already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Sainsbury's or the Asda, ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Slateford.
When your engine has been run already, pull over somewhere safe then switch the vehicle off. The next junction means where to leave if you're on the M8, under 3 miles from Slateford. About how far did it go? Crossing Slateford is less a job than a run of under 5 miles towards Edinburgh, and so tell us.
What takes place when our engineers arrive around Slateford
Anywhere the vehicle came to rest, whether by the local primary school, beside Kingdom Hall or on your own drive, our van travels to it. What liquid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask because those answers set both work and price. No one heads out until you have heard our price over the phone.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. Testing comes at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. Before we go, our technicians start the engine and confirm that it's running correctly.
If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Slateford, briefly
Slateford is a suburban area located on the riverside in the City of Edinburgh, sitting at an elevation of 67 metres and approximately 3.2 miles from Edinburgh city centre. Slateford is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing and is situated near other local areas such as Craiglockhart, Longstone, and Stenhouse. Slateford has a population of around 5106 residents and is part of the wider Edinburgh urban area.
AdBlue drains around Slateford and across City of Edinburgh
Throughout EH postcodes, our vans that cover Slateford — a residential suburb — work the surrounding locations too, Stenhouse and Longstone included. A postcode starting EH14 1 gets the van to you fastest.
The car remains put. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Redhall Walled Garden, a side street near MillStone Memorial to Graham Priestley: our engineers drain the vehicle where it is. Guessing won't help at the back of Slateford Aqueduc, on a border, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
The short version for Slateford motorists
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it sits, anywhere across City of Edinburgh.