Aber-Clydach: 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 your engine and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. In Aber-Clydach, catching it before the engine runs usually leaves a drain and a full flush where it stands. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the reasons it happens and the ways to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels on the roads about Aber-Clydach and Cae-mawr carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
There's a filler on every tank. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Aber-Clydach?
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
Haste follows from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off Forge Fach, or on the way home in the car park at Hebron Inn.
Unfamiliar vehicles are second, too. Rentals, new motors and company motors put their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip after it has started. Whether it happens in Caer-graig or the middle of Aber-Clydach, it's the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Aber-Clydach or a drive out in Graigfelen. A few seconds, that's all.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it is if your filler is not next to your diesel cap: the 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 at Llansamlet, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Swansea that is.
- Stop on level, engine off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Hebron Close.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located your filler and read the cap.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and check again that the diesel cap was never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Aber-Clydach?
The short order of things, starting with no starting your motor. Keep the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels switching it on alone starts your pump. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, just where fuel is taken from.
The attendants at the nearest petrol station, Asda or any forecourt will usually help pushing your car away if asked. Your own driveway in Aber-Clydach is the place it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. Aber-Clydach sits under 3 miles from the M4; on it, use the first junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Aber-Clydach is smaller a job than a run of under 10 miles to Swansea, so say.
Aber-Clydach: what occurs when our technicians arrive
Outside the local primary school, close to Canolfan Adnoddau Cymunedol Forge Fach or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. What liquid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our engineers ask because the answers decide the work and quote. You hear that price by phone, before anybody heads out.
Then that tank is cleared and the system rinsed thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters here: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and none of it washes out on its own, no matter how long it sits. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Then our engineers fire it up and make sure it runs correctly before we leave.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your motor hasn't run need about half an hour once we are there. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Aber-Clydach and where it is
Aber-Clydach is a suburban area situated on the banks of the River Tawe in south Wales, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Aber-Clydach lies close to the nearby communities of Caer-graig, Clydach, and Mount Pleasant, and is approximately 5 miles from Swansea city centre. Aber-Clydach has a relatively low elevation of around 26 metres above sea level, reflecting its riverside setting. Aber-Clydach is home to a population of around 3584 people, living in a predominantly residential area.
AdBlue drains round Aber-Clydach, and Swansea beyond
Being a residential suburb, Aber-Clydach has the same vans as surrounding places — Clydach, Mount Pleasant — right across SA postcodes and the wider area beyond. Give a postcode beginning SA6 5, and our van arrives quickest.
Moving your car is not needed. The drain happens on the spot, be it a drive, a street near Dynamic Rock, or a lay-by towards Graig-felen Plantation. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Bethel Evangelical Church, on a border, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
In short, for Aber-Clydach people
Read the cap before you tip. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, anywhere in Swansea: keep the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.