How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bradshaw
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done right where the car stands around Bradshaw, is usually all it takes when caught before the engine runs. Reading in advance? In that case what follows covers why it comes about and what to stop it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Plenty of modern diesels around Upper Brockholes, like those in Bradshaw, run on two fluids; your engine gets just the diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, different fillers. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. It is in the gap that the mistake happens.
Bradshaw: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Lynton Grove before work, or in the car park at Causeway Foot Inn on the way home.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Nothing stops the pour after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Ogden or the middle of Bradshaw, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Bradshaw forecourt or a drive over in Brookhouse, take a couple of seconds over these before any goes in.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- Check inside the fuel flap: many motors carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Halifax.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — anywhere it is in West Yorkshire — a routine to follow.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — never rushing on the side of Ingham Lane.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, close the cap and look again that the diesel cap never opened off.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? So stop right there. Leave out step five entirely.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Bradshaw already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. Do not switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
The staff at Morrisons, Esso or any forecourt will usually help to push your car clear if asked. If you're on your own driveway in Bradshaw, leave it where it sits.
Where your engine has been run already, pull over safely then switch the vehicle off. Come off the M606 — under 10 miles out of Bradshaw — at the next exit. Mileage matters — a short hop across Bradshaw is a smaller job than heading under 10 miles to Bradford — so tell us roughly how far it went.
When our engineers turn up in Bradshaw, what occurs?
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Bradshaw Primary School, close to St John the Evangelist or on your own drive. Our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it's run, since the replies determine the work and our quote. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. Testing is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is flushed or changed if necessary. The motor is fired up next and checked to make sure it runs correctly, all before we go.
Unstarted vehicles mostly mean a half-hour job from arrival. The kit is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Bradshaw and where it is
Bradshaw is a small suburban area situated near the River Calder in West Yorkshire, with a mix of terraced housing and scenic views. Bradshaw sits at an elevation of 283 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. Bradshaw is located close to several nearby places, including Ogden, Illingworth, and Holdsworth, and is approximately 5.5 miles from the city of Bradford. Bradshaw has a relatively small population of around 692 residents.
Bradshaw and West Yorkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Bradshaw shares its vans surrounding areas — Illingworth, Holdsworth — all the way across HX postcodes and the wider area beyond. Give a postcode beginning HX2 9, and our van gets there quickest.
Your car remains where it is. The drain takes place right there, whether a drive, a street by Oats Royd Fishing Complex, or a layby towards park area around car park. Awkward to explain, like the back of Mount Zion Methodist Heritage Chapel? Close to a border? Asking is better than guessing, and so ring.
In short, for Bradshaw drivers
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across West Yorkshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.