Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Prestatyn: Why It Occurs
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the motor hasn't run, it is emptied and fully rinsed where the vehicle is in Prestatyn. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Diesel goes to your engine — yet many current diesels seen round Prestatyn and Y-Ffrith carry a second liquid as well. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to clean them, from its own tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of motors share a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Prestatyn: how it takes place
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the vehicle, and letting it run out means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Kings' Avenue, perhaps outside Torello Lounge on the way home after work.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Nothing stops the tip after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Woodland Park or the middle of Prestatyn, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt in Prestatyn or a drive over in Tan-yr-allt. A few seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- On plenty of motors, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- Can't see it beside your diesel filler? Then check below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at the nearest station? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, not once the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — anywhere you are in Denbighshire — a routine to use.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Penisardre Road.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you've found the filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Shut the cap, then check once more — making sure the diesel filler remained closed the whole time. Only then, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Leave out step five altogether.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Prestatyn already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. The fuel pump runs on many diesels as soon as the ignition is switched on — so leave it off. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Tesco, Murco or another forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing the car clear if asked. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Prestatyn.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Leave the Moreton Spur — under 15 miles out of Prestatyn — at the first junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards St Asaph, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Prestatyn.
When our technicians arrive around Prestatyn, what takes place?
The van reaches the vehicle wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Nant Hall Road Church, or outside the local primary school. Our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run, since the replies decide this work and our price. You get that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
Draining the tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. After that our engineers fire it up and check it runs correctly before we leave.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Prestatyn and where it is
Prestatyn is a coastal town in Denbighshire, Wales, situated at a low elevation of around 10 metres above sea level. Prestatyn lies near the towns of St Asaph and Rhyl, and is close to the villages of Gwaenysgor and Meliden. Prestatyn has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by detached homes. Prestatyn is located approximately 187 miles from London, making it a popular destination for those seeking a more relaxed pace of life.
AdBlue drains across Denbighshire, Prestatyn included
Over LL postcodes, the teams that cover Prestatyn — a coastal town — work the surrounding spots too, Meliden and Gwaenysgor included. A postcode starting LL19 9 gets the van to you fastest.
The car stays put. Wherever it stands — near Scala, on a lay-by heading to Station Road Gardens, on a drive — that's where it gets cleared. Awkward to explain, like the back of Prestatyn Town Council? Close to a border? Checking beats assuming, and so ring.
For Prestatyn people, the short version
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Denbighshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — and so leave it off then call 0333 366 0103.