Montgomery: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Keep the engine and ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. A drain and a full flush, carried out right where the vehicle stands in Montgomery, is usually what it takes if caught before your motor runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Many modern diesels on the roads about Montgomery and Llandyssil carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
There is a filler for each tank. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. Far less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens in Montgomery
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Broad Street before work, or in the car park outside The Crown Inn on the way home.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is a second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
A spouted bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once begun, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Montgomery or out in Hendomen.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Garthmyl or a forecourt in Montgomery, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel filler? Then check below the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Welshpool.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
On the day the light appears — anywhere it is around Powys — a simple routine to use.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Princes Street.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two sit under a flap, confirm it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Step five stays off limits.
Montgomery: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting the motor. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — so keep it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Bunners, Texaco or another forecourt will usually help pushing the vehicle away if asked. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive around Montgomery.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. The next junction means where to come off if you are on the M54, under 50 miles from Montgomery. A short hop across Montgomery is a smaller job than a run towards Wrexham, under 50 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
Montgomery: what takes place when our engineers get there
By Chirbury CofE VC Primary School & Busy Bees Nursery, near Cloverlands Model Car Collection or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Those replies determine the work and our quote, so our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it's run. On the call itself, you hear the quote — ahead of dispatch.
Then that tank is cleared and the system purged thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither washes away unaided. Hence it matters more. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. After that our engineers fire it up and confirm it runs properly before leaving.
Unstarted vehicles usually need a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Montgomery
Montgomery is a small town in eastern Powys, situated in a rural area near the English border. Montgomery sits at an elevation of 172 metres, surrounded by rolling hills and nearby villages such as Hendomen and Weston Madoc. Montgomery has a population of approximately 1289 people, living in predominantly detached housing. Montgomery is located about 34 miles from Wrexham, the nearest city, and 147 miles from London.
Montgomery and Powys: AdBlue drains across the area
As a town, Montgomery has the same vans as surrounding places — Weston Madoc, Caerhowel — right across SY postcodes and the surrounding area around them. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting SY15 6.
The vehicle stays put. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Gwern-yr-ychain Dingle, a side street near Montgomery Branch Library: our engineers drain the car where it is. Guessing doesn't help behind Montgomery Town Hall, on a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
The short version for Montgomery drivers
Tip no AdBlue till you have read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it is, anywhere across Powys: switch it off then ring 0333 366 0103.