Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Stewarton
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside a moment, leave the ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done just where your car stands in Stewarton, is normally what it takes if found before the motor runs. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the reasons it happens and the ways to prevent it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Not one fluid but two: that's what plenty of newer diesels near Stewarton and Fullwood carry, with diesel for the motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where spraying cleans the gas.
There's a filler for every tank. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on a lot of vehicles. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. It's in that gap that the slip lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Stewarton: how it happens
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Hamilton Gardens before work, or in the car park at Stewarton Arms on the way home.
Then your car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, keeps on. It takes seconds, whether in Kingsford or right in the centre of Stewarton.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Stewarton or a drive over in Fenwick. A few seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by the diesel cap, it's 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 — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere in East Ayrshire, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Armour Place, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- Both under a single flap? Then make sure the cap on your diesel side stays closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Do not go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Stewarton?
Short list, then. First: the engine stays off. Keep your ignition off as well, since on many diesels it by itself runs your pump. Filling up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of the tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — Esso, BP or another — the staff will normally help roll the vehicle away, when you ask. At home around Stewarton? Then the car remains put.
Where your motor has run already, pull over somewhere safe and turn the car off. Stewarton sits under 3 miles from the M77; there, take the first junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Glasgow, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Stewarton.
When our engineers turn up around Stewarton, what occurs?
Our van comes to your car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, near John Knox Parish Church, or by the local primary school. What liquid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask since the replies set both work and price. On the call itself, you hear our price — ahead of dispatch.
Then that tank is cleared and the system rinsed thoroughly. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away by itself. Hence it matters more. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Your engine is started next and checked to make sure it runs smoothly, all before our engineers head off.
Unrun cars usually mean a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is safe on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Stewarton
Stewarton is a town situated on the banks of the River Annick in East Ayrshire, with a mix of detached housing and other residential areas. Stewarton sits at an elevation of 99 metres, near the larger town of Kilmarnock and the city of Glasgow, which is 16.5 miles away. Stewarton is close to several smaller communities, including Kingsford, Dunlop, and Moneyacres. Stewarton has a population of around 8033 people, making it a significant urban centre in the area.
AdBlue drains around Stewarton and across East Ayrshire
As a riverside town, Stewarton has the same vans as surrounding places — Dunlop, Moneyacres — right across KA postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Give a postcode beginning KA3 5, and the van arrives quickest.
There's no need to shift the car. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Springwell Park, a side street near Jam Street Dance Studio: our engineers drain the vehicle where it sits. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Saint Columbas Parish Church.
In short, for Stewarton drivers
Tip nothing until you've read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it is, anywhere around East Ayrshire: switch the car off then call 0333 366 0103.