Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Radyr
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page down for now, keep the ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the engine hasn't run, it is drained and thoroughly rinsed where your vehicle sits around Radyr. Reading in advance? In that case what follows covers why it comes about and what to prevent it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Not one liquid but two: that's how many newer diesels near Radyr and Tongwynlais carry, with diesel for the motor. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to fresh it, from a separate tank.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Some vehicles put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place both together behind one flap. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled constantly. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side gets filled — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Radyr?
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
Haste follows from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Heol Isaf, or heading home in the car park at The Hollybush Coryton.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a hire 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, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Radyr or out in Forest Farm.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Check these first, at a forecourt in Radyr or a driveway out in Rhydlafr. Seconds, that's all.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On many motors, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it is when your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Cardiff that is.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, motor stopped, and never in a rush by Station Road on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both sit under a flap, confirm it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Discover at the second or third step that the bottle went into the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Never go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Radyr already?
Do not start the engine: that is how the short order of things starts. The fuel pump runs on many diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. AdBlue doesn't 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.
The attendants at Esso, Radyr Service Station or any forecourt will usually help pushing the vehicle clear when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Radyr.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. The next exit is where to leave if you're on the M4, under a mile from Radyr. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Cardiff, under 5 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Radyr.
What occurs when our engineers arrive in Radyr
Outside the local primary school, close to Radyr Allegory or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. Those answers decide this work and our quote, and so our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it has run. No one heads out before you've had the price over the phone.
Then the tank is emptied and your system purged thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters 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. Filter cleaned or, where needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a check of the car. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running properly.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine hasn't run need about half an hour once our engineers are there. 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 your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Radyr
Radyr is a suburban area located on the banks of the River Taff in Cardiff, with a mix of housing types including a predominance of detached homes. Radyr sits at an elevation of around 40 metres, close to the nearby communities of Forest Farm, Coryton, and Morganstown. Radyr is situated approximately 4 miles west of Cardiff city centre, making it a popular residential area for those working in the city. Radyr has a population of around 3579 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains round Radyr, and Cardiff beyond
As a residential suburb, Radyr shares its vans nearby places — Coryton, Morganstown — all the way across CF postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Fastest of all: quote a CF15 8 postcode to the van.
Your car remains put. The drain happens on the spot, be it a driveway, a road near Radyr Methodist Church, or a lay-by towards Windsor Gardens. Awkward to explain, like the back of Christ Church? Close to a border? Asking is better than assuming, so phone.
The short version for Radyr motorists
Tip nothing until you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Cardiff.