How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in South Whitehills
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. Around South Whitehills, catching it before the motor turns normally leaves draining and a thorough flush where it stands. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Diesel goes to the engine — yet plenty of newer diesels seen about South Whitehills and Forfar carry another liquid as well. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, different fillers. Some vehicles put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place the two side by side behind one flap. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in that gap that the error happens.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur in South Whitehills?
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Ivy Terrace before work, or in the car park outside The Railway on the way home.
Unfamiliar cars come second, too. Rentals, new vehicles and company cars place their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, keeps on. Whether it takes place in Suttieside or the middle of South Whitehills, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Lunanhead or a forecourt in South Whitehills, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside the nearest station? Check with the person who drove the car last before leaving, rather than once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Anywhere around Angus the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Ivy Road, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've found your filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and look once more — making sure the diesel filler remained shut the whole time. After that, start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around South Whitehills?
Do not start your engine: that's how the short order of things starts. Leave your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not weaken it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the base of your tank, just where fuel is taken from.
The attendants at Gulf, Shell or another forecourt will usually lend a hand to push the vehicle clear if asked. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in South Whitehills.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. South Whitehills lies under 50 miles from the M90; there, use the first junction. A short hop across South Whitehills is a smaller job than a run towards Dundee, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
South Whitehills: what happens when we get there
The van reaches your car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, near Forfar Indoor Sports, or by the local primary school. Which liquid went in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because the answers decide both work and quote. During the phone call itself, you hear our quote — ahead of anything else.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Once the fuel filter is cleaned — or replaced, where needed — clean diesel goes in, and finally your vehicle gets tested. The motor is started next and checked to be sure it runs properly, all before we head off.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after our technicians get there, as long as the engine hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. It's worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About South Whitehills and where it is
South Whitehills is a suburban area in Angus, situated inland at an elevation of 82 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. South Whitehills lies approximately 13.9 miles from Dundee, and is close to nearby places such as Suttieside and North Whitehills. South Whitehills has a population of around 2427 residents, and is characterized by its residential community. South Whitehills is located in a region with gently rolling hills and scenic countryside.
South Whitehills and Angus: AdBlue drains across the area
North Whitehills and Gowanbank are among the towns near South Whitehills, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout DD postcodes. Quickest of all: give a DD8 3 postcode to our van.
The vehicle remains where it is. Draining takes place on the spot, be it a drive, a road by Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, or a layby on the way to Whitehills Park. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Station Park.
South Whitehills people: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across Angus, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — and so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.