How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Pentrebach
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case put this page aside for now, keep the ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Around Pentrebach, catching it before your motor runs usually leaves a drain and a full flush on the spot. The remainder of this page covers why it takes place and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of current diesels on the roads round Pentrebach and Ffos-y-fran carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the fumes to fresh it, from its own tank.
Every tank has a filler of its own. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have both side by side behind one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think which cap it needs. It is in that gap that the mistake lives.
Pentrebach: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Ceredig Street before work, or in the car park at the pub in the village on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car tells you, and once it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar motors are second, as well. Rentals, new cars and company cars put their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after begun, keeps on. It takes a few seconds, be it out in Abercanaid or right in the centre of Pentrebach.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt in Pentrebach or a driveway over in Ysgubor Newydd. Seconds, that's all.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- On many vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Pentre-Bach, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere around Merthyr Tydfil, use this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Maestaf Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both sit under a flap, confirm it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and check again that the diesel cap never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Never carry on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Pentrebach?
Do not start the engine: that is where the short order of things begins. Keep the ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels it by itself runs your pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Applegreen or the Esso, ask the attendants to help roll your car away from the pump. Your own drive around Pentrebach is where it should stay.
When your engine has been run by now, pull over safely and switch the vehicle off. Come off the M4 — under 15 miles out of Pentrebach — at the first junction. A short hop across Pentrebach is a smaller job than a run towards Newport, under 25 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival around Pentrebach, and what takes place next
By the local primary school, close to Ss Peter & Paul Church or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Which fluid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: we ask because the replies decide both work and quote. On the call itself, you are told the quote — ahead of dispatch.
Then that tank is drained and your system purged thoroughly. More than with petrol, it counts here: crystals build up, some metals corrode, and nothing clears out unaided, no matter how long it is left. Testing is last: before that, clean diesel is added, and the fuel filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. After that we fire it up and check it runs smoothly before leaving.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Pentrebach and where it is
Pentrebach is a village in Merthyr Tydfil, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 144 metres, with terraced housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Pentrebach lies near the communities of Abercanaid, Troedyrhiw, and Upper Abercanaid, and is approximately 18 miles from the city of Newport. Pentrebach has a population of around 1619 residents, and its location allows for easy access to nearby urban areas. Pentrebach is also relatively close to the Welsh countryside, offering scenic views and outdoor activities.
AdBlue drains across Merthyr Tydfil, Pentrebach included
Being a village, Pentrebach has the same vans as surrounding places — Troedyrhiw, Upper Abercanaid — right through CF postcodes and the wider area around them. Quote a postcode beginning CF48 4, and our van gets there fastest.
The car remains put. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near NHS, a lay-by on the way to Troedyrhiw Park, a drive. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St John's Church, ring and ask rather than assuming.
In short, for Pentrebach drivers
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it is, wherever around Merthyr Tydfil: switch it off and ring 0333 366 0103.