Cardigan: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page down for now, keep your ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, carried out right where the vehicle stands in Cardigan, is normally all it needs if caught before your motor runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
No single liquid but two: that is what plenty of newer diesels around Cardigan and Caemorgan run, with diesel feeding your engine. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where a spray cleans the fumes.
Different tanks, different fillers. Plenty of motors have a single flap for both, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, normally from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Cardigan
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a driveway off Pwllhai before work, or in the car park at Saddlers Arms on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — but a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is a second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
Lastly, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as easily, and after the pour begins, nothing stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Cardigan or out in Bridgend.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Cardigan or a driveway over in Llangoedmor. A few seconds, no more.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- On plenty of vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Open the flap and check for a label — many cars mark what goes in each inlet right there.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Check with 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 the nearest station.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Ceredigion that is.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, motor stopped, and not in a rush beside College Row at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, but it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, close the cap and look again that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went into the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Do not go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Cardigan already?
Do not start your motor: that's how the short order of things begins. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch it on. Diluting it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue sinks to the base instead of blending — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the the nearest petrol station or the Tesco, ask the staff to help push the car away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive around Cardigan.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. The next junction means the place to leave when you are on the M4, under 50 miles from Cardigan. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards St Davids, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Cardigan.
Our arrival around Cardigan, and what occurs next
Outside the local primary school, near Bartholomew Gate or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Both the work and our price depend on three replies — what fluid, which amount, and if it has run — so our engineers ask. You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Then the tank is drained and the fuel system purged thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before we leave, we fire it up and confirm that it is running smoothly.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour job from arrival. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Cardigan itself
Cardigan is a coastal town in Ceredigion, situated on the west coast of Wales at a low elevation of around 12 metres. Cardigan lies near the mouth of the Teifi River, close to the villages of St Dogmaels and the historic site of Albro Castle. Cardigan is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock and is a significant urban centre in the region, with nearby towns including Bridgend. Cardigan is located approximately 197 miles from London and 29 miles from St Davids, the smallest city in the UK.
AdBlue drains across Ceredigion, Cardigan included
Being a coastal town, Cardigan shares its vans nearby places — Albro Castle, St Dogmaels — all the way across SA postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. A postcode starting SA43 1 gets the van to you fastest.
Your car does not need to move. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Coed y Mwldan Nature Reserve, a side street near Russian Cannon: our technicians drain the vehicle where it is. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Corn Exchange Gallery, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Cardigan motorists: the short version
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it stands, anywhere in Ceredigion: keep the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.