Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hafod: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and your ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the motor has not run, it is emptied and thoroughly cleaned where the vehicle is around Hafod. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page covers the why it happens and the how to avoid it altogether.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of newer diesels around Cae-Bricks, like those in Hafod, carry on two liquids; the motor takes just the diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Other vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place both side by side under one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. That gap is where the error lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Hafod: how it takes place
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things coming up at once.
Haste comes from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Bowen Street, or on the way home in the car park at Lanndore Social Club.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new vehicle 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.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip after it has started. Whether it takes place in Landore or the middle of Hafod, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, on a forecourt in Hafod or a drive out in Cwmbwrla. Seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask when you collect a hire car or company car — from Swansea's car park, perhaps — rather than when the warning comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — anywhere you are in Swansea — a routine to use.
- Stop on level, engine off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Neath Road.
- 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 stays on. Where the two share a flap, make sure it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and look once more — confirm the diesel cap stayed shut throughout. After that, start your car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Skip step five altogether.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Hafod?
The short order of things, starting with no starting the engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the base rather than blending — and that's where the fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Morrisons, Texaco or another — the staff will normally help push your car away, if you ask. If you're on your own drive around Hafod, leave the vehicle where it is.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Hafod lies under 3 miles from the M4; there, use the first exit. A short hop across Hafod is a smaller job than a run towards Swansea, under 3 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What takes place when our engineers arrive in Hafod
The van comes to your car anywhere it stopped — your own drive, near Hafod Lime Kiln, or by the local primary school. Both the work and the quote depend on three answers — which liquid, what amount, and if it's run — so our engineers ask. On the call itself, you are told our price — ahead of anything else.
Then that tank is cleared and the system flushed thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. A test is last: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or replaced as needed. Before leaving, our technicians fire it up and check that it's running correctly.
If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Hafod, for a moment
Hafod is a suburban area in Swansea, situated near the coast and approximately 1.1 miles from the city centre. Hafod is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing and is located close to nearby places such as Landore and Foxhole. Hafod sits at a relatively low elevation of around 30 metres above sea level, looking out towards the Bristol Channel. Hafod is a densely populated area with a population of around 4403 people.
AdBlue drains in Hafod and across Swansea
Over SA postcodes, the vans covering Hafod — a residential suburb — work the surrounding locations too, Brynhyfryd and Foxhole included. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting SA1 2.
No need to shift the vehicle. Draining takes place on the spot, be it a driveway, a road by Saint John's, or a lay-by on the way to White Rock Park. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Musgrave Engine House.
Hafod drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, wherever across Swansea: keep the car off and call 0333 366 0103.