AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Sebastopol: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
Pause here for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Sebastopol. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Diesel goes to the motor — yet plenty of newer diesels driven round Sebastopol and Pontrhydyrun hold a second liquid too. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, different fillers. Plenty of cars share a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think which cap to use. It is in the gap that the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Sebastopol: how it happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off West Avenue before work, or in the car park at The Crown Inn on the way home.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Sebastopol or out in Griffithstown.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Cwmynyscoy or a forecourt in Sebastopol, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On many vehicles, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Pontypool and New Inn, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Anywhere in Torfaen the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of The Ellipse, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, yet it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two sit under a flap, make sure it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check once more — confirm your diesel cap stayed closed throughout. After that, start the car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Sebastopol?
Brief list, then. Top of that: the engine remains off. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the pump if you are on a forecourt — the Shell, the Esso or anywhere else. If you're on your own driveway around Sebastopol, leave it where it is.
Already started? Pull over once it's sensible, then switch off. Sebastopol lies under 10 miles from the M4; on it, use the next exit. Distance counts — a quick hop across Sebastopol makes a smaller job than driving under 10 miles towards Newport — so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians turn up in Sebastopol, what occurs?
Our van comes to your car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Penry Gospel Hall, or by the local primary school. Our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because the replies determine this work and the price. You get that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
Emptying the tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the system. More than with petrol, it matters here: crystals form, certain metals corrode, and none of it washes away unaided, however long it is left. The filter cleaned or, where needed, swapped; clean diesel in; then a test of your vehicle. The motor is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before we leave.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once our technicians get there, provided the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night outside a house. 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; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Sebastopol, briefly
Sebastopol is a suburban area in Torfaen, Wales, situated on the riverside with nearby settlements including Griffithstown and Penyrheol. Sebastopol has a mix of housing types, with semi-detached homes being predominant, and is located near the city of Newport. Sebastopol sits at an elevation of 138 metres, within the wider landscape of south Wales. Sebastopol is part of a network of communities along the river, including Pont-y-felin.
AdBlue drains round Sebastopol, and Torfaen beyond
As a residential suburb, Sebastopol shares its vans surrounding areas — Penyrheol, Pont-y-felin — right through NP postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Quickest of all: quote a NP4 5 postcode to our van.
Your car doesn't need to shift. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near St Hilda's Church Hall, a lay-by on the way to Panteg Park, a drive. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of PILCS Social Club.
The short version for Sebastopol drivers
Pour nothing till you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it sits, anywhere around Torfaen.