How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Cwm
Leave your engine and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. In Cwm, finding it before the engine runs usually leaves a drain and a full flush on the spot. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Diesel goes to the motor — but many modern diesels driven about Cwm and Victoria carry a second fluid too. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Every tank has a filler of its own. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at each filling station call-out, again and again. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Cwm: how it takes place
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and running dry leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Crosscombe Terrace, or at the pub in the village on the way home that evening.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old car — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
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 pour after it has started. Whether it happens in Waun-Lwyd or the middle of Cwm, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Pochin Houses or a forecourt around Cwm.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally are not.
- On many motors, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — plenty of motors show what goes in each filler just there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Ebbw Vale Parkway? Check with whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, not when the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — anywhere it is in Blaenau Gwent — a simple routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Mill Terrace, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off first.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've located your filler and read the cap.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then look again — making sure the diesel filler remained shut throughout. Only then, start your car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip step five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Cwm?
Short list, then. First: your engine stays unstarted. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
At a forecourt — Tesco, Gulf or any other — the attendants will usually help roll the car clear, when you ask. At home around Cwm? Then your car stays put.
Already started? Stop when it's sensible, then turn off. Cwm sits under 15 miles from the M4; on it, use the first junction. A short hop across Cwm is a smaller job than a run towards Newport, under 15 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Cwm: what takes place when we arrive
The van comes to the car wherever it stopped — your own drive, near Tirzah Baptist Church, or by the local primary school. The answers decide the work and the quote, and so we ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. On the phone call itself, you hear the quote — ahead of dispatch.
Then the tank is drained and the system cleaned thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals form, some metals are attacked, and nothing clears away on its own, however long it sits. Testing is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or changed as needed. The motor is fired up next and checked to make sure it runs correctly, all before our technicians leave.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after we get there, as long as the motor has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night outside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Cwm itself
Cwm is a small village in Blaenau Gwent, situated on the banks of a river at an elevation of 216 metres. Cwm has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly composed of terraced homes. Cwm is located near several other small villages, including Waun-Lwyd and Llan-dafal, and is approximately 13 miles from the city of Newport. Cwm remains a relatively small community, with a population of around 1767 people.
AdBlue drains across Blaenau Gwent, Cwm included
Over NP postcodes, our vans covering Cwm — a village — work the nearby places too, Manmoel and Llan-dafal included. Quote a postcode beginning NP23 7, and the van gets there quickest.
Your car remains where it is. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Super Tubing (Closed), a side street near Cwm Library: our engineers drain the car where it sits. Guessing won't help at the back of The Salvation Army - Cwm, on a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
The short version for Cwm motorists
Pour nothing until you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Blaenau Gwent, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.