Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mixenden
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, leave your ignition and engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. In Mixenden, catching it before your engine runs normally means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it does not — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to your engine — but plenty of modern diesels seen around Mixenden and Brookhouse hold a second fluid too. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
There is a filler on each tank. Plenty of vehicles share a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think what cap it needs. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Mixenden: how it occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
On a drive off Woodbrook Road before work, or in the car park outside The Stone Chair heading home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
New-to-you cars are next, as well. Rentals, new motors and company vehicles put their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Third, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as readily, and once the tip starts, nothing halts it. Whether it happens in Upper Brockholes or the middle of Mixenden, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Mixenden forecourt or a driveway out in Ovenden Wood, take a few seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the filler flap and look for a label — many motors mark which goes in which inlet just there.
- The handbook shows which it lives if your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Sowerby Bridge? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, not once the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
For the day the light appears — wherever it is in West Yorkshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Stanningley Drive.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It seems daft. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Finish once that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, tip gently through its built-in spout.
- Close the cap, and check again — making sure your diesel cap stayed closed throughout. Only then, start the vehicle.
Discover during the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the wrong filler? That's where you stop. Never go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Mixenden already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the engine. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — and so keep it off. Filling up with diesel will not thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of the tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
At a forecourt — Morrisons, Esso or another — the staff will normally help push the vehicle away, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive around Mixenden.
Where your engine has run already, pull over safely and turn the car off. Come off the M62 — under 10 miles out of Mixenden — at the first exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Mixenden is smaller work than a run of under 10 miles to Bradford, and so say.
When we arrive around Mixenden, what takes place?
Anywhere your car came to rest, whether by Ash Green Community Primary School, beside Holy Nativity or on your own drive, the van travels to it. Which liquid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since the replies decide the work and price. The price comes over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
The fuel system is then rinsed thoroughly, once your tank is emptied. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes away unaided. That is why it matters more. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Next our engineers fire it up and confirm it runs properly before we go.
If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. It's worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Mixenden
Mixenden is a suburban area situated near several lakes in West Yorkshire, with Mixenden being close to the nearby settlements of Upper Brockholes and Mount Tabor. Mixenden sits at an elevation of 240 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside, and Mixenden is located approximately 6.8 miles from Bradford. Mixenden has a mix of housing types, but Mixenden is predominantly characterised by terraced housing.
AdBlue drains across West Yorkshire, Mixenden included
Mixenden is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the places near it, Mount Tabor and Wainstalls among them, across the HX postcode area. A postcode starting HX2 8 gets our van to you fastest.
Moving the vehicle isn't necessary. Draining takes place right there, be it a drive, a road by St Mary's Church, or a lay-by on the way to Mount Tabor Recreation Ground. Assuming won't help at the back of Mount Zion Methodist Heritage Chapel, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
The short version for Mixenden motorists
Always, the cap; then, the pour. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep it switched off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across West Yorkshire.