Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Shirenewton
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page down for now, leave your ignition and engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Around Shirenewton, catching it before the engine turns usually means draining and a full flush where it stands. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads about Shirenewton and Bullyhole Bottom carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on a lot of vehicles. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in at every forecourt visit, again and again. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Shirenewton: how it occurs
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and running out leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Ditch Hill Lane, perhaps at Tredegar Arms on the way home after work.
Unfamiliar cars come second, as well. Rentals, new vehicles and company motors put their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap 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, so nothing stops the tip after it has started. Mynydd-bach or the middle of Shirenewton: it takes the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Caer-went or a forecourt around Shirenewton, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- On many motors, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel inlet? In that case check below the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook will say where.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Chepstow.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Anywhere in Monmouthshire the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, motor off, and never rushed beside Earlswood Road at the roadside.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you've located the filler and read the cap.
- The two behind a single flap? Then make sure the lid on the diesel filler stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never came off.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Leave out stage five altogether.
Shirenewton: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting the engine. Leave the ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels it by itself starts your pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
At a forecourt — Texaco, BP or another — the staff will usually help push the vehicle away, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in Shirenewton.
When the motor has run already, pull over somewhere safe then turn the vehicle off. Shirenewton lies under 3 miles from the M48; on it, take the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Newport, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Shirenewton.
Shirenewton: what occurs when we arrive
By Tutshill Church of England Primary School, near Llanmelin Hill Fort or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Which fluid got in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask because the replies decide the work and price. Nobody heads out before you have had the quote by phone.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. More than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and nothing washes out unaided, no matter how long it is left. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is flushed or changed as needed. The motor is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs smoothly, all before we leave.
Unstarted cars usually need a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. It's worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Shirenewton, briefly
Shirenewton is a small village in Monmouthshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 150 metres. Shirenewton lies near the communities of Mynydd-bach, Itton, and Itton Common, and is approximately 11 miles from the city of Newport. Shirenewton has a population of around 668 people, predominantly living in detached housing. Shirenewton is also relatively distant from London, at a distance of 113 miles.
AdBlue drains in Shirenewton and across Monmouthshire
Being a rural village, Shirenewton has the same vans as nearby areas — Itton, Itton Common — all the way across NP postcodes and the wider area around them. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting NP16 6.
The car remains put. We drain it where it is — a side street near Itton Church, Saint Deiniol, a lay-by on the way to Shirenewton Recreation Association, a drive. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Runston Chapel, ring and ask instead of assuming.
The short version for Shirenewton motorists
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave it off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere across Monmouthshire.