Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Garn Fach: Why It Happens
Pause reading for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done right where the car sits around Garn Fach, is normally what it needs if found before your motor runs. The rest of this page explains why it happens and how to ensure it does not — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels around Coedcae, like those in Garn Fach, carry on two liquids; the motor takes only the diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where a spray cleans the fumes.
Different tanks, different fillers. Some motors put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place both side by side under one flap. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Garn Fach
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off King Street before work, or in the car park at Willow Tree heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and once it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is the second thing: an unfamiliar car.
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. It takes seconds, whether out in Nantyglo or right in the centre of Garn Fach.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Check these first, on a forecourt around Garn Fach or a driveway over in Brynmawr. Seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it rather than going by 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. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook will say where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Ebbw Vale Town? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Wherever around Blaenau Gwent the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine off, and not rushed by Prince Street at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, make sure it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Skip step five altogether.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Garn Fach already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. Leave your ignition off as well, since on many diesels switching it on by itself starts your pump. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the base of that tank, right where the fuel is taken from.
Ask the staff to help roll the vehicle clear of the pump if you are on a forecourt — the Texaco, the Murco or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Garn Fach.
Where the motor has run by now, stop safely then switch the vehicle off. Come off the M4 — under 15 miles out of Garn Fach — at the next junction. Distance counts — a short hop across Garn Fach makes a smaller job than driving under 25 miles to Newport — so say roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Garn Fach, and what takes place next
By the local primary school, near Holy Trinity & St Anne or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. What fluid got in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since those answers decide both work and price. No one heads out until you've had the price over the phone.
Then your tank is cleared and the fuel system rinsed thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of it clears out unaided. Hence it matters more. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. After that we fire it up and check it runs smoothly before leaving.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour visit after arrival. The equipment is fine on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Garn Fach and where it is
Garn Fach is a suburban area situated in the county of Blaenau Gwent, within the wider Welsh valleys region. Garn Fach sits at an elevation of 352 metres, overlooking the surrounding landscape. Garn Fach is characterised by its predominantly terraced housing stock, reflecting the area's historical development as a residential community. Garn Fach is located near other similar areas, including Nantyglo, Winchestown, and Coalbrookvale, and is approximately 15 miles from the city of Newport.
AdBlue drains in Garn Fach and across Blaenau Gwent
Winchestown and Coalbrookvale are among the towns near Garn Fach, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout NP postcodes. Fastest of all: give a NP23 4 postcode for our van.
No need to move the vehicle. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Trevor Rowson Park, a side street near Trevor Rowland memorial: our engineers drain the vehicle where it is. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Nantyglo and Blaina War Memorial? By a county line? Checking is better than assuming, so phone.
The short version for Garn Fach drivers
First, the cap; after that, the pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave the car switched off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Blaenau Gwent.