AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Waterside: How It Occurs and How to Avoid It
Keep your motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before the motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Waterside. The remainder of this page explains 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 vehicle
Many newer diesels around Harestanes, like those in Waterside, carry on two liquids; the engine gets just your diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Some vehicles put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have the two side by side under one flap. At the petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Waterside?
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a drive off Old Duntiblae Road before work, or in the car park at The Chase Inn heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and if it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor 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.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Waterside or out in Duntiblae.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt in Waterside or a driveway over in Langmuir. Seconds, that's all.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On many vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Lenzie? Ask the person who drove the car last before you set off, not once the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — wherever it is in East Dunbartonshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, engine stopped, and never in a rush by Cairnview on the verge.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then check again — confirm the diesel cap stayed closed the whole time. After that, start the car.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Step five is out.
Waterside: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting the motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the car on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Gulf, JET or another forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing your car clear if you ask. On your own drive in Waterside? So the car remains where it is.
When the engine has run already, stop somewhere safe then turn it off. Waterside sits under 3 miles from the M80; there, take the next junction. Mileage matters — a short hop across Waterside is a smaller job than driving under 10 miles to Glasgow — so say about how far it went.
What takes place when we get there around Waterside
Anywhere the car has stopped, whether outside the local primary school, beside Woodilee Hospital Bowling Club Memorial or at home, our van travels to it. Our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because those replies settle this work and the quote. You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals form, some metals corrode, and none of it clears out unaided, however long it is left. Once your filter has been flushed — or renewed, where required — clean diesel is added, and then the vehicle gets tested. The engine is started next and checked to be sure it runs properly, all before our technicians leave.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor has not run need roughly half an hour once we are there. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. While we travel, have a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Waterside
Waterside is a suburban area located on the riverside in East Dunbartonshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Waterside sits at an elevation of around 55 metres, close to the nearby places of Duntiblae, Rosebank, and Oxgang. Waterside is situated near Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, which is approximately 6.6 miles away. Waterside has a population of around 3108 people, making it a small but established community.
AdBlue drains across East Dunbartonshire, Waterside included
Waterside is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Rosebank and Oxgang among them, across the G postcode area. A postcode starting G66 3 gets our van to you fastest.
The vehicle stays where it is. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to Merkland Outdoor Recreation Centre, a lay-by on the way to Merkland Local Nature Reserve, a drive. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of St Columba's Parish Church, ring and ask rather than guessing.
The short version for Waterside motorists
Before you pour, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it is, anywhere in East Dunbartonshire: keep the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.