Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Old Micklefield
Keep the motor and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Around Old Micklefield, catching it before the engine turns usually leaves a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it does not — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Not one fluid but two: that's what plenty of newer diesels around Old Micklefield and Parlington carry, with diesel feeding the motor. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to clean them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of vehicles share a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Much less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Old Micklefield
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Churchville Terrace before work, or in the car park outside Blands Arms on the way home.
New-to-you cars are next, too. Hire cars, new motors and company cars put their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once started, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Old Micklefield or out in Micklefield.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in East Garforth or a forecourt in Old Micklefield, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Micklefield, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere around West Yorkshire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time to spare — not rushing on the side of Church Lane.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- The two behind one flap? So make sure the lid on your diesel filler stays closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Stop when the tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly using the built-in spout.
- Close the cap, then check again — making sure your diesel cap stayed closed throughout. Only then, start the vehicle.
Find at the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Don't go on to stage five.
Old Micklefield: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — and so leave it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — Tesco, Oakdale Garage or any other — the attendants will usually help push your car clear, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Old Micklefield.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the A1(M), under a mile from Old Micklefield, that means the next junction. Distance matters — a short hop across Old Micklefield is a smaller job than driving under 10 miles to Leeds — so say roughly how far it went.
When our engineers arrive in Old Micklefield, what takes place?
Outside Micklefield Church of England Primary Academy, close to St Mary the Virgin or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — which fluid, which quantity, and whether it has run — so we ask. No one sets off before you've heard the quote over the phone.
Then your tank is cleared and the system purged thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals form, some metals corrode, and none of that washes out on its own, however long it is left. Once the fuel filter is flushed — or renewed, where needed — fresh diesel is added, and finally your vehicle gets tested. The motor is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs properly, all before we head off.
If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Old Micklefield and where it is
Old Micklefield is a suburban area in West Yorkshire, situated near the River Aire and close to the M1 motorway. Old Micklefield has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant, and its riverside setting provides scenic views. Old Micklefield is located near several nearby places, including Micklefield and New Micklefield, and is within commuting distance of Leeds, which is approximately 9 miles away.
AdBlue drains across West Yorkshire, Old Micklefield included
Old Micklefield is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the places around it, New Micklefield and Peckfield Bar among them, across the LS postcode area. Fastest of all: quote a LS25 4 postcode for the van.
The vehicle doesn't need to shift. Draining takes place right there, whether a driveway, a street near Micklefield Youth And Adult Centre, or a layby on the way to Weet Wood. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Garforth Town FC, ring and ask instead of assuming.
In short, for Old Micklefield motorists
First, the cap; then, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave it off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it waits, anywhere across West Yorkshire.