Simpson Green: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Keep the motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before the motor runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Simpson Green. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Not one liquid but two: that's what many modern diesels around Simpson Green and Thackley run, with diesel feeding your engine. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying treats the fumes.
Different tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. It is in that gap that the mistake happens.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place around Simpson Green
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from your car, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Wesley Grove, perhaps at The George on the way home that evening.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, keeps on. It's a few seconds, be it out in Idle or bang in the centre of Simpson Green.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around Simpson Green or a drive out in Apperley Bridge. Seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of cars carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Apperley Bridge.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever around West Yorkshire, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Leeds Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and check once more — confirm the diesel filler remained shut throughout. Only then, start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
Simpson Green: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. 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.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the Sainsbury's or the Greengates Service Station, ask the staff to help roll your car away from the pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive around Simpson Green.
Already started? Pull over when it is sensible, then turn off. The next junction is where to leave when you're on the M606, under 5 miles from Simpson Green. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Bradford, under 5 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Simpson Green.
What occurs when we get there in Simpson Green
Our van comes to your car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, near Holy Trinity, or by Thorpe Primary. Which fluid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because those replies set both work and price. You hear that price by phone, before anybody heads out.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, once that tank is cleared. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Once your filter is flushed — or replaced, where needed — fresh diesel goes in, and finally your car is tested. The motor is started next and checked to make sure it runs smoothly, all before we head off.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once we get there, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night outside a house. No money in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. It's worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Simpson Green itself
Simpson Green is a suburban area located on the riverside in West Yorkshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Simpson Green sits near the city of Bradford, approximately 3.5 miles away, and is close to nearby places such as Idle, Fourlands, and Thorpe. Simpson Green has a population of around 6300 people and is situated at an elevation of 112 metres. Simpson Green is part of the wider Bradford urban area, with easy access to the city's facilities.
AdBlue drains across West Yorkshire, Simpson Green included
Throughout BD postcodes, the vans that cover Simpson Green — a residential suburb — work the surrounding locations too, Thorpe and Fourlands included. Quote a postcode that starts BD10 9, and the van gets there quickest.
No need to shift the car. Wherever it sits — near Immaculate Conception Church, on a layby en route to Idle Recreation Ground, on a drive — that is where it gets cleared. Tricky to explain, like the back of Thorpe Methodist Church? By a border? Asking is better than guessing, and so ring.
For Simpson Green drivers, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in West Yorkshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — and so leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103.