Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Penydre
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, leave your ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Penydre. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Many modern diesels in Mount Pleasant, like those in Penydre, carry on two liquids; the motor gets only your diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Different tanks, different fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. The mistake lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Penydre: how it happens
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Penydre Road, or heading home in the car park at New Inn.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
No part halts the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's a few seconds, whether in Faerdre or right in the centre of Penydre.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Clydach or a forecourt around Penydre.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On many motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask when you collect a rental or fleet car — at Llansamlet's car park, perhaps — rather than once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Anywhere in Swansea the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Brynamlwg, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've located the filler and read it.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Discover at the second or third step that the bottle went in the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Skip stage five altogether.
Penydre: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — so keep it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
On a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, Tesco or any other — the attendants will normally help push the car away, if you ask. If you are on your own driveway in Penydre, leave the car where it sits.
Already started? Stop once it is sensible, then turn off. On the M4, under 3 miles from Penydre, that means the next exit. A short hop across Penydre is a smaller job than a run towards Swansea, under 10 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians turn up around Penydre, what occurs?
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, near St Benedict's Roman Catholic Church or on your own drive. Both the work and our price rest on three answers — which liquid, what quantity, and if it has run — so our engineers ask. The price comes on the call, before any van leaves.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and nothing clears out on its own, however long it sits. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and your filter is cleaned or changed as needed. We don't leave until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once our engineers arrive, as long as your engine has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Penydre and where it is
Penydre is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Swansea, with an elevation of 88 metres above sea level. Penydre lies approximately 6 miles from Swansea city centre and is surrounded by nearby places such as Faerdre and Craig-y-Duke. Penydre has a population of around 2572 people and predominantly consists of semi-detached housing. Penydre is located near Upper Forge, in a setting that reflects the local landscape of the area.
AdBlue drains around Penydre, and Swansea beyond
Craig-y-Duke and Upper Forge are among the towns around Penydre, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over SA postcodes. A postcode starting SA6 5 gets our van to you fastest.
Moving the car isn't necessary. Draining happens right there, whether a drive, a road near Sir Ludwig Mond, or a layby towards Coed Gwilym Park. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Bethel Evangelical Church, ring and ask rather than guessing.
For Penydre people, the short version
Tip no AdBlue till you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Leave the vehicle switched off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, throughout Swansea.