Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Craig-y-Duke: Why It Occurs
Keep the motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before the engine runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Craig-y-Duke. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads about Craig-y-Duke and Clydach carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Plenty of motors have a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less often, normally from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in the gap that the mistake happens.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Craig-y-Duke?
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
On a drive off Heol-y-Llwynan before work, or in the car park at the pub in the village on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car tells you, and once it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar vehicles are next, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after begun, carries on. Whether it takes place in Trebanos or the middle of Craig-y-Duke, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Mount Pleasant or a forecourt in Craig-y-Duke, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On many cars, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it beside the diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook says where.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Llansamlet.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
When the light goes on, wherever in Swansea, follow this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of William Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, confirm it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap never opened off.
Discover during the second or third stage that the bottle went in the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Leave out step five altogether.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Craig-y-Duke?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the vehicle on. Thinning it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
Ask the staff to help roll the car clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the Tesco or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Craig-y-Duke.
When the motor has run by now, stop safely then turn it off. Leave the M4 — under 3 miles out of Craig-y-Duke — at the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Swansea, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Craig-y-Duke.
Our arrival in Craig-y-Duke, and what takes place next
Outside the local primary school, near St Benedict's Roman Catholic Church or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. The replies determine the work and our quote, and so our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it has run. The price is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and nothing clears away on its own, no matter how long it sits. Once your filter is cleaned — or renewed, where required — clean diesel goes in, and then the car is tested. Before we go, we fire it up and check that it's running correctly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once our technicians get there, provided your engine has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. No money upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Craig-y-Duke and where it is
Craig-y-Duke is a locality situated on the riverside in Swansea, with an elevation of 71 metres above sea level. Craig-y-Duke lies approximately 6.6 miles from the city of Swansea and is near other localities such as Trebanos, Penydre, and Faerdre. Craig-y-Duke has a population of around 1066 people and features predominantly detached housing. Craig-y-Duke is located in a region that is easily accessible from London, being around 161.4 miles away.
AdBlue drains round Craig-y-Duke, and Swansea beyond
Craig-y-Duke is a small village, and our vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Penydre and Faerdre among them, across the SA postcode area. Quote a postcode that starts SA8 4, and our van arrives quickest.
The car stays put. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Sir Ludwig Mond, a lay-by on the way to Trebanos Park, a drive. Guessing won't help at the back of Pontardawe Leisure Centre, on a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and check.
For Craig-y-Duke people, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it sits, anywhere around Swansea.