AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Highfields: How It Occurs and How to Prevent It
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. Caught before your motor runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Highfields. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the reasons it occurs and the ways to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Not one fluid but two: that is how plenty of modern diesels near Highfields and Meltham Mills run, with diesel for your engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there spraying cleans the gas.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less often, normally from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in that gap that the mistake happens.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs around Highfields
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a drive off Highfield Avenue before work, or in the car park at The Victoria Park on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old motor — since a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after begun, keeps on. It's a few seconds, whether in Helme or bang in the centre of Highfields.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Mill Stables or a forecourt around Highfields, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of cars carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to the diesel filler? In that case check beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook will say which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Slaithwaite.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
On the day the warning comes on — wherever you are across West Yorkshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Sunny Heys.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It works.
- Both under a single flap? Then make sure the lid on the diesel side stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Finish when the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour slowly using the built-in spout.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Discover at the second or third step that the bottle went into the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Never go on to step five.
Highfields: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. Keep the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself runs your fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the staff to help roll the car away from the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Morrisons, the another forecourt nearby or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Highfields.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the engine has already run. The next junction means where to leave if you are on the M62, under 5 miles from Highfields. A short hop across Highfields is a smaller job than a run towards Bradford, under 15 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What happens when our technicians get there in Highfields
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Meltham Moor Primary School, near Meltham Methodist Church or on your own driveway. What fluid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because the replies set the work and price. On the phone call itself, you are told our quote — before dispatch.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a full flush of the system. 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 the flush matters more here than with petrol. A test is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and your filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once we arrive, provided your engine has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Highfields
Highfields is a suburban area situated on the riverside in West Yorkshire, with a mix of terraced housing and a population of around 4489 residents. Highfields sits at an elevation of 233 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside and nearby places such as Helme and Meltham. Highfields is located near Crosland Edge and is approximately 14 miles from Bradford, making it a commuter base for the city. Highfields is also around 161.6 miles from London, connecting it to the wider national transport network.
AdBlue drains about Highfields, and West Yorkshire beyond
Meltham and Crosland Edge are among the towns around Highfields, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over HD postcodes. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting HD9 5.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. Anywhere it sits — near St Bartholomew Church, in a layby en route to Woodhead Fold Garden, on a drive — that is where it is drained. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Meltham Parish Church Hall? By a border? Asking beats guessing, so phone.
Highfields people: the short version
Tip nothing till you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across West Yorkshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103.