How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Broomhill
Stop here a minute if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. In Broomhill, catching it before your motor turns usually leaves a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. Here before the event? In that case what follows explains how it comes about and how to prevent it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Plenty of modern diesels in Tapton Hill, as well as Broomhill, run on two liquids; the motor takes just your diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where a spray cleans the fumes.
There is a filler for every tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually comes from a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think which filler to use. It's in the gap that the mistake happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs around Broomhill
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a driveway off Spooner Road before work, or in the car park at Fox & Duck on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle warns you, and if it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second factor: a strange vehicle.
Third, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as easily, and once the tip begins, no part halts it. Whether it occurs in Summerfield or the middle of Broomhill, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Crookesmoor or a forecourt around Broomhill.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Check when you pick up a hire car or fleet car — from Sheffield's car park, say — rather than when the warning appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — anywhere it is in South Yorkshire — a routine to follow.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Fulwood Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- 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's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start your car, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Discover during the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Don't carry on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Broomhill?
Short order, then. First: your motor remains off. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so keep it off. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of that tank, right where the fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Shell, JET or any forecourt will usually help to push the vehicle away if you ask. At home in Broomhill? Then the vehicle remains put.
Already started? Stop once it's safe, then turn off. Broomhill sits under 5 miles from the Tinsley Viaduct; on it, use the first junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Sheffield, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Broomhill.
When our technicians turn up in Broomhill, what happens?
Outside Broomhill Infant School, near Broomhill Community Library or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our technicians come to it. What fluid went in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because the answers decide the work and price. No one heads out before you have heard the price by phone.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. Testing is last: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the fuel filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. The engine is fired up next and tested to make sure it runs correctly, all before we leave.
If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. It is worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Broomhill, briefly
Broomhill is a suburban area located on the western edge of Sheffield, sitting at an elevation of 169 metres in the heart of South Yorkshire. Broomhill is characterised by its predominantly terraced housing stock, with nearby areas including Summerfield and Broomfield. Broomhill is close to the city centre, being only 1.4 miles from Sheffield, and is part of the larger Sheffield urban area. Broomhill has a population of approximately 9280 residents.
AdBlue drains around Broomhill and across South Yorkshire
Broomfield and Endcliffe Crescent are among the places near Broomhill, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over S postcodes. A postcode starting S10 5 gets the van to you fastest.
The car does not need to shift. The drain takes place on the spot, whether a drive, a street by Broomhill Climbing Works, or a lay-by towards Lynwood Gardens. Assuming won't help behind Broomhill Methodist Church, close to a border, or somewhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
For Broomhill drivers, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the car switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across South Yorkshire.