How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in The Quar
Keep the motor and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. In The Quar, catching it before the motor turns usually means draining and a full flush where it stands. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to your motor — yet plenty of newer diesels seen about The Quar and Williamstown carry another liquid too. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler for every tank. Many of motors share a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think what cap it needs. It's in that gap that the error happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around The Quar: how it happens
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
On a drive off Caradoc Street before work, or in the car park at Grawen Arms heading home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle tells you, and once it's gone, limp mode follows.
Unfamiliar motors are next, too. Hire cars, new vehicles and company cars place their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap it 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 pour once it has started. It's seconds, whether in Tydfils well or right in the centre of The Quar.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Abermorlais or a forecourt in The Quar.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- On plenty of motors, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — many cars mark what belongs in which inlet right there.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you pick up a rental or fleet car — at Merthyr Tydfil's car park, perhaps — not when the warning appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Wherever across Merthyr Tydfil the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Saxon Street.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've found the filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before you start the car, shut the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap never opened off.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Step five stays out.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around The Quar?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help push the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the Applegreen, the Esso or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in The Quar.
Already run? Pull over when it's safe, then switch off. The next junction means the place to leave when you are on the M4, under 25 miles from The Quar. About how far did it go? Hopping across The Quar is smaller work than a run of under 25 miles to Newport, so say.
When our engineers turn up in The Quar, what happens?
Outside the local primary school, close to Penydarren Roman fort or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Both the work and our price rest on three answers — which liquid, what amount, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. On the call itself, you are told the quote — before anything else.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the fuel system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of that clears out unaided. Hence it counts more. A test comes at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. The motor is started next and tested to make sure it runs correctly, all before we head off.
Unrun vehicles mostly mean a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About The Quar
The Quar is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Merthyr Tydfil, with a mix of terraced housing and a population of around 5704 residents. The Quar sits at an elevation of 211 metres, overlooking the surrounding landscape. The Quar is located near notable local landmarks such as Tydfils well and Cae-pant-tywyll, and is within commuting distance of nearby cities like Newport. The Quar forms part of the wider Merthyr Tydfil urban area, with Morgan Town nearby.
AdBlue drains around The Quar and across Merthyr Tydfil
Cae-pant-tywyll and Morgan Town are among the places around The Quar, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout CF postcodes. Quote a postcode that starts CF47 8, and our van gets there quickest.
Your car doesn't need to shift. Anywhere it stands — beside Birthplace of Joseph Parry, in a lay-by en route to Morlais Brook, at home — that is where it is drained. Tricky to explain, like the back of Merthyr Town F.C.? Close to a border? Checking beats assuming, so phone.
The Quar drivers: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it stands, anywhere in Merthyr Tydfil: switch the car off then phone 0333 366 0103.