Glynfach: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, your ignition remains off and so does the motor. In plain terms, AdBlue is simply urea in water. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and nothing starts till the motor pulls it round. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Glynfach, is usually what AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it is caught before the motor has run. First, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank in Glynfach
To do:
- Pocket your keys, which stops someone switching the power on.
- Put the hazards on if you're anywhere near moving traffic.
- Hold on to the receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what got in and roughly how much.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting CF39 9, or the name of the closest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Do not:
- No starting your engine — not briefly, not to shift the car.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel won't weaken it.
- Never drive the car anywhere, not even a short distance up Bloss Terrace.
- Beside the road, don't attempt emptying it yourself.
Moving the car away from the pumps is a job for staff to help with, whichever Glynfach forecourt you are on, the Texaco included. On that drive, your car stays exactly as it was left.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not your engine. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it is fed into your exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Not one side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and a pump can't deal with urea.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once poured in, won't. Its behaviour is nothing like diesel's. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. When your system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Until then it sits underneath your diesel, which is how a car topped up in Birchgrove last night and never switched on stays the simple case, as long as no one touches the key.
Two kinds of damage follow from there. It attacks certain metals used in fuel components, working on any part it touches till it is removed from the system. And once the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that block filters and lodge in tiny channels. A vehicle left sitting in Glynfach with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank is not. And there's the water: it offers no protection to the components that need it the most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel regularly the bigger problem?
Put petrol in a diesel at the Shell and you have a fault of thin fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and while it is inside the tank it causes no harm; the harm comes from running the motor on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. Since it doesn't burn, running it through is not an option. Deposits and corrosion remain through the next tankful, and AdBlue splits again from the diesel, so watering it won't work. Hence the flush counts so much, and turning your key "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other mistake — in Llwyncelyn or the centre of Glynfach alike.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever around Rhondda Cynon Taf the car has stopped.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Glynfach
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, now and then under a single flap — can appear the same. No one intends it; plenty of designs invite it. Mostly it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
It tends to happen in a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside the local primary school. Close to Glynfach Road, someone pours a container in on that drive in the evening. Otherwise, after dark outside The Llwyncelyn, your vehicle gets topped up by a driver using that flap the first time.
The least familiar vehicles see it most — rentals, brand-new cars, company ones, and the other motor of a home with both fuels. Keep it off: that is the first response to an identical slip, wherever around Glynfach or the remainder of Rhondda Cynon Taf you happen to be.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Glynfach?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Given any running time, it goes on to the injection pump and each injector, after passing via the fuel filter and lines.
Expect rough running, exhaust smoke, lost power, lights on your dash, or a stall — coming back from Bronwydd Park, say, or midway across Glynfach. No restarting to test: pull over once it is safe, then turn everything off. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Glynfach sits under 10 miles from the M4; if you were on it, exit at the first junction and stop safely instead of driving on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue further into your system. That is why crossing Glynfach to park beside Valleys Kids and a drive of under 15 miles towards Cardiff are such separate jobs. Let us know about how far it had come.
There is more to rinse out once the engine has run, and our engineers do all of it where the car has come to a stop. Spotted soon, it very seldom leaves lasting damage.
Glynfach: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
Anywhere it has come to rest in Glynfach — a forecourt, a lay-by, a drive, a street by Porth Library — our van comes to the car. The work rests on three answers, which our engineers get before all else — which fluid got in, the amount, and whether your engine has run.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave as one when that tank is drained, right there. Your system is purged thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Most of these jobs are a half-hour job once our engineers get there, provided the engine hasn't run. Low-noise enough to use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Finally, the fuel system is bled with fresh diesel. You set off as soon as we have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a drive around Glynfach or in a space outside Porth. We check it runs correctly on new diesel before we leave. We do it all wherever your car has stopped, and it never needs to go to a workshop. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers ask for.
About Glynfach
Glynfach is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Rhondda Cynon Taf, with a mix of terraced housing and local amenities. Glynfach sits at an elevation of 112 metres, near the communities of Porth and Cymmer. Glynfach is located close to the city of Cardiff, which is approximately 13 miles away, and is part of the wider South Wales urban area. Glynfach has a population of around 4374 residents.
AdBlue drains in Glynfach and across Rhondda Cynon Taf
Porth, Cymmer and Britannia are among the places near Glynfach that the same vans reach, along with much of Rhondda Cynon Taf further out, throughout the CF postcode area. Ring and ask rather than guess if you are close to a border, or anywhere tricky to pin down.
Anywhere the vehicle sits — your drive at home, a side street, a parking area, a filling station — our engineers drain it on the spot, and there's no need to bring it to us; that suits Glynfach, a residential suburb, well.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Glynfach?
Every job is different, and so no single quote is fair. The price moves first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it depends on where your car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight gap behind Porth Elm Church.
That is why each call from Glynfach starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and whether it has run. With those replies, the range shrinks to a single firm number.
Quoted by phone before the van sets out, it is settled that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Check your policy while we're on the way: plenty include misfuelling cover.
In Glynfach and still alongside your car?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the car. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Tell us it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Glynfach or wherever in Rhondda Cynon Taf.