How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Cross Hills
Keep the engine and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before your engine runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Cross Hills. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it does not — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads round Cross Hills and Farnhill carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. It is in the gap that the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in Cross Hills?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Station Road, or at Old White Bear on the way home that evening.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — but a rental car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is the second factor: a new motor.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after begun, keeps on. It takes a few seconds, whether in Junction or right in the centre of Cross Hills.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Cross Hills forecourt or a driveway out in Glusburn Green, take a couple of seconds on these before any goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many cars. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Cononley.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
On the day the light appears — wherever you are around North Yorkshire — a simple routine to use.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Main Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and look again — making sure your diesel cap remained closed throughout. After that, start your car.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? So stop just there. Do not go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Cross Hills already?
Brief list, then. Top of it: your motor stays off. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch it on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — BP, Asda or any other — the attendants will usually help roll the vehicle clear, when you ask. At home in Cross Hills? So the vehicle remains where it is.
Already started? Pull over once it's safe, then turn off. The next exit is where to come off when you're on the M65, under 10 miles from Cross Hills. About how far did it go? Crossing Cross Hills is smaller a job than a trip of under 15 miles towards Bradford, and so tell us.
When our engineers turn up in Cross Hills, what happens?
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Glusburn Community Primary School, near St Peter's Methodist Church or on your own drive. Those answers settle this work and our quote, and so our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run. That quote comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
Then that tank is drained and the system cleaned thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. The filter cleaned or, if it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; then a test of your car. Before leaving, our engineers start the car and confirm that it is running correctly.
If your motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. No money upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. It's worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Cross Hills
Cross Hills is a village situated on the banks of the River Aire in North Yorkshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Cross Hills has a population of around 2853 people and is located near the villages of Junction, Glusburn, and Sutton-in-Craven. Cross Hills sits at an elevation of 107 metres, approximately 12 miles from Bradford and 183 miles from London. Cross Hills is a typical example of a rural village in the Yorkshire region, with a strong sense of community.
AdBlue drains around Cross Hills, and North Yorkshire beyond
Over BD postcodes, the vans that cover Cross Hills — a village — work the nearby locations too, Sutton-in-Craven and Glusburn included. Quickest of all: give a BD20 7 postcode to our van.
Your car does not need to move. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to Glusburn Community & Arts Centre, a lay-by on the way to Sutton-in-Craven Cricket Club, a driveway. Guessing won't help at the back of South Craven Baptist Church, close to a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
Cross Hills people: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere around North Yorkshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.