Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Valleyfield
Pause reading for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. In Valleyfield, catching it before your motor runs normally leaves draining and a thorough flush on the spot. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page explains the reasons it takes place and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Many newer diesels on the roads around Valleyfield and Kirkhill carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the gas to clean it, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of vehicles share a single flap for both, while others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at each forecourt visit, again and again. Much less often, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. It's in that gap that the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Valleyfield?
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Lower Valleyfield View before work, or in the car park at The Old Crown Inn on the way home.
Unfamiliar cars come next, too. Hire cars, new cars and company motors put their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, keeps on. It takes a few seconds, be it out in Town Centre or bang in the heart of Valleyfield.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Penicuik or a forecourt around Valleyfield.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- The handbook says which it is when your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Newtongrange? Ask the person who drove it last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
On the day the light appears — wherever it is across Midlothian — a routine to follow.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, engine off, and never in a rush by Bellerophon Drive at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both sit under a flap, confirm it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and look again — making sure the diesel filler stayed shut throughout. Only then, start the vehicle.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Do not go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Valleyfield already?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting the engine. Keep the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels switching it on alone starts your fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Tesco, Asda or any forecourt will normally help to push your car away if asked. Your own driveway in Valleyfield is where it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. Come off the M8 — under 10 miles out of Valleyfield — at the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Edinburgh, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Valleyfield.
Our arrival around Valleyfield, and what takes place next
The van reaches the car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, near French Prisoners' Monument, or outside the local primary school. Which liquid got in, the quantity, and whether it ran: we ask since the answers set the work and price. The quote comes over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and nothing clears away unaided, no matter how long it sits. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
Unrun cars mostly mean a half-hour job from arrival. The kit is fine on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Valleyfield and where it is
Valleyfield is a suburban area located on the riverside in Midlothian, Scotland, with a mix of flat housing and local amenities. Valleyfield sits near the Town Centre, Broomhill, and Eskhill, approximately 8.9 miles from Edinburgh. Valleyfield has a population of around 2966 residents and is situated at an elevation of 166 metres. Valleyfield is part of the wider Edinburgh urban area, yet maintains its own distinct character.
Valleyfield and Midlothian: AdBlue drains across the area
Valleyfield is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the places around it, Broomhill and Eskhill among them, across the EH postcode area. Fastest of all: quote a EH26 8 postcode to our van.
The car stays put. Anywhere it stands — beside St Mungo's Parish Church, in a lay-by heading to Penicuik Cricket Club, on a drive — that's where it gets emptied. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Penicuik Town Hall.
For Valleyfield motorists, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it stands, wherever around Midlothian: switch it off then ring 0333 366 0103.