AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Waterfoot: Why It Happens and How to Stop It
Pause reading for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the motor has not run, it's drained and thoroughly flushed where the vehicle is around Waterfoot. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page covers the reasons it happens and the how to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of modern diesels in Thorntonhall, as well as Waterfoot, carry on two fluids; the engine takes only your diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There is a filler for every tank. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have both side by side behind one flap. Diesel goes in at each forecourt visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less often, usually from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
Waterfoot: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Craighlaw Avenue before work, or in the car park at the pub in the village on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — yet a rental car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That's a second factor: a new vehicle.
Third, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as easily, and after the tip starts, no part halts it. It's a few seconds, whether in Millerston or bang in the heart of Waterfoot.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Be it a Waterfoot forecourt or a driveway out in Burnhouse, take a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually aren't.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it beside your diesel filler? Then look beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook will say where.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you pick up a hire car or company car — at Thorntonhall's car park, say — rather than when the light appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
The day the light comes on, anywhere across East Renfrewshire, follow this routine.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — not rushing on the side of Glasgow Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both sit under a flap, make sure it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap was never came off.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Step five is out.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Waterfoot?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — so keep it off. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Whitecraigs BP or the BP, ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the petrol pump. If you're on your own drive in Waterfoot, leave the car where it is.
Already started? Stop once it's sensible, then turn off. On the M77, under 3 miles from Waterfoot, that means the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Glasgow, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Waterfoot.
When our technicians arrive around Waterfoot, what occurs?
Our van reaches the vehicle wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Lieutenant A S Gilmour and Brigadier General D J Glasfurd Memorial, or by the local primary school. Both the work and the quote depend on three answers — which fluid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. During the phone call itself, you are told our price — ahead of anything else.
Then your tank is emptied and your system cleaned thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. Once the fuel filter is cleaned — or replaced, where needed — fresh diesel goes in, and finally your car gets tested. Your engine is fired up next and tested to make sure it runs smoothly, all before our technicians leave.
If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is part of many insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Waterfoot
Waterfoot is a small village situated on the riverside in East Renfrewshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and a population of around 700 residents. Waterfoot sits at an elevation of 106 metres, close to the nearby villages of Millerston and Kirkhill. Waterfoot is located near the city of Glasgow, approximately 7 miles away, and is part of the wider Glasgow urban area. Waterfoot has a quiet, residential character, typical of many Scottish villages.
Waterfoot and East Renfrewshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Waterfoot is a village, and our vans that cover it also work the places near it, Kirkhill and Busby among them, across the G postcode area. A postcode starting G76 0 gets the van to you fastest.
Shifting the car isn't necessary. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Riverside Park, a side street close to Mearns Castle: our engineers drain it where it is. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Maxwell Mearns Castle Church? Close to a county line? Asking is better than assuming, so ring.
Waterfoot people: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in East Renfrewshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.