Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hirwaun: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down for now, leave your ignition and engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out just where the car sits in Hirwaun, is normally all it needs if found before your engine runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels in Tre-Gibbon, as well as Hirwaun, run on two fluids; your motor takes only the diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on a lot of vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place around Hirwaun
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things coming up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Maescynon before work, or in the car park at Prince of Wales on the way home.
New-to-you cars are next, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company motors place their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap it 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 pour after it has started. Penywaun or the middle of Hirwaun: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Tre-Ifor or a forecourt in Hirwaun.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many motors. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- 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 Aberdare.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Rhondda Cynon Taf that is.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Springfield Gardens.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- Both under one flap? So make sure the lid on the diesel filler is still closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Finish when the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour slowly through its built-in spout.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and check again that the diesel cap was never came off.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Hirwaun?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting the motor. The fuel pump runs on many diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — so keep it off. Diluting it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the base rather than mixing — and that's where your fuel is sucked from.
The staff at Tesco, Texaco or any forecourt will normally help pushing the car away if asked. On your own drive in Hirwaun? So the car stays put.
Already run? Stop once it's safe, then switch off. On the M4, under 15 miles from Hirwaun, that means the next exit. Distance counts — a short hop across Hirwaun makes a smaller job than heading under 25 miles towards Swansea — so say roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Hirwaun, and what happens next
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, whether outside the local primary school, beside Hirwaun Library or at home, our van comes to it. What fluid got in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask because those answers decide both work and quote. The quote is given on the call, before any van leaves.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, after that tank is cleared. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Once the fuel filter is flushed — or renewed, if required — clean diesel is added, and finally the car gets tested. The motor is started next and tested to make sure it runs smoothly, all before our engineers head off.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our technicians get there, provided the motor has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It's worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Hirwaun and where it is
Hirwaun is a suburban area situated in the county of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, with a riverside setting and an elevation of 183 metres. Hirwaun lies near the communities of Penywaun, Llwydcoed, and Cwmdare, and is approximately 20 miles from Swansea. Hirwaun has a population of around 2670 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Hirwaun is located in a region with strong industrial heritage, close to the south Wales valleys.
Hirwaun and Rhondda Cynon Taf: AdBlue drains across the area
Over CF postcodes, our vans covering Hirwaun — a residential suburb — work the surrounding places too, Cwmdare and Llwydcoed included. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting CF44 9.
Shifting the car is not needed. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Bodwigiad a Nant y Deri Site of Special Scientific Interest, a side street near Hirwaun Iron Works: we drain the vehicle where it is. Guessing won't help behind Saint James' Church, close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
Hirwaun motorists: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across Rhondda Cynon Taf, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — and so leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.