AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Little London: How It Happens and How to Prevent It
Stop here a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the motor has not turned, it is emptied and fully rinsed where the vehicle is in Little London. The remainder of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
No single fluid but two: that's how many newer diesels near Little London and Woodhouse Carr carry, with diesel feeding the engine. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to clean it, from a separate tank.
There is a filler for every tank. 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. Topping up your diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. The slip lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen around Little London?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Hurry follows from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Oatland Lane, or on the way home in the car park at The Leeds Rifleman.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new car 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, and so nothing stops the pour once it has started. Bagby Fields or the middle of Little London: it is the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Little London forecourt or a drive over in Mabgate, spend a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is when your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Leeds's car park, perhaps — not when the warning comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, wherever in West Yorkshire, use this routine.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Lovell Park Road.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located your filler and read the cap.
- The two behind one flap? Then confirm the lid on the diesel filler stays closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Skip stage five altogether.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Little London?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the car on. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Shell, Esso or another forecourt will usually help pushing the car away if you ask. Your own drive in Little London is where it stays.
Where the motor has run by now, pull over safely and turn it off. Little London sits under a mile from the A64(M); there, take the first exit. A short hop across Little London is a smaller job than a run towards Leeds, under a mile away, so tell us about how far it went.
Little London: what takes place when we turn up
By Little London Academy, close to Carlton Gate or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Which liquid went in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because the answers decide both work and quote. That quote is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
The fuel system is then flushed thoroughly, once the tank is drained. 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. Filter cleaned or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a check of the car. We do not leave until it has been started and is running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after our technicians arrive, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps we use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. It is worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Little London
Little London is a suburban area in West Yorkshire, situated on the riverside near Leeds, with a mix of residential and commercial properties. Little London has a relatively low elevation of 54 metres and is located close to other nearby places such as Bagby Fields and The Leylands. Little London is predominantly composed of flat-type housing, which is common in urban areas like this. Little London is also close to Sheepscar, another nearby suburb of Leeds.
AdBlue drains across West Yorkshire, Little London included
The Leylands and Sheepscar are among the places around Little London, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over LS postcodes. Fastest of all: quote a LS7 1 postcode to the van.
Moving the vehicle isn't necessary. We drain it where it is — a side street near Little London Community Centre, a lay-by on the way to Little London Play Area, a drive. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Leeds Vineyard, ring and ask instead of guessing.
For Little London drivers, the short version
Pour nothing until you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around West Yorkshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — and so leave it off then call 0333 366 0103.