Lister Hills: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done just where the car sits in Lister Hills, is usually what it needs when caught before your engine runs. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels on the roads round Lister Hills and Bradford carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the gas to fresh them, from its own tank.
There's a filler on every tank. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. It is in the gap that the mistake lives.
Lister Hills: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a driveway off Preston Street before work, or in the car park at The Fighting Cock on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour once it has started. Whether it occurs in Shearbridge or the middle of Lister Hills, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Lidget Green or a forecourt around Lister Hills, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not its position.
- On plenty of vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — many cars mark which belongs in which filler just there.
- The handbook says where it is when your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Bradford Forster Square, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — wherever it is around West Yorkshire — a simple routine to use.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of St. Andrew's Place.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both share a flap, make sure it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Stop when your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip gently through the built-in spout.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Leave out step five entirely.
Lister Hills: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Short list, then. Top of that: your engine remains unstarted. Do not switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
At a forecourt — Gulf, YAS or any other — the attendants will normally help roll your car clear, when you ask. Your own drive around Lister Hills is the place it stays.
Already started? Pull over when it's safe, then turn off. Lister Hills sits under 3 miles from the M606; on it, use the first junction. A short hop across Lister Hills is a smaller job than a run towards Bradford, under a mile away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Lister Hills, and what takes place next
Our van reaches the vehicle wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Masjid Nusrat Ul Islam, or by Co-op Academy Princeville. Those answers determine the work and our price, so our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run. On the phone call itself, you are told our quote — before dispatch.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of your vehicle. Before we go, we start the car and check that it's running smoothly.
With pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine has not run take about half an hour after we are there. 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; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Lister Hills and where it is
Lister Hills is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Bradford in West Yorkshire, situated near the river and close to neighbouring areas such as Shearbridge and Dirk Hill. Lister Hills sits at an elevation of around 128 metres, with terraced housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Lister Hills is part of the larger Bradford urban area, with the city centre just 0.7 miles away. Lister Hills has a population of approximately 8051 residents.
Lister Hills and West Yorkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Lister Hills shares its vans surrounding areas — Dirk Hill, Brown Royd — right across BD postcodes and the surrounding area around them. A postcode starting BD7 1 gets our van to you fastest.
Your car remains where it is. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Peace Garden, a side street close to Theatre In The Mill: we drain it where it sits. Tricky to pin down, like the back of JB Priestley Library? By a county line? Checking is better than guessing, so ring.
Lister Hills people: the short version
Always, the cap; then, the pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around West Yorkshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — and so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.