Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Birks: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the motor has not turned, it is emptied and thoroughly cleaned where your vehicle sits in Birks. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Plenty of newer diesels in Low Town End, like those in Birks, carry on two fluids; the motor gets just your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank comes with a filler of its own. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on many motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in on every forecourt call-out, again and again. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
Birks: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
Hurry comes from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Dartmouth Avenue, or on the way home in the car park at Morley Dashers.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip after it has started. America Moor or the heart of Birks: it takes the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these first, at a forecourt around Birks or a driveway over in New Brighton. A few seconds, no more.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- On plenty of cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by the diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Morley? Check with the person who drove it last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in West Yorkshire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Denton Terrace, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and 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.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never opened off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Leave out stage five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Birks?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting your motor. Keep your ignition off too, since on many diesels it alone starts your fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
On a forecourt — Asda, Morrisons or another — the staff will normally help roll the car clear, if you ask. If you are on your own drive in Birks, leave it where it sits.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M62, under a mile from Birks, that means the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Birks is less a job than a run of under 5 miles to Leeds, and so say.
Our arrival around Birks, and what occurs next
Our van reaches the car anywhere it stopped — your own drive, near Ernie Wise, or by Fountain Primary School. What fluid got in, the amount, and if it ran: we ask because those answers decide the work and quote. That quote comes on the call, before any van leaves.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, some metals are attacked, and nothing clears away on its own, however long it sits. The filter cleaned or, where needed, swapped; clean diesel in; then a test of the car. Before we leave, our technicians fire it up and confirm that it's running smoothly.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is fine on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It is worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Birks and where it is
Birks is a suburban area situated on the riverside in West Yorkshire, with an elevation of 158 metres and a mix of terraced housing. Birks lies approximately 4.8 miles from Leeds, making it a commuter-friendly location. Birks is surrounded by nearby places such as America Moor, Topcliffe, and Town End, and is home to around 7017 residents. Birks benefits from its proximity to Leeds, while maintaining a distinct local character.
AdBlue drains round Birks, and West Yorkshire beyond
Birks is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Topcliffe and Town End among them, across the LS postcode area. Quote a postcode beginning LS27 0, and our van gets there quickest.
Moving the car is not needed. Draining happens right there, whether a driveway, a street near Methodist Chapel, or a layby towards Hembrigg Park. Awkward to explain, like the back of Church of the Nazarene? By a county line? Checking beats assuming, and so ring.
Birks drivers: the short version
Tip no AdBlue until you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it sits, anywhere around West Yorkshire.