Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Maesteg: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. In Maesteg, catching it before your motor turns usually leaves a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. Here before the event? Then what follows explains how it comes about and what to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
No single fluid but two: that's what many modern diesels around Maesteg and Nantyffyllon carry, with diesel feeding the motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank comes with a filler of its own. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the pump happens all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place around Maesteg
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and letting it run dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Neath Road, perhaps at The Star on the way home that evening.
Then your car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
No part stops the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it occurs in Y Parc or the middle of Maesteg, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Garth or a forecourt in Maesteg, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of cars have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere around Bridgend the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Llynfi Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, but it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two share a flap, confirm it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and check again — making sure your diesel filler stayed shut throughout. Only then, start your car.
Find during the second or third step that AdBlue went in the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Stage five stays out.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Maesteg?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch it on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
The staff at Oils for Wales, another forecourt nearby or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the vehicle clear when you ask. If you are on your own driveway around Maesteg, leave the vehicle where it stands.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M4, under 5 miles from Maesteg, that means the next exit. Distance counts — a quick hop across Maesteg makes a smaller job than driving under 15 miles towards Swansea — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Maesteg, and what takes place next
Our van comes to the vehicle anywhere it stopped — your own drive, beside St Michaels Church, or by the local primary school. Our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because the answers determine this work and the price. No one heads out until you've had our quote by phone.
Then your tank is drained and your system cleaned thoroughly. 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. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. We don't leave until it has been started and is running correctly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our technicians get there, provided your motor has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night outside a house. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It is worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Maesteg, for a moment
Maesteg is a town situated in the valley of the River Llynfi in south Wales, with a population of around 9816 people. Maesteg has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by terraced homes. Maesteg sits at an elevation of 131 metres, near the communities of Y Parc, Llwydarth, and Twmpath-Mawr. Maesteg is located approximately 12 miles from Swansea, the nearest city.
AdBlue drains around Maesteg, and Bridgend beyond
Llwydarth and Twmpath-Mawr are among the places around Maesteg, a riverside town, that the same vans cover, throughout CF postcodes. Quote a postcode that starts CF34 9, and our van gets there fastest.
There's no need to shift the car. Anywhere it stands — near Central Church, in a layby en route to Maesteg Welfare Park, at home — that's where it is emptied. Awkward to pin down, like the back of St Davids Church? By a border? Asking is better than assuming, and so phone.
In short, for Maesteg drivers
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Bridgend.