AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Marshfield? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, leave the motor off then leave your ignition off. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. As it is water-based, it will not burn and never combines with diesel; trouble only comes once your pump begins pulling it. In Marshfield, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your engine runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush, right where the vehicle is. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Marshfield: the first few minutes
To do:
- So nobody can turn your ignition on, take your keys out.
- If you are at all near moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and roughly how much, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring just where you are. Quote a CF3 2 postcode or the nearest street sign, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Never do these:
- Not even briefly, and not to roll the car: the motor stays off.
- Plenty of diesels run their pump the moment the ignition comes on, and so keep it off.
- Adding extra diesel does not work: AdBlue settles out instead of blending.
- Keep the vehicle where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way along St Mellons Road.
- Don't try to drain it yourself at the kerbside.
Rolling your vehicle off the pumps is a job for staff to help with, wherever Marshfield forecourt you're on, the Esso or any other. At home, the vehicle stays just as it was left.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The engine is not what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Not one side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and a pump can't deal with urea.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. The pickup sucks fuel from the deepest part of your tank, and that's just where AdBlue settles: being heavier than diesel, it sinks. Simplest of all: one that had AdBlue in Peterstone Wentlooge last night and hasn't turned since. The AdBlue sits at the foot of your tank, untouched — but it will be first through once the motor starts, ahead of any diesel at all.
Two kinds of damage come from there. It attacks some metals found in fuel components, working on any part it touches until it's removed completely. And once the water goes, the urea forms crystals that block filters and lodge in narrow channels. If the AdBlue is in the lines, leaving it till morning in Marshfield makes it worse. In the tank alone, time costs nothing. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector depend on diesel flowing past them, so the water content damages them in its own right.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is commonly worse than petrol
An issue of thinned fuel is what you get from fuelling a diesel with petrol at the Texaco. No damage is done while it stays unused, mixed into the diesel — only when your motor works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. It does not stay mixed, so it can't be thinned. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Pengam or the middle of Marshfield.
As with petrol, there is good news. Emptying a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue remains in it — anywhere around Newport your vehicle sits.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Marshfield?
It's not deliberate. Many vehicles keep the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel one, now and then under one flap, and muddling them up is simple in poor light. A container picked up when heading home and tipped in at home, instead of at the filling station, is the usual story.
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. Someone pours the bottle in outside their house, just off Marshfield Road, as the day ends. One more pattern: darkness, the car park by The Mason's Arms, and a driver using that flap the first time.
It happens most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever you're in Marshfield or the rest of Newport, it is the same slip and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Marshfield?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. Given any running, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and every injector, having passed through your filter and lines.
Rough running, smoke, lost power, dashboard lights or stalling: any might show up, perhaps midway across Marshfield or coming back from St. Mellons Hotel and Country Club. Pull over when safe. Switch off. Keep the car off rather than testing it again. Each start pulls more of that through.
On the A48(M), under 3 miles from Marshfield, the first junction is where to exit, and somewhere safe is where to stop — not carrying on.
Distance counts: every mile carries the AdBlue deeper into the system, and so driving towards Newport, under 5 miles away, gives a much bigger job than crossing Marshfield to the car park by St Mary's. Let us know about how far it had come.
Once your engine has run, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where the car has ended up. Spotted early, it very rarely leaves permanent damage.
Marshfield: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
Anywhere it has come to rest around Marshfield — a forecourt, a lay-by, a drive, a road beside Marshfield Village Hall — the van travels to your car. Before anything else our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if the motor has run, because those replies settle this work.
Right there, the tank is then drained, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea leave as one. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing matters: the fuel system is cleaned all the way through because residue won't wash away by itself. A test of the vehicle comes last, after clean diesel is added and the fuel filter gets flushed or, where necessary, replaced. Roughly half an hour on site is usual for most jobs when your engine hasn't run. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Fresh diesel goes in to bleed the fuel system, and that is the last step. Firing it up comes next, and then you head off from where the vehicle is parked, by Pye Corner or on a driveway around Marshfield. The test before our technicians go is that it runs correctly on clean diesel. Because the job is done in its entirety where your car is, a garage never comes into it. Afterwards, you are given the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Marshfield, briefly
Marshfield is a coastal village in Wales, situated near the city of Newport and close to the communities of Blacktown, Castleton, and Coedkernew. Marshfield lies at a low elevation of around 8 metres, reflecting its proximity to the sea. Marshfield has a population of approximately 2027 people, living in predominantly detached housing.
AdBlue drains across Marshfield and Newport
Over the CF postcode area, the vans taking AdBlue jobs around Marshfield serve most of Newport too, Blacktown, Castleton and Coedkernew included. Phone and ask rather than guess if you are by a border, or somewhere awkward to explain.
Wherever the vehicle sits — your driveway at home, a side street, a parking area, a filling station — our technicians empty it there, with no need to bring it to us; that suits Marshfield, a coastal village, well.
Marshfield: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Each job is different, and so not one single price would be fair. Three things move the cost: whether the engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the vehicle is. That last one rests on whether our van can reach it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight spot behind Castleton Village Hall.
For that in mind, every call from Marshfield opens with the same trio — what got in, what quantity, if the engine ran — before any quote. Given them, a range shrinks to a single fixed figure.
Our quote is given on the call, before anyone sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Check your insurance whilst we are on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Beside the vehicle in Marshfield, still?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, right now, the most useful move open to you. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, across Marshfield or wherever in Newport, once you phone 0333 366 0103 saying it's AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.