Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Waun y Clyn
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, leave your ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your motor has not run, it is emptied and fully cleaned where your vehicle sits around Waun y Clyn. Here in advance? In that case what follows explains how it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Many modern diesels on the roads round Waun y Clyn and Waun Baglam carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at every forecourt visit, again and again. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think what filler it needs. It is in the gap that the mistake happens.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Waun y Clyn?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Heol Waunyclun before work, or in the car park outside the pub in the village on the way home.
New-to-you motors come second, too. Hire cars, new cars and company cars put their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after started, keeps on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Waun y Clyn or out in Trimsaran.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Cwm Capel or a forecourt around Waun y Clyn, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- On many vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Look for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask when you pick up a rental or company car — from Pembrey & Burry Port's car park, perhaps — rather than when the light appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere in Carmarthenshire, follow this routine.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Heol Waun y Clun.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift 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 once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Never carry on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Waun y Clyn already?
Brief order, then. Top of it: the engine remains unstarted. Keep the ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself runs your fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help push the car away from the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the Chivers Corner, the Asda or anywhere else. At home in Waun y Clyn? Then the vehicle remains where it is.
Already run? Pull over once it is safe, then switch off. On the M4, under 10 miles from Waun y Clyn, that means the next exit. A short hop across Waun y Clyn is a smaller job than a run towards Swansea, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Waun y Clyn: what happens when we turn up
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside the local primary school, close to Noddfa Chapel or on your own drive. Both the work and the quote depend on three replies — what fluid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. The quote comes on the call, before any van leaves.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. The filter flushed or, if it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a test of your car. Then our technicians fire it up and make sure it runs properly before we go.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our technicians arrive, provided the motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Waun y Clyn and where it is
Waun y Clyn is a small village in Carmarthenshire, situated near the coast of Wales, with Waun y Clyn being close to the communities of Trimsaran and Heol-ddu. Waun y Clyn has a population of around 1188 people, with Waun y Clyn predominantly consisting of semi-detached housing. Waun y Clyn is located at an elevation of 107 metres, with Waun y Clyn sitting near the larger city of Swansea, approximately 14 miles away.
Waun y Clyn and Carmarthenshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout SA postcodes, our teams covering Waun y Clyn — a coastal village — work the surrounding locations too, Pen-y-mynydd and Heol-ddu included. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting SA17 4.
There's no need to move your car. Wherever it sits — beside Tabernacl Chapel, on a layby en route to Waun Baglan Wood, at home — that is where it is drained. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Plas y Sarn Canolfan Hamdden, ring and ask rather than assuming.
The short version for Waun y Clyn motorists
Before you pour, read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it stands, wherever around Carmarthenshire: switch it off then phone 0333 366 0103.