Stoneyhill Steading: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Pause reading for a moment if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. In Stoneyhill Steading, finding it before the motor turns normally means a drain and a full flush where it stands. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single fluid but two: that is how many modern diesels around Stoneyhill Steading and Newhailes run, with diesel for your motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on each forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Stoneyhill Steading?
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things coming up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Stoney Farm before work, or in the car park at Ship Inn on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second factor: a strange vehicle.
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 tip after it has started. Stoneyhill or the heart of Stoneyhill Steading: it is the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt in Stoneyhill Steading or a drive over in Stoneybank. Seconds, no more.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many motors. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Musselburgh, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Wherever across East Lothian the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, motor off, and never rushed by Stoneyhill Road at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, yet it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? So stop just there. Step five is off limits.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Stoneyhill Steading?
The short order of things, starting with no starting the engine. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so leave it off. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the base instead of mixing — and that's where the fuel is pulled from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the Tesco or the Shell, ask the staff to help roll your car away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive around Stoneyhill Steading.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next junction is the place to come off when you are on the M8, under 10 miles from Stoneyhill Steading. A short hop across Stoneyhill Steading is a smaller job than a run towards Edinburgh, under 5 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
What occurs when our technicians arrive around Stoneyhill Steading
Anywhere the vehicle has stopped, whether outside the local primary school, near Stoneyfarm Community Centre or on your own drive, the van travels to it. Those replies settle this work and the quote, and so we ask what went in, about how much, and whether it's run. You hear that price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Next: draining, then a full 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 that matters more here than with petrol. The filter flushed or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a test of your car. Before we go, we start the engine and confirm that it's running properly.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. It's worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Stoneyhill Steading itself
Stoneyhill Steading is a coastal locality in East Lothian, situated near the city of Edinburgh and overlooking the Firth of Forth. Stoneyhill Steading has a relatively low elevation of around 20 metres, and its proximity to Edinburgh makes it a popular residential area. Stoneyhill Steading is characterised by its predominantly flat-type housing, which accommodates a population of approximately 3800 residents.
Stoneyhill Steading and East Lothian: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a coastal area, Stoneyhill Steading shares its vans nearby places — Fisherrow, Whitehill — all the way through EH postcodes and the wider area around them. Give a postcode beginning EH21 6, and our van arrives quickest.
The vehicle does not need to move. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Haugh Park, a side street near Olivebank Stadium: our technicians drain it where it is. Assuming doesn't help at the back of OliveBank Community Centre, close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
In short, for Stoneyhill Steading motorists
First, the cap; after that, the tip. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it stands, anywhere in East Lothian: keep the car off and call 0333 366 0103.