How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ynys-fach
Keep your motor and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out just where your vehicle sits around Ynys-fach, is usually all it takes when caught before the engine runs. Here in advance? In that case what follows covers why it comes about and what to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Many newer diesels around Merthyr Tydfil, like those in Ynys-fach, run on two liquids; the engine takes just your diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. Plenty of vehicles share a single flap for the two, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur around Ynys-fach?
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Tramroad Side, or heading home in the car park outside The Taffy.
Unfamiliar cars come second, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
No part stops the pour once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Georgetown or the middle of Ynys-fach: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Cae-pant-tywyll or a forecourt around Ynys-fach.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by the diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Merthyr Tydfil, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Wherever around Merthyr Tydfil the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Penry Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start your car, close the cap and check again that the diesel cap never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Do not go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Ynys-fach?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting the motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the car on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
At a forecourt — Applegreen, Esso or any other — the attendants will usually help roll the vehicle away, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Ynys-fach.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. Leave the M4 — under 25 miles out of Ynys-fach — at the first junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Newport, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Ynys-fach.
Our arrival around Ynys-fach, and what occurs next
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside the local primary school, close to Georgetown Boys and Girls Club or on your own drive. Our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it's run, because the answers determine the work and the price. During the phone call itself, you are told the quote — ahead of anything else.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. More than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, some metals corrode, and nothing washes out on its own, however long it sits. A test is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is flushed or changed as needed. Before leaving, our technicians fire it up and check that it is running smoothly.
Unstarted vehicles mostly need a half-hour visit after arrival. The kit is safe on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. It's worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Ynys-fach and where it is
Ynys-fach is a suburban area in Merthyr Tydfil, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 173 metres. Ynys-fach lies near the communities of Georgetown, Abermorlais, and Glebeland, and is located approximately 19.9 miles from Newport. Ynys-fach has a population of around 4330 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Ynys-fach is part of the wider Merthyr Tydfil area, which is about 140.7 miles from London.
AdBlue drains in Ynys-fach and across Merthyr Tydfil
Throughout CF postcodes, our vans that cover Ynys-fach — a residential suburb — work the surrounding spots too, Glebeland and Abermorlais included. Give a postcode beginning CF48 1, and the van gets there quickest.
Moving the car isn't necessary. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Salvation Army, a lay-by on the way to Holocaust Remembrance Garden, a driveway. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Christ Church? By a border? Asking beats guessing, so ring.
For Ynys-fach motorists, the short version
Pour no AdBlue until you have read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Leave the car switched off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout Merthyr Tydfil.