How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in West Linton
Stop reading a minute when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done just where the car sits in West Linton, is normally all it needs when caught before the engine runs. Reading before the event? In that case the rest covers how it happens and how to prevent it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many modern diesels on the roads around West Linton and Carlops carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on many cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
West Linton: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a driveway off Lower Green before work, or in the car park outside the pub in the village heading home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and once it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
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 after it has started. Whether it happens in Bogs Bank or the middle of West Linton, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around West Linton or a drive out in Mountain Cross. A few seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Kirknewton.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Scottish Borders that is.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Main Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and check once more — making sure your diesel cap stayed shut the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to stage five.
West Linton: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting the motor. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
The staff at the nearest petrol station, another forecourt nearby or any forecourt will normally help to push the vehicle away if asked. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in West Linton.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. West Linton sits under 15 miles from the M8; there, use the next exit. A short hop across West Linton is a smaller job than a run towards Edinburgh, under 25 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
West Linton: what occurs when we turn up
Wherever the car has stopped, whether outside the local primary school, near St Andrews West Linton or on your own drive, the van comes to it. What fluid got in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because the answers set both work and price. On the call itself, you are told our quote — before anything else.
Then the tank is emptied and the system rinsed 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. A test is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or changed if necessary. We do not go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our technicians get there, provided the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About West Linton
West Linton is a village situated in the Scottish Borders, on the banks of the River Lyne at an elevation of 236 metres. West Linton lies approximately 15 miles south-west of Edinburgh and is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock. West Linton is surrounded by rolling countryside and nearby places such as Bogs Bank, Halmyre Mains, and Romannobridge. West Linton has a population of around 1593 residents.
AdBlue drains round West Linton, and Scottish Borders beyond
Halmyre Mains and Romannobridge are among the towns near West Linton, a village, that the same teams cover, over EH postcodes. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting EH46 7.
The vehicle remains put. Wherever it sits — beside War Memorial, on a layby en route to Samual's Wood, at home — that is where it gets drained. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St Mungo's Episcopal Church, ring and ask rather than assuming.
In short, for West Linton motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere around Scottish Borders, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.