Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Pen-y-Bont
Pause reading for a moment if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Pen-y-Bont. Here in advance? Then what follows covers why it happens and what to prevent it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel goes to the engine — yet many newer diesels driven around Pen-y-Bont and Pant y Pwdyn carry a second fluid too. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where spraying treats the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of cars have a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs around Pen-y-Bont
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things lining up together.
On a driveway off Pen y Bont Road before work, or in the car park at New Bridgend Inn heading home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle tells you, and if it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar vehicles are next, too. Rentals, new cars and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Blaenau Gwent or the heart of Pen-y-Bont: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Whether a Pen-y-Bont forecourt or a drive out in Penrhiwgarreg, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- On plenty of vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it.
- Can't find it next to the diesel filler? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Llanhilleth.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever in Blaenau Gwent, follow this routine.
- Stop on level, engine off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Tyleri Gardens.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, confirm it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Stage five stays off limits.
Pen-y-Bont: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Brief order, then. First: the engine remains unstarted. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the car on. Filling up with diesel won't weaken it: instead, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, right where fuel is taken from.
At a forecourt — Tesco, Gulf or another — the attendants will usually help push the vehicle away, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Pen-y-Bont.
Already run? Pull over when it is safe, then turn off. The next junction is the place to come off when you're on the M4, under 15 miles from Pen-y-Bont. A short hop across Pen-y-Bont is a smaller job than a run towards Newport, under 15 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians turn up in Pen-y-Bont, what occurs?
The van comes to your car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, near Blaenau Gwent Methodist Church, or by the local primary school. The answers settle the work and our quote, so our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run. That quote is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
Draining your tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and none of it clears out unaided, however long it sits. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before we leave, we fire it up and confirm that it is running correctly.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor has not run need roughly half an hour after we arrive. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Pen-y-Bont and where it is
Pen-y-Bont is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Blaenau Gwent, with a mix of terraced housing and a population of around 4987 residents. Pen-y-Bont sits at an elevation of 247 metres, overlooking the surrounding landscape. Pen-y-Bont is located near the towns of Abertillery and Cwmtillery, and is approximately 12 miles from Newport. Pen-y-Bont forms part of the wider urban area in the south Wales valleys.
AdBlue drains around Pen-y-Bont, and Blaenau Gwent beyond
Pen-y-Bont is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the places near it, Cwmtillery and Abertillery among them, across the NP postcode area. Give a postcode that starts NP13 1, and our van arrives quickest.
The car does not need to move. The drain takes place right there, be it a driveway, a street by Blaenau Gwent Baptist Church, or a lay-by on the way to Gelli Crug Park. Awkward to explain, like the back of Wyndham Vowles Community Center? Close to a county line? Asking is better than guessing, so phone.
The short version for Pen-y-Bont motorists
Tip nothing till you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout Blaenau Gwent.