Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Llanreath
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you start if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Urea mixed in water is all AdBlue is. As it is water-based, it will not burn and never combines with diesel; damage only comes when the pump starts pulling it. If the engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and thoroughly cleaned where the car stands in Llanreath. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
Llanreath, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do at once
Do these:
- Keys out — that way no one can switch anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and roughly what quantity, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting SA72 6, or the name of the closest street, gets the van to you without a search.
Don't:
- No starting the motor — not briefly, not to reposition the vehicle.
- Switching your key to ignition alone sets your pump running on many diesels. Avoid it.
- Pouring in more diesel does not work: AdBlue settles out instead of blending.
- Even a short way up Orielton Terrace is too far to drive it.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself by the roadside.
Get the attendants to help you roll the car away from the island if you're at a forecourt in Llanreath, whether it's the Asda or elsewhere. On that drive, the car stays just as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the engine. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to fresh it. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it acts really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. The pickup sucks fuel from the lowest part of the tank, and that's precisely where AdBlue ends up: being denser than diesel, it sinks. Once your pump runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Before then it sits underneath your diesel, which is how a vehicle topped up in Hazelbeach yesterday and not started remains the simple case, provided nobody touches the key.
Two kinds of damage follow from there. It eats at some metals used in fuel components, attacking whatever it reaches till it is cleared from your system. And when the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that block filters and settle in narrow channels. Overnight, a car parked around Llanreath with AdBlue in its lines grows worse; if it's only in the tank, it doesn't. The water in it causes harm of its own: your high-pressure pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is often worse
A problem of thinned fuel is what you get from fuelling a diesel with petrol at the Tesco. Blended into the diesel and left unused, it's no threat for now; using the motor is the harm.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid as such is simply the wrong one. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Whether your car is in Llanstadwell or the centre of Llanreath, firing it up "to see" does more harm in this case than nearly any other error, and the flush counts more. The reasons: it will not stay blended, so diluting it fails; and crystals and corrosion outlast the following fill.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue waits only inside the tank, the easiest section of the entire system to clear, wherever your vehicle has come to rest in Pembrokeshire.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Llanreath: how it ends up there
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many cars waits right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it is never the filling station: a driver buys a bottle heading home and pours it in at home.
It tends to take place in a few familiar ways. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside the local primary school the refill is hurried. A driver pours the container in outside their house, just off Beach Road, as the day ends. Or your car is topped up in the car park at Charlton, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
It takes place most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Same slip, same first response — leave it switched off — wherever you are in Llanreath or the rest of Pembrokeshire.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Llanreath?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. The filter and lines have had it pulled along, and any running takes it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, dropping power, dashboard lights or stalling: any might show up, perhaps part way across Llanreath or coming back from South Pembrokeshire Golf Club. No starting it again to test: stop when safe, then turn everything off. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
On the M4, under 50 miles from Llanreath, the first junction is where to leave, and anywhere sensible is where to stop — not driving on.
Distance matters: each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in, and so heading towards St Davids, under 25 miles away, gives a much bigger job than crossing Llanreath to the car park by Defensible Barracks. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
There's more to rinse out once the motor has been run, and we do all of it where your car has ended up. Noticed early, it very rarely leaves permanent damage.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel around Llanreath: what it takes
The car stays put, whether that's a street near Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre, a driveway, a layby or a forecourt in Llanreath, and our van travels to it. What went in, about how much, plus if the engine has been run: we ask before all else, because those shape the job.
Then your tank is drained where the vehicle waits, so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush matters: the fuel system is cleaned all the way through because residue won't flush away by itself. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Engine not run? Then expect about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a live forecourt is no issue, and it's hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
Lastly, the system is primed with fresh diesel. At that point our engineers start it and you drive off, whether from a parking bay outside Pembroke Dock or a drive around Llanreath. Our engineers make sure it runs correctly on clean diesel before leaving. Our technicians do it all wherever the vehicle has stopped, and it never needs to go to a garage. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers ask for.
About Llanreath
Llanreath is a suburban area in Pembrokeshire, situated on the coast of Wales at an elevation of 44 metres. Llanreath lies near the settlements of Pennar and Pembroke Dock, and is within commuting distance of St Davids. Llanreath has a population of around 1092 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Llanreath is located approximately 207.8 miles from London, making it a relatively remote coastal community.
Llanreath and Pembrokeshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout the SA postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue call-outs around Llanreath serve most of Pembrokeshire too, Pennar, Pennar Park and Pembroke Dock among them. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask instead of guessing.
A mobile service fits Llanreath, a residential suburb: there's no need to bring the vehicle to us, since our engineers drain it there, in a drive, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Llanreath?
No single figure could be fair, since every job differs. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that went in. After that it rests on where the vehicle is and whether our van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight gap behind Pembroke Dock Bethel Baptist Church.
Before a figure, never afterwards, every call from Llanreath begins with three questions: the fuel, the quantity, plus if it ran. The replies turn a range into a straight quote.
Before anyone sets off, you hear our quote by phone. Then payment is on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
Still beside the car around Llanreath?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with the car is to not touch it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, in Llanreath or anywhere within Pembrokeshire, once you phone 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and if it ran.