What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Cwmcarn
One fact matters most once AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and that is if your engine has been started afterwards. Anywhere your car is — Llanfach, Cwmcarn — never run a motor that has not been started yet. Switch nothing on, ring 0333 366 0103, and expect a proper flush after a drain, carried out right where your vehicle stands in Cwmcarn. Already run? Pull over when safe, then turn it off. It is a bigger job, yet stage one does not change.
Compare what happened to one of the ones below, anywhere in Caerphilly you happen to be.
On a Cwmcarn forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you only spot it while you are stood at the petrol pump, bottle or the nozzle in your hand. It could be the Texaco, or the Sainsbury's, or another station in Cwmcarn.
What it means: this is the ideal location to find out. The AdBlue is inside the tank and nowhere else. Nothing has sucked it in.
What to do: do not get back in and crank it to clear the petrol pump. Ask the staff to help you push the vehicle into a parking bay, keep the receipt or the bottle, then ring us from the forecourt. Stuck by the pump? Explosion-proof equipment keeps a busy forecourt sensible, so it can be drained where it is.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home in Cwmcarn
Several days had gone by with the dash light on. Only at the recycling bin, the empty bottle in hand, did you glance back at the cap you had used at the driveway. Driveways close to Chapel Farm Terrace get it as much as anywhere.
What it means: if you have not driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of the tank and waits there. Overnight does not change that.
What to do: leave your keys inside the house so no one moves the car in the morning. Then call. Our engineers drain the vehicle on your drive, whether that's in Cwmcarn or out in Pontywaun. Even at night, the pumps are quiet enough for a driveway.
Set off with AdBlue in a diesel around Cwmcarn?
Filled up, pulled away, and before long your motor was running roughly, blowing smoke, down on power, or lighting up your dash. Maybe it was on Priory Court, perhaps on the way out towards Newport, under 10 miles away.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been pulled through the system. Through the filter, through the pipework, and — the further the mileage — on into the injection pump and every injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further.
What to do: pull over where it is safe then switch off. Exit at the first junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M4, under 10 miles from Cwmcarn. No trial restarts: clearing isn't something AdBlue will do. Phone, saying how far your vehicle went.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company cars
Seven days back, the car was unknown to you. Unknown to you, the AdBlue and diesel inlets are next to each other here — not like your own vehicle, which has none or stores it elsewhere. Across Caerphilly, no one is safe from it.
In short: one extra stage on top of the situations above, and those turn on if it's run. Plenty of hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the car.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is quicker settled before we arrive than after. Keep the car switched off while the reply comes, whether you're waiting at Crosskeys or close to Cwmcarn Institute & Village Hall.
Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Cwmcarn?
"I think so" is often as honest as it gets. A slight ammonia-like whiff lingers near your filler, the bottle seems too light, and the cap you took off is hard to recall. Maybe it happened in a hurry at the school gates at the local primary school, or on a friend's drive in West End.
Meaning? Spills outside the filler never reach your engine at all. In your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue harms it. Any AdBlue in the tank would be drawn in by firing up the vehicle, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Next: assume it got in, and keep your motor off. Call us and describe what you saw; we would rather check a tank that turns out free of AdBlue than drain one that has already been run.
The common ground in each Cwmcarn AdBlue drain
The job begins identically, whatever the situation. We come to the car, whether it's at a forecourt, a driveway, the car park outside The Fork and Tune or a side street near Abercarn Library, and ask three things: what was put in, roughly how much, and if the engine has been run. Your price is given over the phone, before a van leaves, and those replies set the work.
Then your tank is emptied and your system cleaned thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't rinse out on its own. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Most unstarted vehicles are a half-hour visit after the moment our technicians turn up.
The last step is starting the car. Before our engineers leave, it's checked to make sure it runs correctly on fresh diesel. The whole job is done where the car is, and if it's caught early, lasting damage is very unusual. Nothing is paid upfront, payment is made on the day, and you receive what your insurer wants: an engineer report plus a VAT invoice. Dig out your insurance while we arrive: cover for misfuelling comes built into many policies.
About Cwmcarn, for a moment
Cwmcarn is a suburban area in south Wales, situated on the banks of a river at an elevation of 79 metres. Cwmcarn lies close to the city of Newport, approximately 6.7 miles away, and is near other communities such as Pontywaun and Abercarn. Cwmcarn has a population of around 1746 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Cwmcarn is located within the Caerphilly county borough, about 129.4 miles west of London.
AdBlue drains across Caerphilly, Cwmcarn included
Abercarn and Gwyddon get the identical vans as Cwmcarn, a residential suburb, along with other towns throughout NP postcodes. Fastest of all: a NP11 7 postcode for your location.
Centre of Cwmcarn or a layby towards Cwmcarn Memorial Gardens: wherever it sits, the car doesn't need to move an inch for us. Wherever it sits, that is where it is cleared. Awkward to pin down? Close to Cwmcarn Forest Drive Visitor Centre or a county line? Checking is better than guessing, so phone.
Your scenario, summed up
Not run yet: keep it off then call. Run by now? Stop, turn off, ring. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder whichever it is, in Cwmcarn and Caerphilly, on 0333 366 0103.