Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lower Common
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page aside a moment, leave the ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Normally, when your motor has not turned, it is emptied and fully purged where your car sits in Lower Common. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the reasons it takes place and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many newer diesels around Glangrwyney, as well as Lower Common, carry on two liquids; the engine takes just your diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at every filling station call-out, week in, week out. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs around Lower Common
Carelessness rarely causes it. Instead is three things lining up together.
Hurry follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off Elm Grove, or on the way home in the car park at Corn Exchange.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — but a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second thing: an unfamiliar motor.
Nothing halts the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's seconds, whether in Upper Common or bang in the heart of Lower Common.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Lower Common forecourt or a drive over in Llanelly, take a couple of seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check when you pick up a rental or fleet car — at Abergavenny's car park, say — rather than once the warning comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere in Monmouthshire, follow this routine.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, motor stopped, and not in a rush beside Common Road at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Stop when your tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly using its own spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Never carry on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Lower Common already?
The short order of things, starting with no starting the engine. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. Topping up with diesel won't weaken it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of your tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Gulf, Asda Express or another forecourt will usually lend a hand to push the vehicle away when you ask. If you are on your own driveway around Lower Common, leave it where it stands.
Already run? Pull over when it's safe, then turn off. The next exit is where to come off if you're on the M4, under 25 miles from Lower Common. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Lower Common is a smaller job than driving under 25 miles to Newport — so say roughly how far it went.
When our technicians get there around Lower Common, what takes place?
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, be it by the local primary school, near Gilwern Community Hub or at home, the van comes to it. Our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it has run, because the replies determine this work and our quote. You get that price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Emptying the tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. Filter flushed or, where needed, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a test of your car. Your engine is fired up next and checked to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our technicians head off.
If your engine has not run, most 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 at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, take a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Lower Common itself
Lower Common is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Monmouthshire, with a mix of detached housing and a population of around 1249 residents. Lower Common lies near the communities of Upper Common, Gilwern, and Pen-y-bont, and is approximately 17 miles from Newport. Lower Common's elevation is around 71 metres above sea level, and it is located near the scenic Welsh countryside. Lower Common is also within commuting distance to major cities, with London being around 129 miles away.
AdBlue drains round Lower Common, and Monmouthshire beyond
Over NP postcodes, the teams that cover Lower Common — a residential suburb — work the surrounding places too, Pen-y-bont and Gilwern included. Fastest of all: quote a NP7 0 postcode to our van.
Shifting the vehicle is not necessary. Anywhere it sits — near Garden of Remembrance, on a lay-by en route to The Grove, at home — that's where it gets cleared. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Gilwern War Memorial, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Lower Common motorists: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it waits, anywhere in Monmouthshire.