Kendon: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page down for now, leave the ignition and engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, when the engine has not turned, it is emptied and fully purged where the car sits in Kendon. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it does not — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of modern diesels around Rhiw, like those in Kendon, run on two liquids; your motor takes only the diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray cleans the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of vehicles share a single flap for the two, while some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think what filler to use. That gap is where the slip lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Kendon
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from your car, and running out means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Plynlimon Avenue, perhaps at The New Forge on the way home that evening.
Unfamiliar vehicles are next, too. Hire cars, new cars and company cars place their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once begun, keeps on. Croespenmaen or the heart of Kendon: it takes the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Oakdale or a forecourt around Kendon.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On many vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Newbridge.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, wherever in Caerphilly, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Kendon Road, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- The two behind one flap? Then make sure the cap on the diesel side is still shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? So stop just there. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Kendon?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch it on. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push the vehicle clear of the pump if you are at a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the Texaco or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive around Kendon.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. Come off the M4 — under 10 miles out of Kendon — at the first exit. A short hop across Kendon is a smaller job than a run towards Newport, under 10 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
Kendon: what occurs when our engineers get there
Our van comes to the vehicle anywhere it stopped — your own drive, beside Horeb Chapel, or outside the local primary school. The replies determine the work and the quote, and so our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and if it has run. You get that price on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away unaided. Hence it counts more. The filter flushed or, if needed, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a test of your vehicle. Before we leave, our technicians fire it up and make sure that it's running correctly.
Using pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor hasn't run take roughly half an hour once our technicians arrive. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Kendon itself
Kendon is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Caerphilly, with a mix of detached housing and a population of around 1881 residents. Kendon sits at an elevation of 231 metres, overlooking the surrounding landscape. Kendon is located near other local places such as Croespenmaen, Pentref-y-groes, and Millbrook, and is approximately 9.5 miles from Newport. Kendon is also within commuting distance of major cities, with London around 130.7 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Caerphilly, Kendon included
Throughout NP postcodes, the vans that cover Kendon — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Millbrook and Pentref-y-groes included. Quote a postcode beginning NP11 3, and our van arrives fastest.
The car remains where it is. The drain takes place on the spot, be it a driveway, a road near Oakdale Library, or a lay-by on the way to Pen-y-fan Country Park. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Trinant Methodist Church.
Kendon drivers: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across Caerphilly, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — and so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.