AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hollybush? Don't Start It
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Urea mixed in water is what AdBlue is. It does not burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when the fuel system draws it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Hollybush, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your engine has been run. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
What to do straight away, Hollybush: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do:
- Pocket the keys, and that prevents anyone switching the power on.
- Put your hazards on if you're at all near moving traffic.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and roughly what quantity, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting NP44 7, or the name of the nearest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Do not do these:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift your car: your motor stays off.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue will not mix, so it is wasted.
- Do not drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short distance up Trostrey.
- Don't try to drain it yourself at the kerbside.
The staff on duty at any Hollybush filling station — the Shell included — will normally help pushing it clear if you ask. Parked on your own drive? Then it stays just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the motor. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sprayed into the exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Neither side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in an injection pump, and an injection pump can't take urea.
It doesn't combine. Once it is poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and pools underneath it — the same spot the intake sucks from. A car topped up on a driveway in Ty Coch overnight and not started since counts as the simple case. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up so far — but when the engine runs, that is what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of the tank.
Once it is drawn in, the damage comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that hardens in filters and narrow channels; meanwhile, because it attacks some metals, each part it reaches suffers for as long as it stays inside. If the AdBlue has reached the pipework, waiting overnight in Hollybush makes things worse. Inside the tank alone, time costs nothing. Water protects nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector depend on diesel flowing through them, so the water part damages them by itself.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel regularly the bigger issue?
A fault of thinned fuel is what you get after filling a diesel with petrol from the Sainsbury's. Blended through the diesel and left unused, it is harmless at that stage; running the engine is the damage.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is simply the wrong one. It doesn't burn, and so it cannot just be run through. Deposits and corrosion remain through the next fill, and AdBlue splits back from your diesel, and so thinning it can't work. That is why the flush counts so much, and trying your engine "to see" does more harm here than almost any other mistake — in Fairwater or the heart of Hollybush equally.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. Never run? Then the AdBlue sits just in that tank, the easiest section of the entire system to empty, wherever the car has come to rest across Torfaen.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Hollybush
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many vehicles rests right next to the diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A container picked up when driving home and tipped in at home, instead of at the forecourt, is the usual story.
Mostly, it occurs in one of a few familiar ways. The refill is hurried outside the local primary school, after the dash flashed with a warning while the children were dropped in. Close to Bryn Milwr, someone pours a container in on that drive after work. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap refills your car in dim light, stopped in the car park by Blinkin Owl.
It comes up most in a hire car, a new motor, a fleet vehicle, or the spare vehicle of a family with one of each fuel types — the cars people know the least. Wherever you're around Hollybush or the remainder of Torfaen, it's the same error and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Hollybush?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. It's been sucked through the fuel filter and your lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure pump and your injectors.
Rough running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard warnings or stalling: each might appear, perhaps midway across Hollybush or returning from Henllys Wood. Pull over when safe. Turn off. Leave the car off rather than testing it again. Every start pulls more of it through.
Exit the M4, under 3 miles from Hollybush, at the next junction and park somewhere safe, rather than carrying on.
Distance matters: every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into the system, and so heading for Newport, under 5 miles away, makes a far larger job than crossing Hollybush to the car park by Glen Llywd Scouts. Tell us about how far it had come.
There's more to flush once the engine has been run, and our technicians do all of it where the car has stopped. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage when it is caught early.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel in Hollybush: what it takes
Our technicians come to your car, wherever it has stopped in Hollybush: a side street near Coed Eva & Hollybush Community Centre, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. What went in, about the quantity, and if your engine has been run: we ask before all else, since those decide the job.
Next, emptying the tank right there takes out the polluted diesel and the AdBlue in one go. Your system is cleaned thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Testing the car comes at the end, after clean diesel is added and your filter is cleaned or, if needed, swapped. If the engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once our technicians arrive. Low-noise enough to use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Bleeding the fuel system with new diesel comes last. Whether it is a parking space outside Cwmbran or a driveway around Hollybush, that is where our engineers start the car and you head off. The check before our technicians head off is that it runs smoothly on new diesel. As the job is done in full where your car is, a garage never comes into it. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both afterwards.
About Hollybush itself
Hollybush is a suburban area in Torfaen, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 84 metres, with terraced housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Hollybush lies close to the city of Newport, approximately 3.8 miles away, and is near other local places such as Coed Eva and Two Locks. Hollybush has a population of around 4195 people and is located near the St Dials area. Hollybush is part of the wider urban area surrounding Newport, with London being around 125 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Torfaen, Hollybush included
Our vans that answer AdBlue calls around Hollybush also cover the locations around it, Coed Eva, Two Locks and St Dials among them, and most of Torfaen beyond, across the NP postcode area. Phone and check rather than guess if you are close to a county line, or anywhere awkward to explain.
A mobile service fits Hollybush, a residential suburb: you have no need to bring your vehicle to us, since our engineers empty it there, in a driveway, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Hollybush: the cost of fixing it
Every job differs, and so not one fixed price is honest. Three things shift the cost: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the vehicle is. That last one rests on whether a van can get to it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight spot behind John Williams Fielding VC.
Which fluid got in, what quantity, plus if the engine ran: every Hollybush call opens with precisely that, ahead of any quote, not afterwards. The answers turn a range into a straight price.
You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
Hollybush: still next to the vehicle?
Then, do nothing — that is the best step there is. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Say it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether it ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Hollybush or wherever in Torfaen.