Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in West Kilbride: Why It Occurs
Pause here a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, if your engine has not turned, it's emptied and thoroughly rinsed where the vehicle is in West Kilbride. The remainder of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Many newer diesels around Portencross, as well as West Kilbride, carry on two liquids; the motor takes only your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Plenty of cars share a single flap for the two, while some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, poured by a driver who must stop and think which filler to use. That gap is where the error lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in West Kilbride: how it occurs
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things coming up together.
Hurry comes from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off Hunterston Road, or heading home in the car park outside The Twa Dugs.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after begun, keeps on. Meadowfoot or the heart of West Kilbride: it is the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around West Kilbride or a drive over in Munnoch. A few seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere around North Ayrshire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Main Street, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Stop once your tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, tip gently using the built-in spout.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Skip stage five entirely.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in West Kilbride already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: instead, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, right where the fuel is taken from.
On a forecourt — Esso, JET or any other — the attendants will usually help push the car clear, if you ask. If you're on your own driveway around West Kilbride, leave it where it is.
When the motor has been run already, pull over safely then turn the car off. Come off the M77 — under 25 miles out of West Kilbride — at the next exit. Mileage matters — a short hop across West Kilbride makes a smaller job than driving under 50 miles towards Glasgow — so tell us about how far it went.
West Kilbride: what occurs when we arrive
Anywhere your car has stopped, whether outside the local primary school, beside The Barony Centre or on your own drive, the van travels to it. Those replies settle this work and the price, and so our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it has run. Nobody heads out before you've heard our price over the phone.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes away unaided. That is why it counts more. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Your engine is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers leave.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor has not run take about half an hour after our technicians are there. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About West Kilbride
West Kilbride is a coastal village in North Ayrshire, situated on the eastern shore of the Firth of Clyde, with the village centre at an elevation of around 51 metres. West Kilbride has a mix of housing types, but flat accommodation is predominant, reflecting its history of residential development. West Kilbride is located near other small communities such as Meadowfoot, Seamill, and Thirdpart, and is within commuting distance of Glasgow, which is approximately 26 miles away. West Kilbride is also relatively distant from major English cities, with London being around 348 miles to the southeast.
AdBlue drains about West Kilbride, and North Ayrshire beyond
Seamill and Thirdpart are among the places around West Kilbride, a coastal village, that the same teams cover, over KA postcodes. Quickest of all: give a KA23 9 postcode for our van.
Your car doesn't need to move. Draining happens on the spot, whether a driveway, a street near Saint Brides Church, or a layby towards The Glen. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Kirktonhall Sundial, ring and ask instead of guessing.
For West Kilbride people, the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it is, anywhere across North Ayrshire: keep the car off then call 0333 366 0103.