AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bethesda: How It Happens and How to Avoid It
Stop here a minute when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your engine has not turned, it is drained and fully rinsed where the car is in Bethesda. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
No single fluid but two: that's how plenty of modern diesels around Bethesda and Bontuchaf run, with diesel for the motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
Bethesda: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things coming up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and letting it run out means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Allt Pen-y-Bryn, perhaps outside Cwrw Tŷ Mo on the way home after work.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, carries on. It takes seconds, be it in Penybryn or right in the centre of Bethesda.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Gerlan or a forecourt in Bethesda.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Many vehicles give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Bangor (Gwynedd).
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — anywhere you are around Gwynedd — a simple routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Tabernacle Terrace, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Finish when the tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip slowly using the own spout.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never came off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Step five stays off limits.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Bethesda?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the vehicle on. Topping up with diesel will not weaken it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of that tank, right where fuel is taken from.
The staff at EG Garages, Texaco or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing your car away when you ask. Your own drive around Bethesda is the place it stays.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. Bethesda lies under 50 miles from the Moreton Spur; on it, take the first junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Bethesda is smaller work than a trip of under 5 miles to Bangor, and so tell us.
What takes place when our engineers turn up around Bethesda
Anywhere your car came to rest, be it by the local primary school, near War Memorial or at home, the van comes to it. Both the work and our quote rest on three answers — which liquid, what amount, and if it's run — so our technicians ask. You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, after your tank is drained. 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 with AdBlue than with petrol. Once the filter has been flushed — or replaced, where required — fresh diesel is added, and then your vehicle is tested. Your engine is started next and checked to make sure it runs correctly, all before our technicians go.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive, as long as your engine hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Wrong-fuel cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Bethesda
Bethesda is a town situated on the banks of the River Ogwen in Gwynedd, Wales, with a mix of terraced housing and a population of around 4907 people. Bethesda sits at an elevation of 143 metres, close to the nearby communities of Penybryn, Pant, and Cilfodan. Bethesda is located near the city of Bangor, approximately 4.3 miles away, and is part of the wider region surrounding Snowdonia. Bethesda has a distinct character shaped by its riverside setting and surrounding landscape.
Bethesda and Gwynedd: AdBlue drains across the area
Bethesda is a riverside town, and the vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Pant and Cilfodan among them, across the LL postcode area. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting LL57 3.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Llys Dafydd, a side street close to Jerusalem: our engineers drain the vehicle where it sits. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Christ Church.
The short version for Bethesda people
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across Gwynedd, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — and so leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.