Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Carnetown: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page aside a moment, leave the ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Carnetown. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to the motor — but many current diesels seen around Carnetown and Ynysybwl hold a second fluid as well. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Other cars put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place the two side by side under one flap. Diesel goes in on each forecourt visit, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. It is in that gap that the slip happens.
Carnetown: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from your car, and letting it run out means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Park Street, or at The Carne Park Hotel on the way home after work.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have 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, and so nothing stops the tip after it has started. Whether it takes place in Abercynon or the middle of Carnetown, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Ynysboeth or a forecourt in Carnetown.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by position.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it next to your diesel inlet? Then check below the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook will say where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Abercynon? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
On the day the warning appears — wherever it is around Rhondda Cynon Taf — a routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Tressilian Place, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off first.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It seems silly. It works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Carnetown?
Brief order, then. Top of that: the motor stays off. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the car on. Filling up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of the tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Texaco, Gulf Treharris Service Station or any forecourt will normally help to push the car away if asked. Your own drive in Carnetown is where it should stay.
Already started? Stop when it's safe, then switch off. Carnetown sits under 10 miles from the M4; on it, use the next junction. About how far did it go? Hopping across Carnetown is less work than a trip of under 15 miles to Cardiff, and so say.
Our arrival around Carnetown, and what happens next
Our van reaches your car wherever it stopped — your own drive, near Ynysybwl Cenotaph, or outside the local primary school. What fluid got in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because those answers set both work and quote. No one heads out until you have heard the price over the phone.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, once that tank is cleared. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and nothing washes out on its own, however long it sits. After your filter is cleaned — or replaced, if needed — fresh diesel goes in, and then the car gets tested. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running properly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once we get there, provided your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. No money upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. It is worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Carnetown and where it is
Carnetown is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Rhondda Cynon Taf, with a mix of terraced housing and local amenities. Carnetown lies near the communities of Abercynon, Pontcynon, and Coed y Cwm, and is approximately 13 miles from Cardiff. Carnetown has a population of around 2264 people and is located at an elevation of 96 metres. Carnetown is part of the wider urban area surrounding Cardiff, the capital city of Wales.
Carnetown and Rhondda Cynon Taf: AdBlue drains across the area
As a residential suburb, Carnetown has the same vans as surrounding places — Pontcynon, Coed y Cwm — right through CF postcodes and the wider area around them. A postcode starting CF45 4 gets our van to you fastest.
The car stays where it is. Draining takes place right there, whether a driveway, a street near Ynysywbl Community Centre, or a layby on the way to Parc Abercynon. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Community Council Office.
For Carnetown drivers, the short version
First, the cap; after that, the tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere in Rhondda Cynon Taf, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave it off and call 0333 366 0103.