AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Adfa? Don't Start It
Motor off, ignition off: that is how you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. The harm begins once it is sucked through your lines — it won't ignite, and it won't blend with diesel. Caught before the motor has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Adfa. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Adfa, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do straight away
Things to do:
- Keys out — that way no one can switch anything on.
- If you're at all close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Which product, and about what amount? Hang on to the bottle or your receipt, and we will see.
- Call right where you are. Quote a SY16 3 postcode or the closest street sign, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Don't:
- Do not start your engine, even for a moment to move your car.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue won't blend, so it is pointless.
- Even a short way along Meillionydd is too far to drive the car.
- No draining it yourself, either, at the verge.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you move your car away from the island if you are at a forecourt around Adfa, whether it's the the nearest petrol station or elsewhere. If you are on your own drive, leave it just where it stands.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. Not one side suits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and a pump cannot deal with urea.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once poured in, will not. Its behaviour is nothing like fuel's. It drops, because it is denser than diesel, and settles down where the pickup draws its fuel from. A motor topped up on a drive in Cefn Coch yesterday evening and not started since is the straightforward one. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up so far — but when the engine runs, that's what goes first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. It eats at certain metals used in fuel systems, working on whatever it touches till it's removed from your system. And once the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and lodge in tiny passages. A motor left sitting in Adfa with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. And there's the water: it offers no protection to the parts that rely on it the most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Top up a diesel with petrol in error over at the Mobil, and the problem is thinned fuel. Blended into your diesel and sitting still, it is harmless at that stage; using your engine is the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. It does not stay mixed, so it can't be diluted. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the car is in Llanwyddelan or the middle of Adfa.
As with petrol, there's good news. Not run? Then the AdBlue sits only inside the tank, the easiest bit of the whole system to clear, wherever your car has come to rest around Powys.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Adfa: how it ends up there
It is not deliberate. Plenty of vehicles have the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel inlet, occasionally under a single flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. Mostly it's never the forecourt: a driver buys a container heading home and tips it in outside the house.
It tends to take place in a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside the local primary school. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Pont Ystrad. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap tops up your vehicle in dim light, stopped in the car park outside the pub in the village.
Hired vehicles, brand-new motors, company motors, or the spare car in a home with one of each: the least known cars get it the most. Same mistake, an identical first response — leave it switched off — wherever you happen to be around Adfa or the remainder of Powys.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Adfa?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. With any running, it travels to the injection pump and each injector, after passing via the fuel filter and lines.
You may notice the engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Lower House Wood or halfway across Adfa. When you safely can, stop and turn everything off — without restarting to test. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Exit the M54, under 50 miles from Adfa, at the next junction and park safely, rather than driving on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Adfa to the car park by Cwm Llanllugan Community Centre is a very different job from a run towards Wrexham, under 50 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with every mile. Let us know about how far it had come.
We do all of the rinsing where the vehicle has come to a stop, and once the motor has been started there is more of it. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage if it's noticed soon.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves in Adfa
A road by St. Cynon, a drive, a layby or a forecourt: wherever your car has come to rest in Adfa, our engineers travel to it. Three answers decide the work, and so first we ask what went in, roughly what quantity, and if the motor has run.
Then the tank is drained where your car sits, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Your system is cleaned thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. After that, the fuel filter: flushed, or changed if it must be. Then clean diesel, and then a test of your vehicle. Not run? Then expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the street at night.
New diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that is the last step. Firing it up comes next, and then you set off from where your car is parked, by Caersws or on a driveway around Adfa. It's tested on new diesel to confirm it runs smoothly before our technicians go. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never needs to go to a garage. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Adfa itself
Adfa is a small village in Powys, situated inland at an elevation of 245 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Adfa lies near the villages of Pant, Llanllugan, and Dwyrhiw, and is approximately 35 miles from Wrexham. Adfa has a population of around 558 people, and is located in a rural area of Wales. Adfa is also relatively distant from London, at a distance of around 158 miles.
AdBlue drains in Adfa and across Powys
AdBlue call-outs in Adfa go to teams that cover the towns near it — Pant, Llanllugan as well as Dwyrhiw — and most of Powys further out, throughout SY postcodes. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than guessing.
A mobile service fits Adfa, a rural village: you have no need to bring the vehicle to us, because we drain it there, in a drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
Adfa: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
No single figure would be honest, since every job differs. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it turns on where the car is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight gap behind The Hand.
Which fluid was put in, how much, plus whether the engine ran: every Adfa enquiry begins with exactly that, ahead of a figure, not afterwards. When they are answered, a range becomes a single fixed number.
Quoted on the call before the van sets out, it is paid for on the day — card or phone, no deposit. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
In Adfa and still beside the vehicle?
Then, touch nothing — that's the best move available. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Tell us it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Adfa or wherever within Powys.