AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Penrhiwfer: Why It Happens and How to Prevent It
Pause here for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Around Penrhiwfer, catching it before your engine runs normally leaves draining and a full flush on the spot. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many current diesels on the roads about Penrhiwfer and Dinas carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where a spray cleans the gas.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have the two side by side behind one flap. Diesel gets filled at every forecourt visit, again and again. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually goes in from a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think which filler it needs. It is in that gap that the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Penrhiwfer: how it takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and running out means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Oakdale Road, perhaps at The Glamorgan on the way home that evening.
New-to-you motors are next, as well. Rentals, new motors and company motors put their fillers in new places, and habit goes 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, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Penrhiwfer or out in Williamstown.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Trebanog or a forecourt in Penrhiwfer.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — plenty of motors mark what goes in each filler right there.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- 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 Dinas Rhondda.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere across Rhondda Cynon Taf the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Penrhiwfer Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, but it works.
- Both behind one flap? Then confirm the cap on the diesel side is still shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Finish once your tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, tip slowly using its built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check a second time. 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 the diesel side, stop there. Stage five is off limits.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Penrhiwfer?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting the motor. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — so leave it off. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
At a forecourt — Shell, Gulf or any other — the attendants will usually help push the vehicle away, when you ask. Your own driveway around Penrhiwfer is where it stays.
When the engine has run already, pull over safely then turn the car off. On the M4, under 10 miles from Penrhiwfer, that means the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Cardiff, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Penrhiwfer.
When our engineers arrive in Penrhiwfer, what happens?
Anywhere your car came to rest, whether by the local primary school, near Penygraig War Memorial or at home, our van travels to it. Those answers settle this work and the quote, and so we ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it has run. The quote is given on the call, before any van leaves.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. More than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and none of it clears out on its own, however long it is left. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Then our technicians start the car and check it runs correctly before leaving.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once we get there, as long as your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Penrhiwfer, for a moment
Penrhiwfer is a suburban area in Rhondda Cynon Taf, situated near the riverside at an elevation of 206 metres. Penrhiwfer lies close to the nearby communities of Williamstown, Edmondstown, and Penygraig, and is approximately 14 miles from Cardiff. Penrhiwfer is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock, reflecting the local architectural style. Penrhiwfer is also relatively distant from London, at around 142 miles away.
Penrhiwfer and Rhondda Cynon Taf: AdBlue drains across the area
Penrhiwfer is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the places around it, Edmondstown and Penygraig among them, across the CF postcode area. Give a postcode beginning CF40 1, and the van gets there fastest.
The vehicle does not need to shift. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near Pisgah Chapel, a lay-by on the way to Belle Vue Park, a driveway. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Carmel Church? By a border? Checking is better than guessing, and so ring.
The short version for Penrhiwfer people
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere across Rhondda Cynon Taf.