Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Cimla
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, your ignition remains off and so does your motor. Urea mixed in water is what AdBlue is. Being water-based, it won't ignite and never combines with diesel; trouble just comes when the pump begins pulling it. If the motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally drained and thoroughly flushed where the vehicle sits in Cimla. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps straight away, Cimla: AdBlue in your diesel tank
To do:
- Take your keys out, and so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and roughly what quantity, keep the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring just where you are. Say a SA11 3 postcode or the closest street name, and no one has to hunt for you.
Not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift the vehicle: your engine remains off.
- Many diesels power their fuel pump the instant your ignition goes on, so keep it off.
- Pouring in more diesel doesn't work: AdBlue settles out rather than blending.
- Never drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short distance up Ash Grove.
- No draining it yourself, either, at the roadside.
The attendants working at any Cimla filling station — the Esso among them — will normally lend a hand rolling it clear if you ask. On the drive, the vehicle remains just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The engine is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Neither side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and an injection pump cannot take urea.
It doesn't blend. Once it's poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves not at all like fuel. It drops, because it is denser than diesel, and pools down where the intake takes its supply from. The first thing the system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Neath last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
From there it causes two kinds of harm. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps running on the parts it hits for as long as it stays there. Where the AdBlue has reached the lines, leaving it overnight around Cimla leaves it worse. In your tank alone, time costs nothing. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and every injector as it passes; water offers no lubrication, which is a second form of harm.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger problem?
An issue of thin fuel is what you end up with after filling a diesel with petrol at the Morrisons. Blended into your diesel and sitting still, it is no threat for now; using the motor does the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It does not burn, and so it cannot just be run through. Nor can it be thinned, since it splits again — and the next fill will not clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters more with AdBlue, and trying your engine "to see", in the centre of Cimla or out in Pencaerau, costs more than nearly any other mistake.
As with petrol, there's good news. Anywhere across Neath Port Talbot your vehicle has come to rest, an unstarted engine leaves the AdBlue yet in the tank: the simplest bit of a fuel system to clear.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Cimla
It is not deliberate. Many cars keep the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel inlet, now and then behind a single flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. It mostly occurs outside the house, from a bottle bought en route home, not at the forecourt.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. 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 The Hollins. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap tops up the vehicle after dark, stopped in the car park by Pensylvania.
Rented motors, new motors, fleet vehicles, or the spare vehicle in a family with both fuels: the least familiar cars get it most. Wherever in Neath Port Talbot, Cimla as well, the mistake doesn't change, and nor does the first response: leave it off.
Started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Cimla?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. The filter and lines have had it pulled through, and some running carries it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Maybe returning from Mount Pleasant Park, or part way across Cimla, the motor might run rough, smoke, lose pace, flash the dash or cut out. Pull over when it is safe. Switch off. Leave the vehicle off rather than restarting it to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
On the M4, under 3 miles from Cimla, the next junction is where to exit, and somewhere sensible is where to park — not carrying on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Cimla to the car park by Gnoll house is a very different job from a run towards Swansea, under 10 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with each mile. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
There's more to clean out once the motor has been run, and our engineers do all of it where your car has stopped. When it is noticed quickly, permanent damage is very uncommon.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel in Cimla: what it takes
The vehicle stays where it is, whether that's a street beside Knoll House Cellers, a driveway, a layby or a filling station in Cimla, and our van comes to it. The work rests on three replies, and we ask for first — what was put in, the amount, and whether your engine has turned over.
Right there, your tank is then emptied, and both the contaminated diesel and the urea come out at once. A careful flush matters far more with AdBlue than after petrol, since residue won't wash away on its own. A test of your car follows last, after fresh diesel goes in and the fuel filter gets flushed or, where needed, swapped. Roughly half an hour on site is usual for most jobs where your engine hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
The last step is to bleed the system on clean diesel. After that our technicians start the engine and you set off, whether from a parking bay outside Neath or a drive in Cimla. Before we go, our engineers make sure it is running properly with clean diesel in. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never needs to go to a workshop. At the end, there is paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Cimla itself
Cimla is a suburban area in Neath Port Talbot, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 96 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Cimla is located near the cities of Swansea and Neath, and is close to nearby places such as Mount Pleasant and Tyn-y-caeau. Cimla has a population of approximately 5429 residents, and is within commuting distance of Swansea, which is around 7 miles away. Cimla is also relatively close to the Welsh countryside, with Llantwit being a nearby village.
AdBlue drains around Cimla and across Neath Port Talbot
Throughout the SA postcode area, the teams answering AdBlue call-outs around Cimla reach most of Neath Port Talbot too, Mount Pleasant, Tyn-y-caeau and Llantwit among them. Guessing doesn't help close to a border or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
No moving is needed. In Cimla, a residential suburb, a van that comes to you fits: your vehicle is emptied where it stands, whether in a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Cimla?
Since each callouts differ, a flat price would not be fair. The price moves first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it rests on where the vehicle is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind Neath Little Theatre.
Before any figure, never afterwards, every call from Cimla opens with three checks: the fuel, the amount, plus whether the engine ran. Once they are answered, a range turns into a single fixed figure.
Quoted on the call before the engineer heads out, the job is paid for on the day — card or phone, no deposit. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
Still alongside your car around Cimla?
Then, the best thing to do with your car is to not touch it. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Cimla or anywhere across Neath Port Talbot.