The Leylands: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and the ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out just where your car stands around The Leylands, is usually what it takes if found before your motor runs. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it does not — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels in New Town, like those in The Leylands, run on two fluids; the engine takes just 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.
Different tanks, different fillers. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place the two side by side behind one flap. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. It's in that gap that the slip happens.
The Leylands: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off North Street before work, or in the car park at The Smithfield on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle tells you, and if it is gone, limp mode follows.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's the second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
Third, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as readily, and after the tip begins, nothing halts it. It's a few seconds, whether in Mabgate or bang in the heart of The Leylands.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Leeds or a forecourt around The Leylands.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
- 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.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Leeds? Check with the person who drove the car last before leaving, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Anywhere around West Yorkshire the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Melbourne Street, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- Both behind a single flap? Then make sure the lid on your diesel side is still closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in The Leylands already?
Short order, then. First: the engine stays off. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the car on. Thinning it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Shell, Esso or another — the staff will normally help push your car clear, when you ask. If you're on your own drive in The Leylands, leave the vehicle where it stands.
Already run? Pull over once it is sensible, then switch off. The next junction is the place to come off when you are on the A64(M), under a mile from The Leylands. About how far did it go? Hopping across The Leylands is smaller a job than a trip of under a mile towards Leeds, and so tell us.
When our engineers turn up around The Leylands, what occurs?
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside St Peter's Church of England Primary School, close to Leeds Chinese Community Centre or on your own driveway. Both the work and our price depend on three replies — which fluid, which amount, and whether it has run — so we ask. On the phone call itself, you are told the price — before dispatch.
The system is then purged thoroughly, once your tank is emptied. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away by itself. That is why it matters more. Testing comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. Before leaving, our technicians start it and check that it's running properly.
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 working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About The Leylands, briefly
The Leylands is a suburban area located on the riverside in West Yorkshire, with a mix of flat dwellings and local amenities. The Leylands sits near the city centre of Leeds, being only 0.5 miles away, and is close to other nearby places such as Mabgate and Little London. The Leylands has a relatively low elevation of 47 metres above sea level, and its population is approximately 9975 people. The Leylands is also situated near Quarry Hill, another local area in Leeds.
AdBlue drains across West Yorkshire, The Leylands included
The Leylands is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Little London and Quarry Hill among them, across the LS postcode area. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting LS2 7.
Moving the car is not needed. Anywhere it sits — near The Salvation Army, on a layby en route to Lovell Park, at home — that is where it is cleared. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Fabrication2? By a county line? Checking beats guessing, and so phone.
In short, for The Leylands motorists
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in West Yorkshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103.