Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Kippax Common
Pause here for a moment when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, carried out right where your vehicle stands in Kippax Common, is normally all it takes if caught before your motor runs. The rest of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Not one fluid but two: that's how many newer diesels near Kippax Common and Mount Pleasant carry, with diesel for the motor. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there spraying treats the gas.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think which cap to use. The slip lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in Kippax Common?
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Calvert Close, or heading home in the car park at The Moorgate.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, keeps on. Whether it takes place in Moor Gate or the middle of Kippax Common, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Peckfield Bar or a forecourt around Kippax Common, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it rather than going by position.
- Many vehicles give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many motors carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside East Garforth.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Anywhere in West Yorkshire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Leeds Road.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look again — making sure your diesel filler remained closed the whole time. Only then, start your car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Step five stays out.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Kippax Common already?
Do not start your engine: that is how the short order of things begins. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
The attendants at Oakdale Garage, Esso or another forecourt will usually lend a hand to push the vehicle away when asked. Your own driveway around Kippax Common is where it stays.
Already started? Pull over when it's sensible, then turn off. Kippax Common lies under 3 miles from the M1; there, take the next junction. Mileage counts — a short hop across Kippax Common makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles to Leeds — so tell us roughly how far it went.
What happens when we arrive around Kippax Common
By Kippax North Primary School, close to Kippax Community Hub or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, because those answers settle the work and our price. On the call itself, you are told the quote — before anything else.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Filter flushed or, if it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a test of the car. Your engine is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs properly, all before our engineers leave.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor has not run need roughly half an hour after we are there. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Kippax Common, for a moment
Kippax Common is a suburban area situated near the River Aire in West Yorkshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Kippax Common lies close to the cities of Leeds and Wakefield, and is near several smaller communities including Moor Gate and Kippax. Kippax Common has a population of around 3308 people and is located at an elevation of 65 metres above sea level. Kippax Common is also within commuting distance of Leeds, being around 7 miles from the city centre.
AdBlue drains around Kippax Common and across West Yorkshire
Kippax Common is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Kippax and West Garforth among them, across the LS postcode area. Quickest of all: quote a LS25 7 postcode for our van.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. Anywhere it stands — near Kippax Library, on a lay-by en route to Shuttocks Wood, at home — that is where it gets emptied. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of St. Mary's Church, ring and ask rather than assuming.
For Kippax Common people, the short version
Tip no AdBlue till you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep the car off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across West Yorkshire.