Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Low Fold
Pause reading for a moment when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, carried out right where the car stands in Low Fold, is usually all it takes when found before your engine runs. Here in advance? Then what follows explains how it happens and what to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of current diesels on the roads round Low Fold and Cragg Hill carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
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 the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Much less often, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Low Fold: how it happens
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and running dry leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Manor Road, or at The Fleece on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is the second thing: a new car.
Lastly, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as easily, and once the tip starts, nothing halts it. Horsforth or the middle of Low Fold: it takes the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Low Fold or a drive over in Rodley. A few seconds, no more.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is 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 collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Horsforth.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
The day the light goes on, wherever around West Yorkshire, follow this routine.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — never rushing on the side of Victoria Mews.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Discover at the second or third step that AdBlue went into the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Step five stays off limits.
Low Fold: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the car on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle away from the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Esso, the Shell or somewhere else. If you're on your own driveway in Low Fold, leave the vehicle where it stands.
Already started? Pull over when it's safe, then switch off. On the Inner Ring Road, under 5 miles from Low Fold, that means the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Leeds, under 5 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Low Fold.
Our arrival in Low Fold, and what occurs next
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Horsforth Featherbank Primary School, near Willow Green Christian Fellowship or on your own driveway. Both the work and the quote depend on three replies — which fluid, what amount, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. On the phone call itself, you are told the price — before dispatch.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither washes away unaided. That is why it matters more. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. After that our engineers fire it up and confirm it runs smoothly before we leave.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our technicians arrive, provided your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Low Fold and where it is
Low Fold is a suburban area situated on the riverside in West Yorkshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Low Fold lies close to the city of Leeds, approximately 4.6 miles from the city centre, and is near other suburban areas such as Horsforth and West End. Low Fold is characterised by its relatively low elevation of 121 metres above sea level, and its proximity to the river. Low Fold forms part of the wider Leeds urban area, with easy access to the city's facilities and services.
AdBlue drains across West Yorkshire, Low Fold included
West End and Newlay are among the towns around Low Fold, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over LS postcodes. Quickest of all: quote a LS18 4 postcode to our van.
Your car doesn't need to move. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Horsforth War Memorial Garden, a side street near Kingdom Hall: we drain the vehicle where it stands. Guessing won't help behind Horsforth Cemetery Chapel, on a boundary, or anywhere hard to describe; ring and check.
Low Fold motorists: the short version
First, the cap; then, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere around West Yorkshire.