AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Blaenrhondda: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page down for now, keep the ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. In Blaenrhondda, catching it before the motor runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Not one liquid but two: that's how many newer diesels around Blaenrhondda and Pen-yr-englyn run, with diesel feeding your engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there a spray treats the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of cars share a single flap for both, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less frequently. The slip lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens in Blaenrhondda
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a drive off Cross Brook Street, or heading home in the car park outside the pub in the village.
New-to-you cars come second, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company cars place their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Third, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and after the pour begins, no part stops it. Tynewydd or the heart of Blaenrhondda: it is the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Blaenrhondda forecourt or a drive over in Ynyswen, take a few seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- Check the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Treherbert? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere in Rhondda Cynon Taf, use this routine.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, motor stopped, and not in a rush by David Street on the verge.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems daft. It works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two sit under a flap, make sure it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start your car, shut the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap never came off.
Discover during the second or third stage that the bottle went into the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Blaenrhondda?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting the motor. Keep your ignition off as well, because on many diesels switching it on alone starts your fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the base instead of mixing — and that's where the fuel is sucked from.
On a forecourt — Texaco, Murco or another — the staff will normally help push your car clear, when you ask. At home around Blaenrhondda? Then your car stays put.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Leave the M4 — under 15 miles out of Blaenrhondda — at the first junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Swansea, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Blaenrhondda.
Our arrival around Blaenrhondda, and what takes place next
Wherever the car came to rest, be it by the local primary school, beside Blaen-y-Cwm Baptist Chapel or on your own drive, the van travels to it. What fluid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because those answers set both work and quote. You get that price by phone, before anybody heads out.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: the crystals form, certain metals corrode, and none of it clears out unaided, however long it is left. A test comes at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or replaced as needed. The engine is fired up next and checked to confirm it runs correctly, all before our technicians head off.
Unstarted vehicles mostly mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Blaenrhondda
Blaenrhondda is a small suburban area situated in the Rhondda Valley in south Wales, with the River Rhondda flowing nearby. Blaenrhondda sits at an elevation of 217 metres, surrounded by hills and former industrial landscapes. Blaenrhondda is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock, reflecting its historical development as a residential community. Blaenrhondda is located near other similar communities, including Tynewydd, Blaencwm, and Treherbert.
AdBlue drains around Blaenrhondda and across Rhondda Cynon Taf
Over CF postcodes, our teams that cover Blaenrhondda — a residential suburb — work the surrounding spots too, Treherbert and Blaencwm included. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting CF42 5.
Shifting the vehicle isn't necessary. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Blaencwm Community Centre, a lay-by on the way to Treherbert Park, a driveway. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Cenotaph? Close to a border? Asking beats guessing, and so ring.
For Blaenrhondda drivers, the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Leave it switched off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, throughout Rhondda Cynon Taf.