AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Penllergaer: How It Happens and How to Avoid It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the motor has not turned, it is emptied and thoroughly cleaned where the car sits in Penllergaer. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of modern diesels in Cadle, as well as Penllergaer, run on two fluids; the motor gets just your diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there spraying cleans the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Some motors put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have both together behind one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
Penllergaer: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
On a driveway off Gors Road before work, or in the car park at The Old Inn heading home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and once it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's the second thing: an unfamiliar car.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after started, keeps on. It takes a few seconds, be it out in Tircoed or right in the centre of Penllergaer.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Penllergaer forecourt or a driveway out in Gorseinon, take a couple of seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On many motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many motors carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it lives if your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver will know. Check as you pick up a rental or fleet car — at Gowerton's car park, say — rather than once the warning appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — wherever it is around Swansea — a routine to follow.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, motor off, and not in a rush by Gorseinon Road on the verge.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Stop when that tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour gently through its own spout.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Penllergaer already?
Do not start the engine: that is where the short order of things begins. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the car on. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of that tank, just where fuel is taken from.
On a forecourt — Esso, BP or any other — the staff will normally help roll the vehicle clear, when you ask. Your own drive around Penllergaer is where it should stay.
Already started? Stop when it's safe, then switch off. The next junction means where to leave if you're on the M4, under a mile from Penllergaer. A short hop across Penllergaer is a smaller job than a run towards Swansea, under 5 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Penllergaer: what takes place when our engineers turn up
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, near Penllergaer Old School or on your own driveway. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — what fluid, which quantity, and whether it has run — so we ask. You get that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
The system is then rinsed thoroughly, after that tank is cleared. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away by itself. 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. The engine is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs smoothly, all before our technicians head off.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor has not run need about half an hour once we are there. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Penllergaer, briefly
Penllergaer is a coastal village in Swansea, situated approximately 4.5 miles from the city centre, with a mix of semi-detached housing and a population of around 1187 residents. Penllergaer sits at an elevation of 80 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside and coastline. Penllergaer is close to nearby places such as Tircoed and Gorseinon Garden Village, and is part of the wider Swansea urban area.
AdBlue drains about Penllergaer, and Swansea beyond
Penllergaer is a coastal village, and our teams that cover it also work the places near it, Bach-y-gwreiddyn and Gorseinon Garden Village among them, across the SA postcode area. Quote a postcode beginning SA4 9, and the van gets there fastest.
No need to shift your car. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Model Aircraft Runways, a side street near Neuadd Llewelyn: we drain the car where it stands. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Community of Christ, Penllergaer, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Penllergaer drivers: the short version
Tip nothing until you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Swansea.