Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Broomfields: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. In Broomfields, finding it before your engine turns normally means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel feeds the engine — yet many current diesels driven around Broomfields and Eastbrook carry another fluid too. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place both side by side under one flap. Diesel goes in at each filling station visit, week in, week out. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
Broomfields: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
It's 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 Mill Lane before work, or in the car park outside Bowling Hotel on the way home.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is a second thing: a new motor.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once begun, keeps on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Broomfields or out in Ripleyville.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a drive in Little Horton Green or a forecourt around Broomfields.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- Cannot find it beside your diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Bradford Interchange? Check with whoever drove the car last before leaving, not when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
The day the light comes on, wherever in West Yorkshire, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Hall Lane, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It seems daft. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and look again that your diesel cap never came off.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Never go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Broomfields?
Brief list, then. First: your engine remains unstarted. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of the tank, right where fuel is taken from.
Ask the attendants to help roll your car away from the pump if you are on a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the IK or somewhere else. Your own drive around Broomfields is the place it should stay.
Where the motor has run by now, stop somewhere safe and switch the vehicle off. Leave the M606 — under 3 miles out of Broomfields — at the next exit. About how far did it go? Crossing Broomfields is smaller a job than a trip of under a mile to Bradford, and so tell us.
What happens when our engineers get there around Broomfields
Anywhere the vehicle came to rest, whether outside Rainbow Primary Leadership Academy, beside Guru Nanak Sikh Temple or at home, our van comes to it. What fluid went in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because the answers decide both work and price. You get that quote by phone, before anybody sets off.
Then your tank is emptied and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. Filter cleaned or, where it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a check of the car. We do not go until it has been started and is running correctly.
Unrun cars mostly need a half-hour visit from arrival. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Broomfields itself
Broomfields is a suburban area located on the riverside in West Yorkshire, with a mix of terraced housing and local amenities. Broomfields sits near the city of Bradford, at an elevation of 131 metres, and is close to nearby places such as Ripleyville and Bowling. Broomfields is a relatively small community, with a population of approximately 3201 residents. Broomfields is situated about 171 miles north of London, making it a commuter hub for the local area.
AdBlue drains in Broomfields and across West Yorkshire
Over BD postcodes, the vans that cover Broomfields — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Bowling and Bradford among them. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting BD4 7.
The car stays where it is. Anywhere it sits — near Firdaws Mosque, on a layby heading to Norfolk Gardens, at home — that is where it gets drained. Assuming doesn't help behind Madrasah Baitul Ilm, on a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
In short, for Broomfields motorists
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout West Yorkshire.