How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in The Gyle
Keep your motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Usually, when your motor hasn't turned, it is emptied and thoroughly flushed where the vehicle is in The Gyle. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Not one fluid but two: that's how many modern diesels around The Gyle and Drumbrae run, with diesel for the motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
There is a filler on every tank. Many of cars have a single flap for both, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around The Gyle: how it takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a driveway off Craigs Drive before work, or in the car park at Mid Yoken Pub heading home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car tells you, and once it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old motor — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
No part stops the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it happens in East Craigs or the middle of The Gyle, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Corstorphine or a forecourt in The Gyle, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- Open the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of motors show which belongs in which inlet right there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at South Gyle.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Wherever around City of Edinburgh the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Craigs Road.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — once you've located the filler and read it.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Shut the cap, then look once more — making sure your diesel cap remained shut the whole time. Only then, start the car.
Discover at the second or third stage that the bottle went into the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Don't carry on to stage five.
The Gyle: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Don't start your motor: that's where the short order of things starts. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
The staff at Shell, Tesco or any forecourt will usually help to push the vehicle clear if asked. Your own drive in The Gyle is where it stays.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M8, under 3 miles from The Gyle, that means the next exit. A short hop across The Gyle is a smaller job than a run towards Edinburgh, under 5 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
The Gyle: what takes place when we arrive
By the local primary school, near Craigsbank Parish Church or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. Our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it has run, because the answers determine the work and our price. Nobody sets off until you have heard our quote by phone.
Emptying that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the fuel system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither clears out by itself. That is why it matters more. A test comes at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. After that we start it and confirm it runs properly before we go.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour visit from arrival. The kit is safe on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About The Gyle, for a moment
The Gyle is a suburban area in the City of Edinburgh, situated approximately 4.4 miles west of Edinburgh's city centre. The Gyle sits near the coast, with an elevation of around 52 metres, and is bordered by nearby places such as East Craigs, Bughtlin, and West Craigs. The Gyle is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, which reflects the area's residential nature.
The Gyle and City of Edinburgh: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, The Gyle has the same vans as nearby places — Bughtlin, West Craigs — right through EH postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Give a postcode beginning EH12 8, and our van arrives quickest.
The car does not need to move. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Craigmount Park, a side street close to East Craigs Church Centre: we drain the vehicle where it sits. Awkward to explain, like the back of David Lloyd Clubs? By a border? Checking is better than guessing, so phone.
For The Gyle people, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, wherever across City of Edinburgh: switch the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.