Tair-heol: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. Around Tair-heol, finding it before the engine runs usually leaves a drain and a full flush on the spot. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the why it takes place and the how to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
No single fluid but two: that's how plenty of modern diesels near Tair-heol and Melin Caiach run, with diesel feeding the engine. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
There's a filler on every tank. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place both side by side behind one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. It's in that gap that the mistake lives.
Tair-heol: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Mafon Road before work, or in the car park outside Railway Inn on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle.
Third, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as easily, and after the pour begins, no part stops it. It's seconds, whether in Nelson or bang in the heart of Tair-heol.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Quakers Yard or a forecourt in Tair-heol.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask as you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Quakers Yard's car park, say — rather than once the warning appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — wherever you are across Caerphilly — a routine to use.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Llanfabon Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- Both under one flap? So confirm the lid on your diesel side stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Stop once your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly using the built-in spout.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and look again that your diesel cap never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Tair-heol?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of mixing — and that's where your fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Texaco, Gulf Treharris Service Station or another — the attendants will normally help roll the car clear, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in Tair-heol.
Already started? Pull over when it's safe, then switch off. The next exit is the place to come off if you are on the M4, under 10 miles from Tair-heol. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Cardiff, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Tair-heol.
Tair-heol: what occurs when our engineers arrive
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, near Nelson Community Centre or on your own driveway. We ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, since those replies decide the work and our quote. No one heads out until you have heard our price by phone.
Then that tank is cleared and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and nothing washes out unaided, however long it sits. The filter flushed or, if it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a test of your car. Before we go, our engineers start the engine and make sure that it is running properly.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour visit after arrival. The kit is fine on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Tair-heol itself
Tair-heol is a small village in Caerphilly, situated on the banks of a river at an elevation of 138 metres. Tair-heol lies approximately 12 miles north of Cardiff and is surrounded by nearby villages such as Nelson and Llanfabon. Tair-heol has a population of around 1370 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Tair-heol is located in a scenic area, with the Welsh countryside providing a picturesque backdrop, however, it is Tair-heol itself that is home to a community with strong local ties.
AdBlue drains around Tair-heol and across Caerphilly
Being a village, Tair-heol has the same vans as nearby places — Llanfabon, Pentwyn Berthlwyd — all the way through CF postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. A postcode starting CF46 6 gets the van to you fastest.
Your car doesn't need to move. We drain it where it is — a side street near Nelson Library, a lay-by on the way to Whitehall Golf Course, a drive. Assuming doesn't help behind War Memorial, close to a boundary, or somewhere awkward to describe; phone and check.
Tair-heol drivers: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it stands, anywhere across Caerphilly: switch the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.