How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Rhewl
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, carried out just where the vehicle sits in Rhewl, is normally what it needs if found before the engine runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel goes to your engine — yet plenty of current diesels driven around Rhewl and Iron Mills hold another fluid as well. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
There is a filler on each tank. 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. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. That gap is where the slip lives.
Rhewl: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things coming up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off The Rhewl before work, or in the car park outside Cross Foxes on the way home.
Then the vehicle is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as easily, and once the tip starts, no part halts it. It takes a few seconds, whether in Preeshenlle or right in the heart of Rhewl.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Whether a Rhewl forecourt or a driveway over in St Martins Moor, spend a few seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it lives when your filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Gobowen.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
The day the light comes on, anywhere around Shropshire, follow this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of St Martin's Road.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located your filler and read the cap.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Discover at the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Don't carry on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Rhewl already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the Shell or the BP, ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the pump. Your own driveway in Rhewl is where it should stay.
Already run? Pull over when it is sensible, then turn off. On the M53, under 25 miles from Rhewl, that means the next exit. A short hop across Rhewl is a smaller job than a run towards Wrexham, under 15 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
Rhewl: what takes place when we arrive
Anywhere the car has stopped, be it by Gobowen Primary School, beside All Saints or at home, the van comes to it. The replies decide the work and our quote, so our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and if it's run. That quote is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of your system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither washes away by itself. That is why it matters more. Filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a test of the vehicle. Before we leave, our technicians fire it up and confirm that it is running smoothly.
Unrun cars mostly need a half-hour visit from arrival. The kit is fine on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Rhewl itself
Rhewl is a village situated on the banks of a river in Shropshire, with a mix of rural and residential areas at an elevation of around 110 metres. Rhewl lies near several smaller settlements, including Preeshenlle and Gobowen, and is within commuting distance of the city of Wrexham. Rhewl has a population of approximately 964 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Rhewl is located in the West Midlands region, about 156 miles northwest of London.
Rhewl and Shropshire: AdBlue drains across the area
As a village, Rhewl shares its vans nearby areas — Gobowen, Daywall — all the way across SY postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Fastest of all: give a SY10 7 postcode for the van.
Moving the vehicle is not needed. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Gobowen Playing Field, a side street close to WW1 War Memorial: our technicians drain the vehicle where it stands. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Moors Methodist Chapel, ring and ask instead of guessing.
In short, for Rhewl motorists
Tip nothing until you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Shropshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103.