Cwm-mawr: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Cwm-mawr. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds the engine — but many newer diesels driven round Cwm-mawr and Cefneithin carry a second fluid too. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Seldom topped up, AdBlue usually comes from a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think what filler it needs. That gap is where the error lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen in Cwm-mawr?
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the car, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Gwendraeth Road, or at the pub in the village on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: an unfamiliar vehicle.
Third, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as readily, and once the pour begins, nothing stops it. It's seconds, be it in Drefach or bang in the centre of Cwm-mawr.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Cwm-y-glo or a forecourt around Cwm-mawr, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Look for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask when you pick up a hire car or company car — at Ammanford's car park, say — not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — anywhere you are in Carmarthenshire — a routine to use.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time to spare — never rushing on the side of Derwen Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, yet it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Finish when your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, pour slowly through the own spout.
- Shut the cap, then look once more — confirm your diesel cap remained shut the whole time. Only then, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Skip step five altogether.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Cwm-mawr already?
Brief list, then. Top of it: the engine remains unstarted. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch it on. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of blending — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Independent, Esso or any forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing the car clear when you ask. On your own drive around Cwm-mawr? Then your car stays where it is.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M4, under 5 miles from Cwm-mawr, that means the next exit. About how far did it go? Hopping across Cwm-mawr is less work than a run of under 15 miles towards Swansea, so tell us.
Our arrival around Cwm-mawr, and what happens next
The van comes to your car anywhere it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Neuadd y Gwendraeth, or by the local primary school. Our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it's run, since the replies decide this work and our quote. On the call itself, you hear our quote — ahead of dispatch.
Your system is then flushed thoroughly, after that tank is emptied. With AdBlue that counts 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 flushed or, if it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a check of the car. The engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs correctly, all before our engineers go.
If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Cwm-mawr itself
Cwm-mawr is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Carmarthenshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and a population of around 1353 residents. Cwm-mawr lies near the communities of Drefach and Tumble, and is close to the scenic Mynydd Cerrig area. Cwm-mawr is located approximately 14 miles from Swansea and 173 miles from London, at an elevation of 86 metres. Cwm-mawr occupies a spot in the gently flowing valleys of south-west Wales, where the landscape is characterized by rolling hills and riverside scenery.
AdBlue drains around Cwm-mawr, and Carmarthenshire beyond
Cwm-mawr is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the places near it, Tumble and Mynydd Cerrig among them, across the SA postcode area. Give a postcode beginning SA14 6, and the van arrives quickest.
The vehicle stays where it is. Wherever it sits — beside Neuadd y Tymbl, in a layby en route to Drefach Park, at home — that is where it gets cleared. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Bethel y Bedyddwyr, ring and ask rather than guessing.
The short version for Cwm-mawr drivers
Pour no AdBlue until you have read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, anywhere across Carmarthenshire: keep the car off then call 0333 366 0103.