Thornhill Edge: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, done just where the car sits in Thornhill Edge, is usually all it needs when caught before the engine runs. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the reasons it takes place and the how to avoid it altogether.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Diesel goes to the engine — yet plenty of modern diesels driven around Thornhill Edge and Briestfield hold a second fluid as well. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
There's a filler for each tank. Some motors put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have the two together under one flap. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think what cap to use. It is in the gap that the slip lives.
Thornhill Edge: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Low Road, perhaps outside Black Horse on the way home after work.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
Lastly, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as easily, and once the tip begins, no part halts it. Overthorpe or the middle of Thornhill Edge: it is the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Thornhill Edge or a driveway out in Combs. Seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, 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 Ravensthorpe, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
The day the light comes on, anywhere across West Yorkshire, use this routine.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, motor stopped, and not in a rush by High Street at the roadside.
- 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 under one flap? Then confirm the cap on the diesel side stays closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look again — making sure your diesel filler remained shut the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
Discover during the second or third stage that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Never go on to stage five.
Thornhill Edge: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Brief list, then. First: your engine remains off. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of that tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
The staff at bp, Shell or another forecourt will usually help to push the car clear if you ask. If you are on your own driveway around Thornhill Edge, leave it where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. On the M1, under 5 miles from Thornhill Edge, that means the next exit. A short hop across Thornhill Edge is a smaller job than a run towards Wakefield, under 10 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Thornhill Edge, and what occurs next
Anywhere the car came to rest, whether by Overthorpe CofE Academy, near Overthorpe Park or on your own drive, the van comes to it. The replies determine this work and the price, so we ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run. You get that price by phone, before anyone heads out.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out unaided. Hence it counts more. The filter cleaned or, if needed, swapped; clean diesel in; then a test of your car. Your engine is started next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before we leave.
If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Thornhill Edge and where it is
Thornhill Edge is a suburban area in West Yorkshire, situated near the River Calder at an elevation of 92 metres. Thornhill Edge lies approximately 5.8 miles from Wakefield and is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock. Thornhill Edge is part of a larger network of residential communities in the region, including nearby Overthorpe and Fox Royd.
AdBlue drains across West Yorkshire, Thornhill Edge included
Thornhill Edge is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Fox Royd and Thornhill among them, across the WF postcode area. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting WF12 0.
The car remains put. Wherever it stands — near St Michael & All Angels, in a lay-by en route to Foxroyd Wood, on a drive — that's where it gets cleared. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Masjid E Noor? Close to a county line? Asking is better than guessing, and so phone.
For Thornhill Edge motorists, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it sits, anywhere across West Yorkshire.