Dudley Hill: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Keep the motor and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before the motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Dudley Hill. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the reasons it happens and the how to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to the engine — yet plenty of newer diesels seen round Dudley Hill and Holme Wood carry a second liquid too. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to fresh it, from a separate tank.
There's a filler for every tank. Some motors keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place both side by side behind one flap. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. It's in the gap that the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in Dudley Hill?
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and letting it run dry means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Thornsgill Avenue, or at McKenna Brewery on the way home that evening.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is a second thing: a strange car.
No part stops the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Goose Hill or the middle of Dudley Hill, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt in Dudley Hill or a driveway out in Bowling. A few seconds, that's all.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- On many cars, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of cars have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it is when the filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Bradford Interchange? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Anywhere around West Yorkshire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, motor off, and never in a rush by School Street on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've found your filler and read it.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop once that tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip slowly through its built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Dudley Hill?
Short order, then. Top of it: the engine remains unstarted. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
At a forecourt — Esso, Asda or another — the staff will usually help push the vehicle clear, when you ask. Your own driveway in Dudley Hill is the place it should stay.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the M606, under 3 miles from Dudley Hill, that means the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Bradford, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Dudley Hill.
What takes place when we turn up in Dudley Hill
Our van comes to the car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, near St Columba's Catholic Church, or outside Knowleswood Primary School. Those answers settle the work and our quote, and so we ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run. That quote is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Emptying that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the fuel 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 does not wash out on its own. Filter flushed or, where needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of the vehicle. After that our engineers start it and check it runs smoothly before we go.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our technicians arrive, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. No money upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. It is worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Dudley Hill
Dudley Hill is a suburban area in West Yorkshire, situated approximately 1.6 miles from Bradford city centre. Dudley Hill sits at an elevation of around 200 metres, overlooking the surrounding urban landscape. Dudley Hill is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, with nearby neighbourhoods including Goose Hill, Cutler Heights, and East Bowling. Dudley Hill is home to a population of around 4777 residents.
AdBlue drains across West Yorkshire, Dudley Hill included
Being a residential suburb, Dudley Hill has the same vans as surrounding places — Cutler Heights, East Bowling — all the way through BD postcodes and the wider area beyond. Fastest of all: give a BD4 9 postcode for the van.
Your car stays where it is. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Knowles Park, a side street near St Christopher's Church, Holme Wood: we drain the car where it stands. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Holmewood Activity Centre? By a county line? Checking beats assuming, so phone.
In short, for Dudley Hill people
Pour nothing till you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere in West Yorkshire.