How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ely
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, leave the ignition and engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the engine has not turned, it is emptied and fully flushed where your vehicle sits around Ely. Here in advance? In that case what follows covers how it happens and how to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads round Ely and Culverhouse Cross carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there spraying treats the gas.
There's a filler on every tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on a lot of vehicles. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets filled — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Ely?
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things coming up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Red House Place before work, or in the car park outside The Caerau on the way home.
Then the 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.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after begun, carries on. Whether it happens in Caerau or the middle of Ely, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Ely or a driveway out in Michaelston-super-Ely. Seconds, no more.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many cars carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Waun-Gron Park? Ask whoever drove it last before you set off, not once the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — wherever you are around Cardiff — a simple routine to use.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Vachell Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Stop when the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip slowly through its built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, and look again — making sure the diesel cap stayed closed throughout. Only then, start the vehicle.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went into the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Ely?
Do not start your motor: that is how the short order of things starts. Leave the ignition off too, because on many diesels it alone starts the pump. Filling up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of that tank, just where fuel is taken from.
The attendants at Esso, Texaco or another forecourt will usually help pushing your car clear if asked. At home in Ely? So the vehicle remains put.
Already started? Pull over once it's sensible, then turn off. The next junction is the place to leave when you're on the M4, under 3 miles from Ely. About how far did it go? Hopping across Ely is less a job than a run of under 5 miles towards Cardiff, and so tell us.
When we get there in Ely, what takes place?
Our van reaches the car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, near United Reformed Church, or by the local primary school. What fluid went in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because those answers decide both work and price. During the call itself, you hear the price — ahead of anything else.
The fuel system is then flushed thoroughly, once that tank is cleared. 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. A test comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is flushed or changed if necessary. Before we leave, we start the car and make sure that it's running smoothly.
Unrun vehicles mostly mean a half-hour job from arrival. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street late at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Ely itself
Ely is a suburban area in Cardiff, situated on the banks of the River Ely, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Ely sits approximately 3 miles west of Cardiff city centre, at an elevation of around 30 metres above sea level. Ely is close to nearby suburbs such as Caerau, Fairwater, and Cyntwell, and is part of the wider Cardiff urban area. Ely has a population of around 8974 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains across Cardiff, Ely included
Fairwater and Cyntwell are among the towns near Ely, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout CF postcodes. Quickest of all: give a CF5 4 postcode for our van.
Moving the car is not needed. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Mill Park, a side street close to Ely Gospel Hall: our technicians drain it where it stands. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Church of the Resurrection, ring and ask rather than guessing.
In short, for Ely people
Read the cap before you tip. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it is, anywhere across Cardiff: keep it off and phone 0333 366 0103.