Llanharry: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Stop here a minute if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, done just where the vehicle sits around Llanharry, is normally all it needs when found before your engine runs. The remainder of this page covers why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel goes to your motor — yet plenty of modern diesels driven about Llanharry and Brynsadler hold another fluid too. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Plenty of motors have a single flap for both, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Llanharry: how it happens
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Addison Avenue before work, or in the car park at The Bear Inn on the way home.
New-to-you motors come second, too. Rentals, new cars and company motors put their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once started, carries on. It takes a few seconds, whether out in Degar or bang in the centre of Llanharry.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Llanharry forecourt or a drive over in Dolau, spend a couple of seconds on these before any goes in.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Llanharan? Check with whoever drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than once the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Anywhere across Rhondda Cynon Taf the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, motor off, and not in a rush by Appletree Close at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the car, shut the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never opened off.
Discover at the second or third step that AdBlue went in the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Never carry on to stage five.
Llanharry: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Short list, then. Top of that: the motor stays unstarted. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Diluting it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base instead of blending — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
The staff at Murco, another forecourt nearby or another forecourt will normally lend a hand to push the car away when asked. On your own drive in Llanharry? Then the car remains put.
Already run? Stop once it's safe, then turn off. On the M4, under a mile from Llanharry, that means the next junction. Distance counts — a quick hop across Llanharry makes a smaller job than driving under 15 miles towards Cardiff — so say roughly how far it went.
Llanharry: what occurs when our technicians get there
By the local primary school, near Holistic Sports or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, since those replies settle this work and the price. On the phone call itself, you hear the price — before anything else.
Next: a drain, 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, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. A test is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or changed as needed. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
If your motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Llanharry itself
Llanharry is a small village in Rhondda Cynon Taf, situated inland at an elevation of 92 metres, with terraced housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Llanharry lies approximately 11 miles north of Cardiff and is surrounded by nearby places such as Degar, Ton-Breigam, and Tyle-garw. Llanharry has a population of around 1133 residents, making it a tight-knit community. Llanharry is located about 142 miles west of London, in the south of Wales.
AdBlue drains round Llanharry, and Rhondda Cynon Taf beyond
Over CF postcodes, our vans covering Llanharry — a rural village — work the surrounding spots too, Tyle-garw and Ton-Breigam included. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting CF72 9.
Your car does not need to shift. Anywhere it sits — beside Ystradowen Village Hall, in a layby heading to Coed Trecastell, at home — that is where it is cleared. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Bryncae Community Centre.
For Llanharry drivers, the short version
Tip no AdBlue till you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere in Rhondda Cynon Taf, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave it off and call 0333 366 0103.