Townhead: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Leave the engine and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before the motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Townhead. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to your motor — but many newer diesels driven round Townhead and Burnhead carry another liquid too. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from its own tank.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Some vehicles put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place both together behind one flap. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Townhead: how it takes place
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Walltrees Road before work, or in the car park at Thornhill Inn on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle warns you, and once it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's the second factor: an unfamiliar car.
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 once it has started. Thornhill or the middle of Townhead: it takes the same few seconds in both.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Townhead forecourt or a driveway out in Cample, spend a couple of seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- On plenty of vehicles, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many vehicles have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it next to the diesel filler? Then check below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Sanquhar.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Anywhere across Dumfries and Galloway the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of West Morton Street.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you've found the filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap was never came off.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went into the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Never carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Townhead?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment your ignition goes on — so keep it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
On a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, another forecourt nearby or any other — the staff will normally help roll the vehicle clear, when you ask. Your own drive around Townhead is where it should stay.
When the engine has been run already, pull over somewhere safe then turn the vehicle off. The next exit means where to come off when you are on the A74(M), under 15 miles from Townhead. Distance matters — a quick hop across Townhead makes a smaller job than heading under 50 miles towards Carlisle — so say roughly how far it went.
Townhead: what happens when we get there
Outside the local primary school, near Mercat Cross or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our engineers come to it. Both the work and our quote rest on three answers — what liquid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so we ask. Nobody heads out before you've heard our price by phone.
Emptying that tank comes next, then a full flush of your system. More than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, some metals corrode, and none of that washes away unaided, no matter how long it sits. The filter cleaned or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a test of the car. Before we go, our engineers fire it up and check that it is running smoothly.
If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Townhead and where it is
Townhead is a suburban area situated on the banks of a river in Dumfries and Galloway, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Townhead has a population of around 1503 people and is located near other local places such as Thornhill and Holmhill. Townhead sits at an elevation of 76 metres, providing views of the surrounding countryside. Townhead is also within commuting distance of Carlisle, which is approximately 40 miles away.
AdBlue drains about Townhead, and Dumfries and Galloway beyond
Holmhill and Nithbank are among the places around Townhead, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout DG postcodes. A postcode starting DG3 5 gets the van to you fastest.
There's no need to shift your car. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near War Memorial, a lay-by on the way to Briery Park, a driveway. Guessing won't help at the back of Templeland Mains Roman Signal Station, on a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and check.
Townhead motorists: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across Dumfries and Galloway, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — and so leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.