Forge Side: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Stop here for a moment when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, carried out right where the vehicle sits in Forge Side, is usually all it takes when found before your motor runs. Reading before the event? In that case the rest covers how it happens and what to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Diesel feeds the motor — but many current diesels driven about Forge Side and Middle Coedcae hold another liquid as well. The exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the fumes to clean it, from its own tank.
There's a filler for every tank. 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 gets filled on each forecourt visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
Forge Side: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
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 Allgood Avenue before work, or in the car park at Queen Victoria Inn on the way home.
New-to-you cars come second, too. Hire cars, new cars and company motors put their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap 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 pour once it has started. It's a few seconds, whether out in Blaenavon Junction or bang in the centre of Forge Side.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Upper Coedcae or a forecourt around Forge Side.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally are not.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: many cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it lives when the filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Ebbw Vale Parkway.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Anywhere in Torfaen the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Forge Road.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have found the filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Stop once that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip gently using its own spout.
- Before you start the car, shut the cap and look again that your diesel cap never opened off.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Don't go on to step five.
Forge Side: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting the engine. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — and so keep it off. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the bottom of that tank, right where the fuel is taken from.
The attendants at Tesco, Gulf or another forecourt will normally help to push the car away when asked. On your own drive around Forge Side? So the car stays put.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Forge Side sits under 15 miles from the M4; there, take the first exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Forge Side is smaller a job than a trip of under 15 miles towards Newport, so say.
When our technicians turn up in Forge Side, what happens?
Outside the local primary school, near Blaenafon Library or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and whether it's run, because those replies decide this work and our price. You hear that price on the phone, before anybody sets off.
After that: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. 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 does not wash out on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Then we start the car and confirm it runs smoothly before we go.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our technicians get there, provided the motor hasn't run — and the pumps we use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Forge Side, for a moment
Forge Side is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Torfaen, Wales, with a mix of terraced housing and a relatively small population of around 1512 residents. Forge Side sits at an elevation of 357 metres, overlooking the surrounding landscape and nearby communities such as Blaenavon Junction and Blaenavon. Forge Side is located near the city of Newport, approximately 13 miles away, and is part of the wider urban area along the river. Forge Side has a distinct character shaped by its riverside setting and proximity to local landmarks.
AdBlue drains across Torfaen, Forge Side included
As a residential suburb, Forge Side shares its vans nearby places — Blaenavon, Rifle Green — right through NP postcodes and the wider area around them. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting NP4 9.
The vehicle remains where it is. The drain happens right there, whether a driveway, a street by St Peters Church, or a layby towards Blaenafon Town Centre Conservation Area. Awkward to pin down, like the back of St Peter's Parish Church? Close to a border? Checking beats guessing, so phone.
Forge Side drivers: the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it stands, wherever in Torfaen: keep the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.