Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Monmouth: Why It Happens
Leave your engine and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a full flush, carried out right where your car stands in Monmouth, is usually all it needs if caught before your engine runs. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Not one fluid but two: that's what many modern diesels around Monmouth and Over Monnow run, with diesel feeding your motor. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where a spray treats the gas.
Each tank comes with a filler of its own. Many of motors have a single flap for both, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at every filling station visit, again and again. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. It is in that gap that the mistake happens.
Monmouth: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
Haste comes from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off Whitecross Street, or on the way home in the car park at Old Nags Head.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once begun, carries on. Whether it occurs in Chippenham or the middle of Monmouth, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Monmouth forecourt or a driveway over in Dixton, spend a few seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- Plenty of cars fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Lydney, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
On the day the light appears — wherever it is around Monmouthshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Cwrt William Jones.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then look again — making sure the diesel cap stayed closed throughout. After that, start your car.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Do not go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Monmouth?
Do not start your motor: that is where the short order of things begins. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
The attendants at Shell, Applegreen or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing your car clear if asked. If you're on your own driveway around Monmouth, leave it where it is.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Monmouth sits under 15 miles from the M50; there, take the next junction. Distance matters — a short hop across Monmouth makes a smaller job than heading under 25 miles to Hereford — so tell us about how far it went.
Monmouth: what occurs when our engineers turn up
Our engineers come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Redbrook Church of England Primary School, close to Monmouth War Memorial or on your own driveway. Which fluid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask since those answers set the work and price. The quote is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and nothing clears out on its own, no matter how long it is left. After your filter is cleaned — or replaced, where needed — clean diesel goes in, and then your vehicle is tested. Your engine is started next and tested to make sure it runs smoothly, all before we leave.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after we arrive, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It is worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Monmouth and where it is
Monmouth is a town situated on the River Monnow in southeastern Wales, with a population of around 8435 people. Monmouth sits at an elevation of 24 metres, close to the English border and near the towns of Chippenham and Hereford. Monmouth has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are particularly prevalent. Monmouth is located near notable landmarks such as May Hill and the village of Wyesham.
AdBlue drains round Monmouth, and Monmouthshire beyond
Over NP postcodes, our vans covering Monmouth — a riverside town — work the nearby spots too, Wyesham and May Hill among them. Quote a postcode that starts NP25 3, and the van arrives quickest.
Shifting the vehicle isn't needed. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Monmouth Community Hub, a lay-by on the way to Chippenham Park, a driveway. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Monmouth Methodist Church.
For Monmouth motorists, the short version
First, the cap; after that, the pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep it switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across Monmouthshire.