Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Summerlee
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. In Summerlee, finding it before the motor turns normally means a drain and a full flush on the spot. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page covers the reasons it takes place and the how to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds your motor — but plenty of modern diesels driven about Summerlee and Gartsherrie hold a second liquid too. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Much less regularly, 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.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Summerlee: how it occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
Haste comes from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a drive off Baird Street, or heading home in the car park outside St Andrews Bar.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
Third, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as readily, and after the tip starts, no part stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Summerlee or out in Coatbridge.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a Summerlee forecourt or a drive out in Dunbeth, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it is when your filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Coatbridge Central? Ask the person who drove the car last before you set off, rather than once the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
When the light comes on, wherever in North Lanarkshire, use this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Sunnyside Road.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you've located the filler and read the cap.
- Both behind a single flap? So make sure the cap on your diesel side is still closed before lifting the bottle.
- Finish once your tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, pour slowly using its built-in spout.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Step five stays out.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Summerlee?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting the engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Asda, BP or any forecourt will usually help to push the car away when you ask. If you're on your own drive around Summerlee, leave it where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. The next exit is the place to come off if you're on the M8, under 3 miles from Summerlee. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Glasgow, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Summerlee.
When our engineers get there around Summerlee, what happens?
Wherever the vehicle has stopped, whether outside the local primary school, beside Photography Workshop or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Both the work and the price rest on three replies — what liquid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. During the call itself, you are told the price — ahead of anything else.
Then the tank is drained and the system purged thoroughly. 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. Filter flushed or, if it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a test of the vehicle. After that our engineers start the car and make sure it runs correctly before leaving.
If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Summerlee
Summerlee is a suburban area in North Lanarkshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 89 metres, with Glasgow approximately 8 miles to the west. Summerlee is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing and is located near other local communities such as Coatbridge and Blairhill. Summerlee sits within the wider Glasgow urban area, yet remains a distinct residential community with its own local identity.
AdBlue drains across North Lanarkshire, Summerlee included
Summerlee is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Sunnyside and Blairhill among them, across the ML postcode area. Quote a postcode beginning ML5 3, and the van arrives fastest.
The car doesn't need to move. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Summerlee Museum, a side street near Reigart Suite: our technicians drain the car where it sits. Assuming doesn't help at the back of Site of Summerlee Iron Works, on a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and ask.
Summerlee people: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave it off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere around North Lanarkshire.