AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Brynmill? Keep It Switched Off
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor mixes, and nothing happens till the engine pulls it round. If the motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally drained and carefully cleaned where the car stands in Brynmill. Nothing comes before ringing 0333 366 0103.
Brynmill, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do straight away
Do:
- So nobody can turn the ignition on, pull your keys away.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- Which fluid, and about what volume? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and our technicians will see.
- Tell us a postcode starting SA2 0, or whichever street is nearest, and our van finds you directly — so ring from wherever you are.
Things not to do:
- Moving your car just a short way is no reason to fire up the motor.
- Plenty of diesels power their pump the instant your ignition goes on, so keep it off.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Keep the vehicle where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short way down Bryn Road.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself at the roadside.
The attendants on duty at any Brynmill forecourt — the Shell included — will normally help pushing it aside if you ask. Parked on your own drive? Then it remains just as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not your motor. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it's sprayed into the exhaust, where it treats the gas. No part inside a fuel pump is designed for this liquid — and no part of it was intended to travel that way.
It does not combine. After it is tipped into the tank, AdBlue acts nothing like fuel. It drops, since it's denser than diesel, and settles low where the pickup draws its fuel from. Easiest of all: a vehicle that got AdBlue in Townhill last night and hasn't been started since. The AdBlue waits at the foot of that tank, undrawn — though it will be the first thing through if the motor runs, before any diesel at all.
Two kinds of damage come from there. It eats at certain metals found in fuel systems, working on any part it reaches till it's removed from your system. And when the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that clog filters and settle in narrow channels. If the AdBlue is in the pipework, waiting till morning around Brynmill makes things worse. In your tank alone, time costs nothing. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and every injector as it flows; water offers none of that, which is a separate kind of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger fault?
An issue of thin fuel is what you get from filling a diesel with petrol at the Texaco. No harm is done while it stays unused, mixed into your diesel — only when the motor runs on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is plainly the wrong one. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Whether your car is in Mount Pleasant or the centre of Brynmill, firing it up "to see" costs more in this case than almost any other slip, and the flush matters more. Why: it will not stay blended, and so watering it down is impossible; and deposits and corrosion outlast the next fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. If your engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in your tank, and the tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Swansea your car is sitting.
Brynmill: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of vehicles sits right next to your diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. Hurrying, outside the local primary school, after a warning lamp came on during the school run, someone refills the vehicle. Near Osbourne Terrace, someone pours a bottle in on that drive after work. Or your car is topped up in the car park outside Uplands Tavern, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
Hired motors, brand-new vehicles, company vehicles, or the second car in a family with one of each: the least known vehicles get it most. Leave it switched off: that's the first step to the same mistake, wherever in Brynmill or the rest of Swansea you happen to be.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Brynmill, and your engine started?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. The fuel filter and lines have had it sucked along, and some running carries it on to the injection pump and every injector.
Lumpy running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: any may appear, perhaps part way across Brynmill or returning from Recreation Grounds. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart it to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
On the M4, under 5 miles from Brynmill, the first junction is where to exit, and anywhere sensible is where to park — not driving on.
Mileage matters: every mile pushes the AdBlue further in, so driving towards Swansea, under 3 miles away, makes a far larger job than crossing Brynmill to the car park by Saint Gabriel's Church. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once the motor has run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the car has ended up. Spotted soon, it very seldom leaves lasting damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Brynmill?
Our technicians come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Brynmill: a side street close to Swansea Cenotaph, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and whether your engine has run, because those answers determine this work.
Right there, the tank is then emptied, and both the contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one. What remains from AdBlue won't flush out unaided, and so the whole system gets a full flush, which matters much more here than for petrol. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Most of these jobs are a half-hour visit once we arrive, provided the motor has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
The last step is to bleed the fuel system on new diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you drive off from where the vehicle is parked, at Swansea or on a drive around Brynmill. The test before we go is that it runs smoothly on new diesel. No garage is needed at any point, with the entire job done on the spot. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers want.
About Brynmill
Brynmill is a coastal suburban area in Swansea, situated approximately 1.3 miles from the city centre. Brynmill sits at an elevation of 19 metres, overlooking Swansea Bay, and is characterised by its predominantly terraced housing. Brynmill is bordered by nearby places such as Uplands, Sketty, and Cwm Gwyn, and is home to a population of around 5758 residents.
AdBlue drains across Brynmill and Swansea
Uplands, Sketty and Cwm Gwyn are among the towns around Brynmill that the same vans serve, together with much of Swansea beyond, over the SA postcode area. Guessing doesn't help by a border or somewhere tricky to describe; phone and check.
Wherever the vehicle sits — a driveway at home, a residential street, a car park, a forecourt — our engineers drain it on the spot, with no need to take it to us; that suits Brynmill, a residential suburb, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Brynmill
No single figure could be fair, since every job is different. Three things move the price: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the car is. That last one turns on whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight gap behind Canolfan Cymunedol Brynmill.
For that reason, each call from Brynmill begins with the same trio — what went in, what quantity, if it ran — ahead of any figure. Their answers narrow the range down to a single number.
The quote is quoted during the call, before anyone leaves; settling up comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Look at your policy while we are on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
In Brynmill and still alongside the vehicle?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to the car. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Brynmill or anywhere in Swansea.