AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in St Athan: Why It Occurs and How to Stop It
Keep your motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. A drain and a thorough flush, done just where your vehicle sits in St Athan, is usually all it needs if found before your engine runs. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page covers the why it occurs and the ways to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels around Gileston, like those in St Athan, run on two fluids; your motor takes only your diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler on each tank. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for both, while some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, poured by someone who must stop and think what filler to use. That gap is where the slip lives.
St Athan: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
Hurry comes from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Church Lane, or on the way home in the car park at The Three Horseshoes.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a hire car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is a second thing: a new motor.
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 tip after it has started. It's a few seconds, whether in Beggars Pound or right in the heart of St Athan.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in St Athan Boys Village or a forecourt in St Athan.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Plenty of vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it lives if your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver knows. Check as you collect a rental or company car — from Llantwit Major's car park, perhaps — not when the warning appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
For the day the light appears — wherever it is around The Vale of Glamorgan — a routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Rock Road, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It seems daft. It works.
- The two under a single flap? Then confirm the cap on the diesel side stays shut before lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Don't carry on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in St Athan already?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting your motor. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Esso, Shell or another — the attendants will normally help push your car away, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around St Athan.
Already started? Pull over when it is safe, then turn off. St Athan lies under 10 miles from the M4; on it, take the first junction. Distance matters — a short hop across St Athan makes a smaller job than driving under 15 miles to Cardiff — so tell us about how far it went.
When our engineers turn up in St Athan, what takes place?
Outside the local primary school, near The Old School Hall or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Which fluid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask because those replies decide both work and quote. On the call itself, you are told the quote — ahead of anything else.
Then the tank is drained and your system rinsed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more here than with petrol. A test comes last: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or replaced as needed. The motor is fired up next and checked to confirm it runs properly, all before we leave.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after our engineers arrive, provided the engine hasn't run — and the pumps we use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About St Athan itself
St Athan is a coastal village in the Vale of Glamorgan, situated near the Bristol Channel at an elevation of 31 metres. St Athan lies approximately 11 miles west of Cardiff and is surrounded by nearby places such as Beggars Pound and Castleton Park. St Athan has a population of around 1247 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. St Athan is also relatively close to the Boys Village, a nearby residential area.
AdBlue drains round St Athan, and The Vale of Glamorgan beyond
St Athan is a coastal village, and our teams that cover it also work the places around it, Castleton Park and Boys Village among them, across the CF postcode area. Quote a postcode that starts CF62 4, and our van arrives quickest.
There's no need to move your car. Draining happens right there, be it a driveway, a street near St Athan Library, or a lay-by towards Castleton Wood. Assuming doesn't help at the back of St Tathan's Church, close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and ask.
St Athan motorists: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout The Vale of Glamorgan.