Wrexham: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Pause here a minute when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. In Wrexham, catching it before your motor turns usually leaves a drain and a full flush where it stands. Here in advance? Then the rest covers how it comes about and how to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to the motor — yet many modern diesels driven around Wrexham and The Dunks carry a second liquid too. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from a separate tank.
Different tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on a lot of vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between them.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place in Wrexham
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Egerton Street, perhaps outside The Elihu Yale on the way home that evening.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old car — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
Third, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as easily, and once the pour begins, nothing stops it. Whether it takes place in Rhosddu or the middle of Wrexham, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Plas Coch or a forecourt around Wrexham.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- Plenty of cars give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of cars carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask as you pick up a hire car or fleet car — at Wrexham Central's car park, perhaps — not when the warning appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Wrexham that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Trinity Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It seems silly. It works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both sit under a flap, make sure it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Stop when the tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, pour gently using the built-in spout.
- Close the cap, then look again — making sure your diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Step five stays off limits.
Wrexham: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting your engine. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the staff to help roll your car away from the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Asda, the Tesco or somewhere else. If you are on your own driveway in Wrexham, leave it where it sits.
Where the engine has run already, stop safely and turn the vehicle off. Leave the M53 — under 15 miles out of Wrexham — at the first junction. Distance counts — a quick hop across Wrexham is a smaller job than heading under 15 miles towards Chester — so say roughly how far it went.
When our engineers turn up around Wrexham, what occurs?
Outside the local primary school, close to Wrexham Library or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — what liquid, what amount, and if it's run — so our technicians ask. During the call itself, you hear the quote — before dispatch.
The fuel system is then rinsed thoroughly, after your tank is drained. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals form, some metals corrode, and none of it clears away on its own, however long it sits. Filter cleaned or, where needed, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a check of your car. Before we leave, we fire it up and check that it is running smoothly.
If the engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Wrexham and where it is
Wrexham is a city situated on the banks of the River Clywedog in northeast Wales, with a mix of industrial and residential areas. Wrexham has a population of around 54160 people and is characterized by semi-detached housing. Wrexham sits at an elevation of 89 metres, near the English border, and is close to nearby places such as Rhosddu and Croes Eneurys. Wrexham is located approximately 10 miles from Chester and 161 miles from London.
Wrexham and Wrexham: AdBlue drains across the area
As a city, Wrexham shares its vans surrounding places — Croes Eneurys, Maes-y-Dre — all the way through LL postcodes and the surrounding area around them. A postcode starting LL11 1 gets our van to you fastest.
The vehicle doesn't need to move. The drain takes place right there, be it a drive, a road near Wrexham Guildhall, or a lay-by on the way to Llwyn Isaf. Awkward to explain, like the back of Trinity Presbyterian Church of Wales? Close to a border? Asking is better than guessing, so phone.
The short version for Wrexham people
First, the cap; after that, the tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the vehicle switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout Wrexham.