Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Goose Eye
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and your ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the motor hasn't turned, it is drained and thoroughly flushed where your vehicle sits in Goose Eye. Reading in advance? Then what follows explains why it happens and what to prevent it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Diesel goes to the motor — but plenty of current diesels seen about Goose Eye and Fell Lane carry a second fluid too. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler for each tank. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. The mistake lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur around Goose Eye?
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Lund Lane before work, or in the car park outside Turkey Inn on the way home.
Then your car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Whether it happens in Laycock or the middle of Goose Eye, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Goose Eye forecourt or a driveway over in Guard House, spend a couple of seconds over these before any goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- On many vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Open the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of motors mark what belongs in each filler just there.
- Can't find it next to your diesel filler? Then look below the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- Whoever had it before will know. Check when you collect a rental or company car — from Keighley's car park, perhaps — not when the warning comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Anywhere across West Yorkshire the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Game Scar Lane.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you've found the filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Finish once that tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, pour slowly using the built-in spout.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Step five is off limits.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Goose Eye?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. Keep your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts the pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
At a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, Shell or any other — the attendants will normally help push the car clear, if you ask. If you're on your own drive in Goose Eye, leave the vehicle where it stands.
Where your motor has run already, stop somewhere safe and switch the vehicle off. On the M65, under 10 miles from Goose Eye, that means the next exit. Mileage counts — a short hop across Goose Eye makes a smaller job than driving under 10 miles towards Bradford — so say about how far it went.
What occurs when our engineers get there around Goose Eye
Anywhere your car has stopped, be it by Laycock Primary School, beside Laycock Village Hall or at home, the van travels to it. Both the work and our price depend on three answers — what fluid, what amount, and if it has run — so our technicians ask. No one sets off until you have heard our quote over the phone.
Then your tank is cleared and your system cleaned thoroughly. 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. A test is last: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the filter is cleaned or changed as needed. We do not go until it has been started and is running correctly.
If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Goose Eye, for a moment
Goose Eye is a small village in West Yorkshire, situated near the lakeside at an elevation of 187 metres. Goose Eye lies approximately 9.6 miles from Bradford and is surrounded by nearby places such as Laycock, Newsholme, and Braithwaite. Goose Eye has a population of around 502 people and predominantly features detached housing.
Goose Eye and West Yorkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Goose Eye is a village, and our teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Newsholme and Braithwaite among them, across the BD postcode area. Quote a postcode beginning BD22 0, and our van gets there quickest.
Moving the car isn't needed. The drain takes place right there, be it a driveway, a road near St John, or a lay-by on the way to Goose Eye Wood. Guessing doesn't help behind Christ Church, Oakworth, on a border, or somewhere hard to describe; phone and check.
Goose Eye people: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, anywhere in West Yorkshire: keep it off and call 0333 366 0103.