How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Brackla
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, keep your ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Brackla. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Not one fluid but two: that is how many newer diesels near Brackla and Bragdy carry, with diesel feeding your engine. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler on each tank. Many of cars share a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Brackla: how it occurs
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up together.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from your car, and running dry leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, maybe before work off The Spinney, or at Hunters Lodge on the way home that evening.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after begun, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Brackla or out in Shelf.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Brackla forecourt or a drive out in Tremains, spend a couple of seconds over these before any goes in.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — many motors show what belongs in which filler right there.
- Cannot find it next to the diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Bridgend? Check with the person who drove the car last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Anywhere around Bridgend the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Bishopswood.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — once you have located your filler and read the cap.
- Both behind a single flap? So make sure the lid on the diesel side stays closed before raising the bottle.
- Stop when your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip gently using the own spout.
- Before you start the car, close the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap never came off.
Find during the second or third stage that the bottle went into the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Don't carry on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Brackla already?
Do not start the engine: that's how the short order of things starts. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help roll the car clear of the pump if you are at a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the Applegreen or anywhere else. On your own drive around Brackla? Then the vehicle stays put.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. On the M4, under 3 miles from Brackla, that means the next junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Brackla is smaller work than a trip of under 25 miles towards Cardiff, so say.
When our engineers get there in Brackla, what takes place?
Wherever your car has stopped, be it outside the local primary school, beside Brackla Community Centre or at home, our van comes to it. Both the work and our quote rest on three replies — which fluid, what amount, and if it's run — so our technicians ask. You hear that quote by phone, before anyone heads out.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, after that 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. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before leaving, our engineers start the engine and make sure that it is running correctly.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor has not run need roughly half an hour after we arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Brackla, briefly
Brackla is a suburban area in Bridgend, situated inland at an elevation of 56 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Brackla lies approximately 16 miles from Cardiff and is surrounded by nearby places such as Shelf, Waterton, and Coychurch. Brackla has a population of around 6748 residents and is located about 147 miles west of London. Brackla is characterized by its residential community and local amenities.
AdBlue drains round Brackla, and Bridgend beyond
As a residential suburb, Brackla shares its vans nearby areas — Waterton, Coychurch — all the way across CF postcodes and the surrounding area around them. A postcode starting CF31 2 gets the van to you fastest.
The car remains put. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Tremains Wood Local Nature Reserve, a side street near Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses: we drain the car where it is. Awkward to explain, like the back of Williams Memorial Hall? By a county line? Checking beats assuming, so phone.
Brackla motorists: the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave it off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere across Bridgend.