How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in West Ardsley

AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers

Plenty of current diesels on the roads around West Ardsley and Beggarington Hill carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.

Every tank has a filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on many vehicles. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less often, normally from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between them.

The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart

Check these before pouring, at a forecourt in West Ardsley or a driveway out in Westerton. Seconds, no more.

• The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
• The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
• The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
• The handbook says which it is when the filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
• The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Morley, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.

When our engineers arrive around West Ardsley, what occurs?

Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Westerton Primary Academy, near Tingley Methodist Church or on your own driveway. We ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run, since those answers settle the work and the quote. On the call itself, you hear the price — before dispatch.

After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that matters more here than with petrol. Once the filter is flushed — or replaced, if needed — fresh diesel goes in, and then your vehicle gets tested. We don't go until it has been started and is running properly.

Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. No money upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.