How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Oulton
Keep the engine and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before your engine runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Oulton. Not happened yet? Further down, the page covers the why it occurs and the how to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many modern diesels in Rothwell, as well as Oulton, run on two liquids; your engine gets only your diesel. 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, side by side: that's the layout on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. It is in that gap that the error happens.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur in Oulton?
Carelessness rarely causes it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
On a drive off Norfolk Drive before work, or in the car park outside The Old Masons Arms on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is the second thing: a strange vehicle.
Third, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as easily, and once the pour starts, nothing halts it. Whether it happens in Woodlesford or the middle of Oulton, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Hungate or a forecourt around Oulton.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- On many motors, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask as you pick up a hire car or company car — from Woodlesford's car park, perhaps — not once the light appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever across West Yorkshire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, motor off, and not rushed by Fleet Lane on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have found your filler and read the cap.
- The two behind a single flap? So make sure the lid on your diesel filler is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check once more — confirm the diesel cap stayed closed throughout. After that, start your car.
Find at the second or third step that AdBlue went into the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Don't carry on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Oulton?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting your motor. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the car clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the Shell, the Esso or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Oulton.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next junction is where to come off if you're on the M62, under 3 miles from Oulton. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Oulton makes a smaller job than driving under 10 miles towards Wakefield — so say about how far it went.
Our arrival in Oulton, and what takes place next
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Woodlesford Primary School, near Oulton War Memorial or on your own drive. Both the work and the price depend on three answers — what fluid, which amount, and if it's run — so our technicians ask. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, once that tank is cleared. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. After the filter is cleaned — or replaced, where needed — clean diesel goes in, and then your vehicle is tested. We don't leave until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
Unrun cars mostly need a half-hour job from arrival. The kit is fine on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Oulton, for a moment
Oulton is a suburban area in West Yorkshire, situated on the lakeside at an elevation of 32 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Oulton lies approximately 5 miles from Wakefield and 164.5 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Oulton is surrounded by nearby places such as Woodlesford, John o Gaunts, and Royds Green, and has a population of around 3502 residents. Oulton's setting near the lake provides a scenic backdrop to the area.
Oulton and West Yorkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
As a residential suburb, Oulton has the same vans as nearby areas — John o Gaunts, Royds Green — all the way through LS postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Give a postcode that starts LS26 8, and our van gets there quickest.
The car doesn't need to shift. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Water Haigh Woodland Park, a side street near Oulton Institute: our engineers drain it where it stands. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of West Riding County Football Association.
The short version for Oulton drivers
First, the cap; then, the tip. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep it off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across West Yorkshire.