Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Killay
Stop reading a minute when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. In Killay, finding it before the engine runs normally means draining and a full flush where it stands. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels on the roads round Killay and Upper Killay carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Your exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to clean them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Killay: how it takes place
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Goetre Fach Road before work, or in the car park outside The Village on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and if it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar motors come next, too. Hire cars, new motors and company motors put their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once begun, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Killay or out in Olchfa.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Killay forecourt or a drive over in Carnglas, spend a few seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Plenty of vehicles give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- Cannot see it next to your diesel filler? Then look below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say where.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you pick up a hire car or company car — from Gowerton's car park, perhaps — not when the light appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever across Swansea, follow this routine.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Dunvant Road.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It works.
- The two under one flap? So confirm the cap on the diesel side stays closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Never carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Killay?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting your motor. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. Filling up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — Esso, Texaco or any other — the staff will usually help roll the car clear, when you ask. At home in Killay? So the vehicle stays put.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. Killay sits under 5 miles from the M4; there, use the first junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Swansea, under 5 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Killay.
When our engineers get there around Killay, what happens?
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, near Dunvant Gospel Hall or on your own driveway. Which liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: we ask since the answers decide both work and price. That quote comes over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. 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. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Then our engineers fire it up and confirm it runs smoothly before we leave.
If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Killay itself
Killay is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Swansea, situated approximately 3.4 miles from the city centre. Killay sits on a coastal setting, with an elevation of around 106 metres, and is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing. Killay is close to nearby places such as Olchfa, Dunvant, and Penyrheol, and is home to a population of around 6183 residents. Killay is also within a reasonable distance from major cities, with London being around 167.4 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Swansea, Killay included
Dunvant and Penyrheol are among the towns around Killay, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over SA postcodes. Quickest of all: quote a SA2 7 postcode for the van.
Your car does not need to move. We drain it where it is — a side street near Killay Library, a lay-by on the way to Dunvant Park, a driveway. Assuming doesn't help behind St Hilary, on a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe; phone and check.
The short version for Killay drivers
Tip no AdBlue until you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave it off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it sits, anywhere across Swansea.