Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Prenbrigog: Why It Occurs
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. In Prenbrigog, catching it before your engine turns normally means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many newer diesels around Alltami, as well as Prenbrigog, run on two fluids; your engine takes only the diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
There's a filler for every tank. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at every forecourt visit, again and again. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think what filler it needs. That gap is where the mistake lives.
Prenbrigog: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Pren Hill before work, or in the car park at The Blue Anchor on the way home.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand hits for the cap it would have 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 once it has started. Whether it occurs in Mynydd Isa or the middle of Prenbrigog, it's the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a drive in Nant Mawr or a forecourt in Prenbrigog.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- On plenty of motors, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Check as you pick up a rental or company car — at Buckley's car park, perhaps — not when the warning appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Flintshire that is.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time to spare — never rushing on the side of Colliers Lane.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish when the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour gently through its own spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Do not go on to stage five.
Prenbrigog: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the engine. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — so leave it off. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than blending — and that's where your fuel is drawn from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the BP or the Shell, ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the pump. At home around Prenbrigog? So the vehicle remains put.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Prenbrigog lies under 10 miles from the M56; on it, take the next junction. A short hop across Prenbrigog is a smaller job than a run towards Chester, under 10 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Prenbrigog: what takes place when our technicians turn up
Anywhere the car came to rest, whether outside the local primary school, beside Village Temple or on your own drive, our van travels to it. The answers decide the work and the quote, and so our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. On the phone call itself, you hear our quote — before anything else.
The fuel system is then purged thoroughly, once the tank is cleared. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. The filter cleaned or, if needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a test of your car. Then we fire it up and make sure it runs correctly before we leave.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our engineers get there, provided the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. No money in advance; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Prenbrigog
Prenbrigog is a suburban area in Flintshire, situated inland at an elevation of 168 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Prenbrigog lies close to the English border, near the city of Chester and the communities of Mynydd Isa and Buckley. Prenbrigog is part of a wider residential area that has developed around the industrial heritage of the region. Prenbrigog has a population of approximately 3879 residents.
Prenbrigog and Flintshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Prenbrigog shares its vans surrounding areas — Buckley Mountain, Buckley — right across CH postcodes and the wider area around them. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting CH7 2.
Shifting your car isn't necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Wat's Dyke Park, a side street close to Mynydd Isa: we drain the vehicle where it stands. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Emmanuel Parish Church? Close to a county line? Asking is better than guessing, and so phone.
In short, for Prenbrigog people
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Flintshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave the car off then phone 0333 366 0103.