Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Earlsheaton: Why It Occurs
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Earlsheaton. Here before the event? In that case what follows explains how it happens and how to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to your engine — but plenty of modern diesels driven round Earlsheaton and Savile Town hold another fluid as well. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the gas to fresh them, from a separate tank.
There's a filler on each tank. Plenty of cars have a single flap for both, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
Earlsheaton: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry comes from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Park Road, or heading home in the car park outside The Park.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
No part stops the pour after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it happens in Dewsbury or the middle of Earlsheaton, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Earlsheaton or a drive out in The Flatts. Seconds, no more.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually aren't.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — plenty of motors mark what belongs in each filler just there.
- Cannot find it beside the diesel filler? In that case look beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you pick up a hire car or fleet car — from Dewsbury's car park, say — rather than once the warning appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere around West Yorkshire, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Headland Lane, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, but it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Never go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Earlsheaton already?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting your engine. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Sainsbury's, Esso or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push your car clear if you ask. On your own drive in Earlsheaton? Then your car stays put.
Where the motor has been run by now, stop safely then switch the vehicle off. On the M1, under 3 miles from Earlsheaton, that means the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Wakefield, under 5 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Earlsheaton.
What takes place when our technicians get there in Earlsheaton
Anywhere your car came to rest, whether outside Earlsheaton Infant School, near Dewsbury Library Hub or at home, our van travels to it. Which fluid went in, the amount, and whether it ran: we ask because those answers set both work and price. On the call itself, you hear the price — before dispatch.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, once the tank is cleared. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out by itself. Hence it counts more. Testing comes at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or changed as needed. We don't go until it has been fired up and is running properly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after we get there, as long as the motor hasn't run — and the pumps we use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Earlsheaton, briefly
Earlsheaton is a suburban area in West Yorkshire, situated near the River Calder and close to the cities of Wakefield and Dewsbury. Earlsheaton sits at an elevation of 92 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Earlsheaton is located near several other suburban areas, including Chickenley and Eastborough, and is approximately 4.8 miles from Wakefield. Earlsheaton has a population of around 4329 people.
AdBlue drains in Earlsheaton and across West Yorkshire
Chickenley and Eastborough are among the towns around Earlsheaton, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over WF postcodes. A postcode starting WF12 8 gets the van to you fastest.
There's no need to shift the car. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Dewsbury Sports Centre (CLOSED), a lay-by on the way to Earlsheaton Common, a driveway. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Masjid e Umar? Close to a county line? Asking beats assuming, and so phone.
For Earlsheaton drivers, the short version
Always, the cap; then, the pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in West Yorkshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.