How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mabgate
Stop here a minute when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. In Mabgate, finding it before the engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. Not happened yet? Below, the page explains the reasons it happens and the ways to prevent it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Plenty of current diesels on the roads round Mabgate and Steander carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Filling your diesel side at the pump goes on 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. The slip lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Mabgate?
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a driveway off Mabgate Green before work, or in the car park at The Brunswick on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: a strange motor.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once begun, keeps on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Mabgate or out in The Leylands.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Bank or a forecourt around Mabgate.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — plenty of cars mark which belongs in each inlet right there.
- Cannot see it beside your diesel inlet? Then check below the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Leeds, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — wherever it is in West Yorkshire — a routine to follow.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Bell Street.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've found your filler and read the cap.
- The two under one flap? Then confirm the lid on the diesel filler is still shut before raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Skip step five altogether.
Mabgate: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Brief list, then. Top of that: the motor stays unstarted. Keep the ignition off as well, since on many diesels it by itself runs the pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the Shell or the Esso, ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Mabgate.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. On the A64(M), under a mile from Mabgate, that means the next exit. A short hop across Mabgate is a smaller job than a run towards Leeds, under a mile away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Mabgate: what occurs when our engineers turn up
Anywhere your car has stopped, whether outside St Peter's Church of England Primary School, beside UCKG Help Centre or on your own drive, our van travels to it. Which fluid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask because those replies decide the work and price. During the call itself, you are told the quote — ahead of dispatch.
Next: a drain, then a full 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 counts more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before we go, we start it and check that it is running smoothly.
Unrun cars usually need a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Mabgate, for a moment
Mabgate is a suburban area in West Yorkshire, situated on the riverside near the city of Leeds. Mabgate sits at an elevation of around 35 metres, with the River Aire flowing nearby. Mabgate is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing and is located close to other nearby places such as The Leylands and Quarry Hill. Mabgate is a densely populated area with a population of approximately 11874 residents.
AdBlue drains around Mabgate and across West Yorkshire
Quarry Hill and New Town are among the places around Mabgate, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout LS postcodes. Quickest of all: give a LS9 7 postcode to our van.
Shifting your car is not necessary. We drain it where it is — a side street close to The Salvation Army, a lay-by on the way to St. Peter's Square, a drive. Tricky to explain, like the back of Bridge Street Church? Close to a county line? Checking is better than assuming, and so ring.
The short version for Mabgate drivers
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it sits, anywhere around West Yorkshire.