Whinnyknowe: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Stop reading for a moment when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the engine hasn't run, it is drained and thoroughly cleaned where your vehicle is in Whinnyknowe. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to ensure it does not — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Many modern diesels around Old Town, as well as Whinnyknowe, run on two liquids; the engine gets just the diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
Each tank has a filler of its own. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at every forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank take place in Whinnyknowe?
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things coming up together.
On a driveway off Western Avenue before work, or in the car park at The Clansman on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar cars are next, too. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as easily, and after the pour begins, nothing stops it. Leslie Parks or the heart of Whinnyknowe: it is the same few seconds in both.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Be it a Whinnyknowe forecourt or a driveway out in South Parks, take a few seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- On many motors, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Markinch.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Wherever around Fife the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Leslie Roundabout, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off first.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — after you've found the filler and read it.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both share a flap, confirm it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Discover during the second or third stage that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Don't go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Whinnyknowe?
The short order of things, starting with no starting your engine. Keep your ignition off too, because on many diesels switching it on alone starts the pump. Filling up with diesel will not weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of the tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — Shell, Asda or any other — the attendants will normally help roll the vehicle away, when you ask. If you're on your own drive in Whinnyknowe, leave it where it sits.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. The next junction is the place to leave if you are on the M90, under 10 miles from Whinnyknowe. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Whinnyknowe is smaller work than a run of under 15 miles to Dunfermline, and so say.
What occurs when our technicians turn up in Whinnyknowe
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, near Giant Irises or on your own driveway. What fluid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because those replies decide the work and quote. No one heads out before you have heard our quote by phone.
Then the tank is emptied and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither washes away unaided. Hence it counts more. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. The motor is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before our engineers leave.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after we arrive, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Whinnyknowe, briefly
Whinnyknowe is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Fife, with a mix of detached housing and local amenities. Whinnyknowe sits at an elevation of 96 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. Whinnyknowe is located near several nearby places, including Leslie Parks, Foresters Lodge, and Pitcoudie, and is approximately 14 miles from the city of Dunfermline.
AdBlue drains about Whinnyknowe, and Fife beyond
Whinnyknowe is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the places near it, Foresters Lodge and Pitcoudie among them, across the KY postcode area. A postcode starting KY7 5 gets our van to you fastest.
Shifting your car isn't necessary. We drain it where it is — a side street near Victorian Picture Frame, a lay-by on the way to Leslie Roundabout, a driveway. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Forest Screens, ring and ask rather than guessing.
For Whinnyknowe drivers, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across Fife.