How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in South Leith
Keep the motor and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Usually, if the engine hasn't run, it is drained and fully rinsed where the vehicle is around South Leith. Reading in advance? In that case the rest covers why it comes about and how to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads about South Leith and Thornville Terrace carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler for every tank. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think which filler it needs. That gap is where the error lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in South Leith
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and running out leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Shore, perhaps at Malt & Hops on the way home after work.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Whether it occurs in Leith or the middle of South Leith, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt around South Leith or a driveway over in Woodville Terrace. Seconds, no more.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of cars have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it is if the filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Edinburgh Waverley, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere across City of Edinburgh the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Commercial Street.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, 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.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, shut the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap never came off.
Discover during the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Never go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around South Leith?
Don't start the engine: that is how the short order of things starts. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment your ignition goes on — and so keep it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the BP or anywhere else. If you are on your own drive in South Leith, leave it where it sits.
Already started? Stop when it's sensible, then switch off. On the M8, under 10 miles from South Leith, that means the next junction. Distance counts — a quick hop across South Leith is a smaller job than heading under 3 miles to Edinburgh — so say roughly how far it went.
When our engineers arrive around South Leith, what takes place?
Our van reaches the car wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, near Custom House Gallery, or outside the local primary school. Both the work and the quote depend on three answers — what fluid, what quantity, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. No one sets off before you have had the quote by phone.
Emptying the tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. A test is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. We don't leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Unrun vehicles usually need a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. It's worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About South Leith
South Leith is a coastal suburban area in the City of Edinburgh, situated near the shore of the Firth of Forth. South Leith sits at a low elevation of around 8 metres, close to the historic port of Leith and the city centre of Edinburgh. South Leith is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing, which reflects the area's urban development. South Leith is also proximal to other nearby places, including Hamilton Wynd and Woodbine Terrace.
South Leith and City of Edinburgh: AdBlue drains across the area
Hamilton Wynd and Woodbine Terrace are among the places around South Leith, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over EH postcodes. Quote a postcode that starts EH6 6, and the van arrives quickest.
The car doesn't need to shift. Draining takes place on the spot, whether a driveway, a street by Shore Anchor, or a lay-by towards Tolbooth Wynd. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Leith Market.
The short version for South Leith people
Tip nothing until you've read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across City of Edinburgh.