Alway: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Keep the motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. In Alway, catching it before the motor runs usually means draining and a full flush where it stands. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Many newer diesels in Liswerry, as well as Alway, carry on two liquids; the motor takes just your diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank comes with one filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on many vehicles. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Topping up your diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less often, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs around Alway
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off East Grove Road, or outside Lliswerry & Nash Constitutional Club on the way home after work.
New-to-you motors are second, as well. Rentals, new vehicles and company cars place their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap 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, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. Beechwood or the heart of Alway: it is the same few seconds either way.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Alway or a drive out in Lawrence Hill. A few seconds, no more.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Look for it.
- Can't find it next to the diesel inlet? Then look beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Newport (South Wales).
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Newport that is.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Aberthaw Road.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It seems daft. It works.
- Both under a single flap? So make sure the cap on the diesel side is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Alway?
Don't start your motor: that's where the short order of things starts. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of the tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — Tesco, Esso or another — the attendants will normally help roll the car away, when you ask. On your own drive around Alway? So the car stays put.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next exit is the place to leave when you're on the M4, under a mile from Alway. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Newport, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Alway.
Alway: what happens when we turn up
Our van comes to your car anywhere it stopped — your own drive, near Somerton RASCAL Hope Centre, or by the local primary school. Both the work and our quote rest on three replies — which fluid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. You get that price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the fuel system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Filter flushed or, where needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a check of the vehicle. Your engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs smoothly, all before we head off.
If the engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Alway itself
Alway is a suburban area in the city of Newport, situated near the coast of south Wales. Alway sits at a relatively low elevation of 26 metres, close to the nearby suburbs of Beechwood and Somerton. Alway is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, reflecting the typical residential development of the area. Alway is located approximately 1.8 miles from the centre of Newport, making it a convenient residential location.
AdBlue drains across Newport, Alway included
Being a residential suburb, Alway has the same vans as nearby places — Somerton, Bishpool — right through NP postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Fastest of all: quote a NP19 9 postcode for the van.
The vehicle stays where it is. We drain it where it is — a side street near Welcome to Somerton, a lay-by on the way to Lliswerry Park, a driveway. Assuming won't help behind Inspire and Create, close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
For Alway motorists, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, anywhere around Newport: switch the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103.