Upper Race: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, leave the ignition and engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. In Upper Race, catching it before your engine runs usually means a drain and a full flush where it stands. Not happened yet? Below, the page explains the reasons it occurs and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel goes to the motor — but many modern diesels seen around Upper Race and Cwm Fields carry another fluid as well. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of cars share a single flap for both, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. It is in that gap that the mistake happens.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen around Upper Race?
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste comes from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off Blaendare Farm Lane, or on the way home in the car park at The Dragonffli.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That's a second factor: a new car.
Lastly, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as easily, and once the tip begins, no part halts it. Whether it happens in Cwmynyscoy or the middle of Upper Race, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a Upper Race forecourt or a drive out in Penyrheol, take a few seconds over these before any goes in.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask when you collect a rental or company car — from Pontypool and New Inn's car park, say — not when the light appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere in Torfaen the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, engine stopped, and not in a rush beside Blaendare Road on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- The two behind a single flap? Then make sure the lid on the diesel side stays closed before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Upper Race already?
Do not start your engine: that is where the short order of things starts. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the car on. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is sucked from.
Ask the attendants to help push the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the Tesco or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Upper Race.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the engine has already run. Upper Race lies under 10 miles from the M4; on it, take the next junction. A short hop across Upper Race is a smaller job than a run towards Newport, under 10 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
What occurs when our technicians get there around Upper Race
By the local primary school, near Hanbury Arms Haunted Hotel & Museum or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it has run, because those replies settle this work and the price. Nobody heads out until you have heard the price over the phone.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, after that tank is emptied. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away by itself. Hence it matters more. The filter cleaned or, where needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of your car. The motor is started next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers go.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine hasn't run need about half an hour once our engineers are there. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. It's worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Upper Race
Upper Race is a suburban area in Torfaen, situated inland at an elevation of 209 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Upper Race is located near the communities of Cwmynyscoy, Sowhill, and Lower Race, and is approximately 7.5 miles from Newport. Upper Race sits within a wider landscape of Welsh valleys and hills, with the nearby city of Newport providing access to amenities and services. Upper Race has a relatively small population of around 516 residents.
AdBlue drains round Upper Race, and Torfaen beyond
As a residential suburb, Upper Race shares its vans nearby areas — Sowhill, Lower Race — all the way across NP postcodes and the wider area around them. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting NP4 5.
The car stays put. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Pontypool Park, a side street near Civic Centre: our technicians drain it where it is. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Pontypool War Memorial Gates, ring and ask rather than guessing.
The short version for Upper Race motorists
Always, the cap; then, the pour. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it is, wherever in Torfaen: switch the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.