Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Moorside
Stop reading for a moment when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your motor has not run, it's emptied and fully purged where your car is around Moorside. The remainder of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it does not — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel feeds the motor — but plenty of modern diesels driven about Moorside and Bramley carry another liquid as well. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place both together under one flap. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Moorside: how it takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a driveway off Ganners Hill before work, or in the car park outside The Acorn heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old car — since a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after started, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Moorside or out in Whitecote.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Cragg Hill or a forecourt around Moorside, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask when you collect a rental or company car — from Kirkstall Forge's car park, say — rather than once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across West Yorkshire that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of St Catherine's Drive.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you have found the filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to step five.
Moorside: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Short list, then. First: the engine remains unstarted. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch it on. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is sucked from.
On a forecourt — Morrisons, BP or any other — the staff will usually help push the car clear, if you ask. If you are on your own driveway around Moorside, leave it where it sits.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next exit means the place to come off when you're on the Inner Ring Road, under 5 miles from Moorside. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Leeds, under 5 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Moorside.
Moorside: what takes place when our technicians get there
Anywhere your car came to rest, whether by Whitecote Primary School, beside Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses or at home, our van comes to it. Which fluid was put in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because those answers set the work and price. On the phone call itself, you are told the price — ahead of dispatch.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, once the tank is drained. More than with petrol, it matters here: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and nothing clears away on its own, however long it sits. Testing comes at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and the fuel filter is flushed or changed as needed. The engine is started next and tested to make sure it runs properly, all before our technicians go.
Unstarted cars usually need a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Moorside
Moorside is a suburban area in West Yorkshire, situated near the River Aire and close to the city of Leeds. Moorside sits at an elevation of around 95 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Moorside is located near other local places such as Whitecote, Sandford, and Newlay, and is approximately 3.5 miles from Leeds city centre. Moorside has a population of around 5609 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains round Moorside, and West Yorkshire beyond
Moorside is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Sandford and Newlay among them, across the LS postcode area. Give a postcode that starts LS13 2, and our van arrives fastest.
The car remains where it is. We drain it where it is — a side street near Broadlea Community Centre, a lay-by on the way to Bramley Fall, a drive. Awkward to explain, like the back of Church of the Nazarene? Close to a border? Asking is better than guessing, so ring.
In short, for Moorside people
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around West Yorkshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — and so leave it off then call 0333 366 0103.