Risca: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Keep the engine and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain and a full flush, carried out right where your car sits in Risca, is normally all it needs if caught before the motor runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Not one fluid but two: that's how many newer diesels around Risca and Pontymister run, with diesel for your engine. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to fresh it, from a separate tank.
There's a filler on each tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. It's in the gap that the mistake happens.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Risca?
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Saint Mary Street, or at Exchange Inn on the way home after work.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old motor — since a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
Nothing stops 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. Danygraig or the heart of Risca: it takes the same few seconds in both.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Risca forecourt or a driveway out in Black Vein, spend a few seconds over these before any is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- On plenty of vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Open the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of cars mark what goes in each filler just there.
- The handbook says which it lives when the filler isn't next to the 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 Risca & Pontymister.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — wherever you are around Caerphilly — a simple routine to use.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Grove Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- 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 has already gone into your diesel side? So stop right there. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Risca?
The short order of things, starting with not starting your engine. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the vehicle on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Texaco, Tesco or another forecourt will normally help pushing the vehicle clear if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Risca.
Already started? Pull over when it's safe, then switch off. The next exit means the place to come off when you are on the M4, under 5 miles from Risca. A short hop across Risca is a smaller job than a run towards Newport, under 5 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What happens when we turn up around Risca
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, close to John C Hayward or on your own driveway. Which liquid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our engineers ask because the replies decide the work and quote. No one sets off before you have heard our quote over the phone.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and none of it washes away unaided, no matter how long it sits. The filter cleaned or, if needed, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a test of your car. We do not leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Unstarted vehicles usually need a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a live forecourt, 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 insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Risca and where it is
Risca is a town situated on the banks of the Ebbw River in south Wales, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Risca lies near the city of Newport, and its riverside setting has influenced its development over time. Risca is close to several nearby communities, including Danygraig, Penrhiw, and Crosskeys, and is located about 50 metres above sea level. Risca has a population of around 7292 people, making it a modestly sized urban centre in the region.
Risca and Caerphilly: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a riverside town, Risca has the same vans as nearby places — Penrhiw, Crosskeys — all the way across NP postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Quickest of all: give a NP11 6 postcode for the van.
The car stays put. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to St John Ambulance Hall, a lay-by on the way to Risca Park, a driveway. Guessing won't help at the back of Samson, close to a border, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
Risca motorists: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Caerphilly, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — and so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.