What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Croes-y-mwyalch
All of that hinges on one fact: whether the engine has started after the AdBlue went in — more than anything else. Wherever your vehicle is — Ty Coch, Croes-y-mwyalch — never run a motor that has not run yet. Call 0333 366 0103 with your key and motor still off. Across Croes-y-mwyalch, such a case is generally emptied and flushed on the spot. Pull over the moment it is safe and turn off, if it has already run. A larger job, then, but the identical first move.
Further down: the situations our engineers meet, wherever across Torfaen. Choose the one that fits.
At the pump around Croes-y-mwyalch: AdBlue in a diesel
Just now, bottle still in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you took off was the wrong one, right at the pump. Somewhere around Croes-y-mwyalch, then — BP, Texaco, or somewhere else nearby.
The point: of all places to notice, the forecourt is the best. The AdBlue is inside the tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Your move: stay out of the car, even if the pump needs freeing. Have the attendants to lend a hand rolling it into a bay, save the receipt, then ring us from there. Stuck beside the pump? Explosion-proof equipment makes a live forecourt sensible, so we can drain the vehicle in place.
AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Croes-y-mwyalch
Several days had passed with the dash light on. A bottle from the shop, tipped in on the driveway — and it was just at the recycling that the cap caught your eye. Homes just off Lansdowne Gardens are hit as often as anywhere else.
The upshot: no driving since makes this almost as good to finding it at the petrol pump. At the floor of your tank sits exactly where AdBlue stays, because it will not mix with diesel — and a night going by makes no difference.
What to do: leave the keys inside the house so nobody moves the vehicle in the morning. Then ring. Llantarnam or Croes-y-mwyalch: wherever your drive is, that is where it gets emptied. Even at night, our pumps stay quiet enough for a residential street.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Croes-y-mwyalch?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your motor began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. The Manor, perhaps, or the route towards Newport — a run of under 3 miles.
In short: the AdBlue has been pulled into the fuel system. Through the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — the further the distance — deeper into the high-pressure pump and every injector. It goes further with each extra mile covered and every restart.
What to do: pull over where it is safe to do so then switch off. Service stations further along can wait: on the M4, under 3 miles out of Croes-y-mwyalch, use the next junction. No trial starts: clearing isn't something AdBlue will do. Call, and say what distance your car was driven.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You have only had the vehicle a week. Your own car either does without AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, so no one told you the AdBlue cap sits just beside your diesel. Anywhere you are across Torfaen, any motorist could slip up.
Put simply: one extra step on top of the situations above, and those turn on if it's run. Work on the vehicle 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's faster settled before our technicians turn up than after. Stranded near Great Western Railway bridge limit or outside Cwmbran until someone answers, the car stays switched off the whole time.
Croes-y-mwyalch: unsure whether it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Truthfully, the only answer might be that you think so. What cap came off, you can't recall; but the bottle weighs less than it ought to, and ammonia hangs by the filler. Possibly it happened in a hurry at the school gates at the local primary school, or on a friend's drive in Llanfrechfa.
What it means: a little spilled round the filler does no damage to the engine. AdBlue inside your diesel tank does. You can't tell which by turning the ignition, and doing so will draw in any AdBlue that is in your tank.
What to do: treat it as if it got in. Don't start it. Ring us and describe what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
Each AdBlue drain in Croes-y-mwyalch shares these stages
Each situation gets the same start to the job. Three things are asked when our engineers reach your car — at a filling station, a driveway, a street by Church of Saint Michael and All Angels or the car park at Three Blackbirds: the fluid, the quantity, and whether it has run. Those answers settle the work, and you hear our quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
AdBlue forms crystals and is corrosive to certain metals in fuel systems, and so it won't wash out unaided; that is why a full flush, after the drain, counts far more with AdBlue than with petrol. Fresh diesel goes in once your filter is flushed or changed, and the car is finally tested. Most unrun vehicles are a half-hour job after the moment our technicians arrive.
The last step is starting the car. Our check that it runs properly on fresh diesel comes before our technicians leave. Long-term damage is very uncommon when it's noticed early, and the entire job is done where your car is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Worth knowing: lots of insurers offer misfuelling cover, so a check of your policy as we travel is worthwhile.
About Croes-y-mwyalch, for a moment
Croes-y-mwyalch is a suburban area in Torfaen, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 58 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Croes-y-mwyalch lies close to the city of Newport, approximately 2.6 miles away, and is near other nearby places such as Llantarnam and Malpas. Croes-y-mwyalch has a population of around 864 residents and is located near the Oakfield area. Croes-y-mwyalch is also within commuting distance to larger cities, with London being around 124 miles away.
Croes-y-mwyalch and Torfaen: AdBlue drains across the area
Malpas and Oakfield get the identical vans as Croes-y-mwyalch, a residential suburb, plus other places over NP postcodes. Your location comes clearest from a postcode that starts NP44 3.
Centre of Croes-y-mwyalch or a lay-by towards Graig Wood: either way it is, the vehicle never needs to move at all for us. Wherever it sits, that is where it is cleared. If you are somewhere hard to explain, near Malpas Library or close to a boundary, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Your situation, summed up
Motor not started: ring, and leave it switched off. Started already? Pull over, switch off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder whatever it is, across Croes-y-mwyalch and Torfaen, on 0333 366 0103.