AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Troon: Why It Happens and How to Prevent It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, keep your ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done right where the car sits around Troon, is normally what it takes if found before your engine runs. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it does not — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Diesel feeds the engine — but plenty of current diesels driven about Troon and Frognal carry a second liquid as well. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from its own tank.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that's the layout on a lot of cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel gets filled on each forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think what filler to use. It is in the gap that the error happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens in Troon
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Templehill before work, or in the car park outside Lonsdale on the way home.
Then the vehicle is new. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have 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 readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it occurs in Muirhead or the middle of Troon, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt around Troon or a driveway over in Collennan. A few seconds, that's all.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On many cars, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
- Cannot find it next to your diesel inlet? Then look below the bonnet or inside the boot — the handbook will say where.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at the nearest station? Ask the person who drove the car last before leaving, not once the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever in South Ayrshire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of West Portland Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both share a flap, confirm it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Finish once the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour slowly through the built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, and check again — confirm your diesel cap remained closed the whole time. After that, start the car.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Don't carry on to step five.
Troon: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Short list, then. Top of that: your motor stays off. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the car on. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of the tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Morrisons or the Esso, ask the staff to help roll the car clear of the petrol pump. On your own drive in Troon? So the car remains put.
Already started? Pull over when it's sensible, then turn off. Come off the M77 — under 15 miles out of Troon — at the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Troon is smaller a job than a run of under 50 miles to Glasgow, and so say.
When we get there in Troon, what occurs?
The van reaches the vehicle wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, beside Troon Old Parish Church, or by the local primary school. The answers determine this work and our quote, and so our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. On the phone call itself, you hear our quote — ahead of anything else.
The fuel system is then cleaned thoroughly, once your tank is drained. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and none of that washes away on its own, no matter how long it sits. The filter flushed or, if needed, swapped; clean diesel in; then a test of the vehicle. Before we leave, we start the car and check that it is running properly.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine has not run need roughly half an hour after our engineers are there. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Troon, briefly
Troon is a coastal town in South Ayrshire, Scotland, with a significant port that handles various maritime activities. Located on the west coast of Ayrshire, it is near major transport links, including Glasgow Prestwick Airport. The town is known for its harbour, which supports a range of services, including freight and yacht facilities. Troon also serves as a departure point for ferry services to nearby islands.
AdBlue drains around Troon and across South Ayrshire
Being a coastal town, Troon has the same vans as surrounding places — Barassie, Loans — right through KA postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting KA10 6.
The vehicle doesn't need to shift. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Gordon Brown Memorial Garden, a side street near Seagate Church: we drain the car where it is. Guessing doesn't help behind Troon Portland Bowling Club, close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe; phone and check.
The short version for Troon drivers
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep it off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across South Ayrshire.