AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Rumney: How It Occurs and How to Stop It
Leave your engine and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Usually, if the motor has not run, it's drained and thoroughly rinsed where the vehicle is in Rumney. Here in advance? Then what follows explains why it comes about and what to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Not one fluid but two: that is what many modern diesels near Rumney and Llanedeyrn carry, with diesel for the motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Rumney: how it happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Hurry comes from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off Newport Road, or heading home in the car park outside The Monkstone Inn.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand gets to 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 after it has started. It takes a few seconds, be it out in Llanrumney or bang in the heart of Rumney.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Whether a Rumney forecourt or a driveway over in Pentwyn, take a couple of seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — many motors mark what goes in which filler right there.
- Cannot find it next to your diesel inlet? Then check beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Heath High Level, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — anywhere you are in Cardiff — a routine to follow.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine off, and not rushed by Claremont Crescent at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and 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.
- Stop when your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, pour gently using its own spout.
- Shut the cap, and check again — making sure the diesel cap remained closed the whole time. After that, start the car.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Don't carry on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Rumney?
Do not start the motor: that is where the short order of things begins. Keep your ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels it alone runs the pump. Filling up with diesel will not weaken it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of the tank, just where the fuel is taken from.
On a forecourt — Texaco, Morrisons or another — the staff will normally help push the car away, if you ask. If you're on your own driveway around Rumney, leave the car where it stands.
Where the engine has run by now, pull over safely then turn the car off. Leave the A48(M) — under 3 miles out of Rumney — at the first exit. A short hop across Rumney is a smaller job than a run towards Cardiff, under 5 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Rumney: what happens when our technicians get there
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, near Eastern Leisure Centre or on your own drive. Which liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because the replies set the work and quote. You get that price by phone, before anyone sets off.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, once that tank is drained. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The motor is fired up next and tested to make sure it runs smoothly, all before our engineers leave.
Unrun cars mostly need a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. It is worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Rumney and where it is
Rumney is a suburban area in Cardiff, situated near the coast and approximately 3 miles east of the city centre. Rumney sits at an elevation of around 46 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Rumney is close to nearby places such as Llanrumney and Pwll-Mawr, and is part of the wider Cardiff urban area.
Rumney and Cardiff: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout CF postcodes, our vans covering Rumney — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Trowbridge and Pwll-Mawr included. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting CF3 4.
Moving the vehicle is not needed. Draining happens right there, whether a drive, a road by Rumney Partnership Hub, or a layby towards Rumney Recreation Ground. Guessing won't help at the back of Rumney Methodist Church, close to a border, or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
For Rumney drivers, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the vehicle switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Cardiff.