What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Crindau
What to do about AdBlue in a diesel tank comes down to one thing more than any other: whether your engine has been run since it was put in. Anywhere your vehicle stands — Brynglas, Crindau — never run an engine that hasn't run yet. Ring 0333 366 0103 with your key and engine still off. In Crindau, that is typically emptied and cleaned where it stands. Pull over the moment it is safe and turn off, if it has already run. The job is bigger, yet the first step is the same.
Wherever across Newport it happened, one of the situations below matches yours.
At the pump around Crindau: AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you unscrewed was the wrong one — and you only notice it as you are standing at the petrol pump, bottle or nozzle in hand. Be it Shell, Sainsbury's or somewhere else in Crindau, the situation is the same.
Meaning? Spotting it here is as good as it can be. Still in your tank, and nothing drawn through: that is where the AdBlue is.
What to do: do not get back in and start the vehicle to clear the petrol pump. Have the attendants to help pushing it to a space, save the receipt, then ring us from there. If it can't be shifted, it can be drained at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a working forecourt.
At home around Crindau with AdBlue in the diesel tank
On your dash, a reminder had shown for days. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look once more at the cap. It takes place on driveways just off Adelaide Street as frequently as anywhere.
The point: zero driving since leaves it nearly equal to spotting it at the pump. On the bottom of the tank sits exactly where AdBlue waits, since it won't mix with diesel — and a night passing makes nothing of the difference.
Next: prevent an early-morning drive by keeping your keys indoors, then ring us. Your driveway is where it is emptied, be it around Crindau or Marshes. Night-time clears outside a house are fine: the pumps are quiet.
Crindau: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel?
A mile or two after topping up, your engine began misbehaving: roughness, smoke, less power, lights on your dash. Argyle Street, say, or the way to Newport — a run of under a mile.
The point: the system has drawn AdBlue in by now. It has been through your filter and your lines and, the further you went, into your high-pressure pump and your injectors. Every restart, like every mile, carries it deeper.
Do this: pull up somewhere sensible, then switch the motor off. On the Brynglas Tunnel, under a mile from Crindau, that means the next junction, not the services further on. Starting it again to test achieves nothing — AdBlue never clears on its own. Call, saying what distance your vehicle went.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You've only had this car for days. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is absent or somewhere else. On this one, its cap is right next to your diesel inlet — news to you. Anyone, anywhere in Newport, could do the same.
Meaning? Whichever case above applies here — run or not — and one further step. Any work on the car frequently requires the owner's approval under hire or company agreements.
What to do: call the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is quicker settled before our engineers get there than after. If you're stuck in the car park outside Newport (South Wales), or by Shaftesbury Community Centre, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off.
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Not sure, around Crindau
"I think so" is often as honest answer there is. What cap was taken off, you can't say; but the bottle weighs less than it ought to, and a whiff of ammonia lingers by your filler. A hurried top-up by the gates of the local primary school, or a visit to a friend in Gold Tops: both fit.
Meaning? Drips outside the inlet never reach the engine at all. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Any AdBlue in the tank will be sucked in by turning on the car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Assume it got in, and don't turn the key. Describe what you noticed on the phone. A clean tank looked at is a happier outcome than a run one drained.
Crindau: what every AdBlue drain has in common
Each situation gets the same opening to the work. Three things come once our technicians reach your car — at a filling station, a drive, a street by 1963 or the car park at Crindau Constitutional Club: the liquid, the quantity, and whether it has been started. On the phone, ahead of anything else, you hear our price, and those replies decide the job too.
Then the tank is emptied and your system flushed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't rinse out on its own. Clean diesel is put in once your filter is flushed or replaced, and the car is then tested. Most unstarted cars are a half-hour job after the moment our technicians arrive.
We start it last. Before our technicians head off, it's checked to confirm it runs correctly on clean diesel. When it is spotted early, the vehicle very seldom has lasting damage, and the entire job happens where it is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many policies cover misfuelling, so look at yours as we head over.
About Crindau itself
Crindau is a coastal suburban area in Newport, situated near the mouth of the River Usk and close to the city centre. Crindau sits at a low elevation of around 10 metres, with nearby areas including Marshes, Barrack Hill, and East Usk. Crindau is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock, reflecting its development as a residential area for local workers.
AdBlue drains around Crindau, and across Newport too
As a residential suburb, Crindau has the same vans as the surrounding towns — East Usk, Barrack Hill — right through NP postcodes. Giving us a NP20 5 postcode finds you quickest of all.
No moving is required, whether stopped in the centre of Crindau or in a lay-by heading to Shaftesbury Park, and so keep it where it is. The van drains it in place. Ring and ask rather than guess if you're by Dawat E Islami Shaftesbury, on a border, or anywhere awkward to explain.
The one-line version
Where it has not run, ring then leave it off. Run already: pull over, switch down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, in Crindau or wherever across Newport.