Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Marchwiel: Why It Occurs
Pause reading for a moment when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out just where the vehicle sits around Marchwiel, is normally all it needs when found before your motor runs. Reading before the event? Then what follows explains why it happens and how to prevent it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
No single fluid but two: that's how many newer diesels around Marchwiel and Pentre Maelor run, with diesel for the motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where spraying cleans the gas.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on many vehicles. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Filling the diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think which cap it needs. It's in the gap that the slip happens.
Marchwiel: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Overton Road, or heading home in the car park outside Red Lion.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
Third, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as readily, and after the tip begins, nothing stops it. It takes a few seconds, be it out in Bedwell or bang in the heart of Marchwiel.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Marchwiel forecourt or a drive over in Cross Lanes, take a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — plenty of cars show what goes in each filler right there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask as you pick up a hire car or company car — from Wrexham Central's car park, perhaps — rather than when the light appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever in Wrexham, use this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Bangor Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, but 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 is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour gently through the built-in spout.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Leave out step five altogether.
Marchwiel: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The short order of things, starting with no starting the motor. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the car on. Filling up with diesel will not thin it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the base of your tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it is the Texaco or the Tesco, ask the attendants to help push the car clear of the pump. If you're on your own driveway around Marchwiel, leave the vehicle where it is.
Already run? Pull over once it's safe, then switch off. Come off the M53 — under 15 miles out of Marchwiel — at the next exit. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Marchwiel makes a smaller job than driving under 3 miles towards Wrexham — so say about how far it went.
Marchwiel: what takes place when our engineers arrive
By the local primary school, close to Saint Deiniol and Saint Marcella Church or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our engineers come to it. Those replies determine this work and our quote, and so our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. The quote comes on the call, before any van leaves.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. More than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and none of it washes away unaided, no matter how long it is left. After the fuel filter is cleaned — or replaced, where needed — clean diesel is added, and then the car gets tested. The engine is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs properly, all before we go.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after we get there, provided the motor has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Marchwiel, for a moment
Marchwiel is a small village in northeast Wales, situated near the city of Wrexham and surrounded by other local communities such as Bedwell and Kings Mills. Marchwiel sits at an elevation of 63 metres, in a relatively low-lying area of the Welsh countryside. Marchwiel has a population of around 1038 people, living in predominantly detached housing. Marchwiel is located approximately 2.3 miles from Wrexham, making it a commuter-friendly location.
Marchwiel and Wrexham: AdBlue drains across the area
Cock Bank and Kings Mills are among the towns around Marchwiel, a rural village, that the same vans cover, over LL postcodes. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting LL13 0.
Your car doesn't need to move. Wherever it stands — near Pentre Gwyn Community Centre, in a lay-by heading to Marchwiel Covert, on a drive — that's where it gets emptied. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of St Anne's Catholic Church.
In short, for Marchwiel motorists
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it sits, anywhere across Wrexham.