AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Tywyn: Why It Happens and How to Prevent It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Around Tywyn, catching it before your engine runs normally means draining and a thorough flush where it stands. The remainder of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Not one liquid but two: that's what many newer diesels around Tywyn and Llanrhos carry, with diesel for your engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There is a filler on each tank. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur in Tywyn?
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things lining up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your 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 driveway off Pentywyn Road before work, or in the car park outside Castle View on the way home.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, after begun, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Tywyn or out in Conwy.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a Tywyn forecourt or a drive out in Deganwy, spend a few seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually aren't.
- On plenty of motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- The handbook says where it lives when your filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Deganwy.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever across Conwy, use this routine.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Glan y Môr Road.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have found the filler and read the cap.
- The two under one flap? Then confirm the lid on the diesel side is still closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check again — confirm the diesel cap stayed shut throughout. After that, start your car.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Tywyn?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting your motor. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch it on. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of that tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Tesco, Shell or another forecourt will usually help to push the vehicle away if asked. Your own driveway in Tywyn is where it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. On the Moreton Spur, under 50 miles from Tywyn, that means the next exit. About how far did it go? Hopping across Tywyn is less work than a run of under 15 miles to Bangor, so tell us.
When our technicians turn up in Tywyn, what takes place?
By the local primary school, close to Peniel Elgwys Presbyteriadd Cymru or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. Our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it has run, since the answers settle this work and the price. You hear that price by phone, before anybody heads out.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Next we start the engine and check it runs correctly before we go.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once our technicians get there, provided the engine hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside 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 policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Tywyn and where it is
Tywyn is a coastal suburban area in Conwy, Wales, situated at a low elevation of around 8 metres above sea level. Tywyn lies near the cities of Bangor and Conwy, and the nearby Llandudno Junction and Cadnant Park. Tywyn has a population of approximately 2832 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Tywyn is located about 198.5 miles from London, on the north Wales coast.
Tywyn and Conwy: AdBlue drains across the area
Tywyn is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Llandudno Junction and Cadnant Park among them, across the LL postcode area. Quickest of all: quote a LL31 9 postcode for the van.
No need to move your car. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Coedwig Bodlondeb, a side street close to Bryn Estyn Badminton Centre: we drain the car where it stands. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Most Holy Family Church? By a county line? Checking is better than assuming, and so phone.
Tywyn motorists: the short version
Always, the cap; then, the pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout Conwy.