Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Strathblane
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the motor has not run, it is drained and thoroughly cleaned where the car is around Strathblane. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Not one liquid but two: that's how plenty of newer diesels around Strathblane and Haughhead carry, with diesel feeding the engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there a spray treats the fumes.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Other motors put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have both side by side under one flap. Diesel goes in on every filling station call-out, week in, week out. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
Strathblane: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a driveway off Glasgow Road before work, or in the car park at the pub in the village heading home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
New-to-you cars are second, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company motors put their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Nothing halts the pour once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Blanefield or the middle of Strathblane: it is the same few seconds either way.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt in Strathblane or a driveway out in Clachan of Campsie. A few seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: many vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Milngavie, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Stirling that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Station Lofts, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Finish when the tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, pour slowly using its own spout.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Don't go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Strathblane?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting the motor. Leave the ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of blending — and that is where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push the car away from the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the Esso, the BP or anywhere else. Your own driveway in Strathblane is where it should stay.
When your motor has been run already, stop safely then switch the car off. The next exit means where to leave when you are on the M8, under 10 miles from Strathblane. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Strathblane makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles to Glasgow — so say about how far it went.
Our arrival around Strathblane, and what happens next
Outside the local primary school, close to Kirk Rooms or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our engineers come to it. Both the work and the price rest on three answers — what liquid, which amount, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. You hear that price by phone, before anyone heads out.
The system is then rinsed thoroughly, after that tank is emptied. More than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals form, some metals corrode, and nothing clears away unaided, no matter how long it is left. Once the filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where needed — clean diesel is added, and finally the car gets tested. Your engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs properly, all before our technicians go.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour visit from arrival. The equipment is fine on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Strathblane
Strathblane is a village situated on the shores of a lake in Stirling, with a mix of rural and residential areas at an elevation of 77 metres. Strathblane lies close to the nearby settlements of Blanefield, Mugdock, and Baldernock, and is within commuting distance of Glasgow, which is approximately 9 miles away. Strathblane has a population of around 1175 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Strathblane is located in a scenic area, with the city of Glasgow and its amenities nearby.
AdBlue drains across Stirling, Strathblane included
Over G postcodes, our vans that cover Strathblane — a village — work the nearby locations too, Baldernock and Mugdock among them. A postcode starting G63 9 gets our van to you fastest.
The car doesn't need to shift. Draining takes place on the spot, whether a drive, a street near Scout Hall, or a layby on the way to King George 5th Park. Guessing won't help behind Strathblane Church, close to a border, or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
In short, for Strathblane motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it is, anywhere in Stirling: switch the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.