Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lofthouse Gate: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and your ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. In Lofthouse Gate, catching it before your motor turns usually means draining and a full flush on the spot. Here in advance? In that case the rest covers how it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Plenty of current diesels on the roads about Lofthouse Gate and Lofthouse carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where spraying treats the gas.
There's a filler for every tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Diesel goes in at every filling station visit, again and again. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, poured by someone who must stop and think which cap it needs. Mistakes happen in that gap between them.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs around Lofthouse Gate
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things lining up together.
On a drive off Lingwell Chase before work, or in the car park outside The Sun Inn heading home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and if it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Nothing halts the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Lofthouse Gate or out in Outwood.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Lofthouse Gate or a driveway out in Stanley. Seconds, that's all.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not its position.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of motors show which goes in which filler just there.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Outwood? Check with whoever drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than once the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across West Yorkshire that is.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Potovens Court.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, but it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start your car, shut the cap and look again that the diesel cap never came off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Step five stays out.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Lofthouse Gate already?
Brief list, then. First: the engine stays unstarted. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the the nearest petrol station or the Total Energies, ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Lofthouse Gate.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Lofthouse Gate sits under a mile from the M62; on it, take the next exit. About how far did it go? Crossing Lofthouse Gate is smaller a job than a run of under 3 miles to Wakefield, so say.
What happens when we arrive around Lofthouse Gate
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Outwood Primary Academy Lofthouse Gate, close to Bevin Community Centre or on your own driveway. Those answers decide the work and the price, so our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it has run. You hear that price by phone, before anyone sets off.
Draining the tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out unaided. That is why it counts more. Filter cleaned or, if needed, replaced; clean diesel in; then a test of the car. Next our technicians start it and check it runs correctly before leaving.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour visit after arrival. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Lofthouse Gate, briefly
Lofthouse Gate is a suburban area situated on the riverside in West Yorkshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Lofthouse Gate lies close to the city of Wakefield, approximately 2.3 miles away, and is near other nearby places such as Outwood, Langley, and Lee Moor. Lofthouse Gate has a population of around 4985 people and is located at an elevation of 67 metres, making it a relatively low-lying area. Lofthouse Gate is also within commuting distance of larger cities, being around 163.1 miles from London.
Lofthouse Gate and West Yorkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Lofthouse Gate is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Langley and Lee Moor among them, across the WF postcode area. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting WF3 3.
No need to move the vehicle. We drain it where it is — a side street close to St Mary Magdalene, Outwood, a lay-by on the way to Riding's Way Park, a driveway. Awkward to explain, like the back of Lofthouse Methodist Church? By a border? Asking beats assuming, and so phone.
Lofthouse Gate motorists: the short version
First, the cap; then, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the car off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around West Yorkshire.