Monkswood: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. The harm begins once it's pulled through the lines — it will not burn, and it won't blend with diesel. If your motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually emptied and thoroughly flushed where your car stands in Monkswood. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Monkswood, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do at once
Things to do:
- So no one can switch your ignition on, take your keys out.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt tells us the product and the amount, and so don't throw it out.
- Our van locates you fastest with a postcode starting NP15 1, or just the name of a street close by, so phone from the car.
Never:
- Do not start the engine, even for a moment to move your car.
- Turning your key to ignition alone starts your pump running on many diesels. Avoid it.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue will not blend, and so it's pointless.
- Do not drive the car anywhere, not even a short way up West Road.
- Draining your tank on your own beside the road is not one to try.
On a forecourt around Monkswood, whether it's the BP or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll the car clear of the pump. At home, the car stays exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it is sprayed into your exhaust, and there it cleans the gas. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
It does not combine. Once it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves not at all like fuel. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and pools underneath it — the same spot the pickup draws from. A car topped up on a drive in Kemeys Commander yesterday evening and left unstarted is the simple case. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up yet — but once your engine turns, that's what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of that tank.
From there it does two kinds of harm. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that hardens in filters and tiny passages; and, since it attacks some metals, every part it reaches suffers for as long as it remains inside. A vehicle left sitting around Monkswood with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank isn't. Diesel protects the injection pump and every injector as it passes; water gives none of that, which is a separate form of damage.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more major than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Shell and you have a fault of thin fuel. Mixed through the diesel and left still, it's harmless for now; running the engine is the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. It cannot simply be run through, since it doesn't burn. Nor can it be thinned, since it separates again — and the following fill will not rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and turning the key "to see", in the heart of Monkswood or out in Rhadyr, does more harm than almost any other slip.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest part on a fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue stays in it — anywhere around Monmouthshire the vehicle sits.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Monkswood
In dim light, two caps side by side — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, now and then under one flap — can look the same. Nobody intends it; plenty of layouts invite it. It usually happens outside the house, from a bottle bought en route home, rather than at the filling station.
A few familiar ways cover most cases. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside the local primary school. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off A472. Or the car is topped up in the car park outside Glascoed Pub, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
It crops up most in a rental, a brand-new motor, a company car, or the spare motor in a home with one of each fuels — the cars people know least. Wherever you are around Monkswood or the rest of Monmouthshire, it's the same slip and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Monkswood?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. With any running time, it travels to the injection pump and every injector, having passed via the filter and lines.
Watch for lumpy running, exhaust smoke, lost power, warnings on your dash, or a cut-out — returning from Cefn Mawr, say, or part way across Monkswood. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart it to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
Monkswood sits under 10 miles from the M4; if you were on it, exit by the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of carrying on.
A quick hop across Monkswood to the car park by St Michaels is one matter; heading for Newport, under 10 miles away, is something else, since each mile pushes the AdBlue further in. So distance counts. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
We do all of the flushing where the vehicle has come to a stop, and once the motor has been started there is more of it. Very rarely does it leave permanent damage if it's noticed quickly.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel in Monkswood: what it takes
Anywhere it has come to rest in Monkswood — a forecourt, a lay-by, a driveway, a road by Little Mill Baptist Chapel — our van travels to the car. Before anything else our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and if the engine has run, because those answers settle this work.
Next, emptying your tank right there removes the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush matters: the whole system is flushed right through since residue won't wash out unaided. Next, the fuel filter: cleaned, or changed when it has to be. Then fresh diesel, then a check of the car. Roughly half an hour on site is usual for most jobs when the motor has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Last, your system is primed with clean diesel. You drive off as soon as our engineers have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a drive in Monkswood or in a bay by Pontypool and New Inn. It is checked on new diesel to be sure it runs smoothly before our technicians head off. Because the job is done in full where the car is, a workshop never comes into it. Afterwards, there is the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer.
About Monkswood itself
Monkswood is a small village in Monmouthshire, situated on the banks of a river at an elevation of around 55 metres. Monkswood lies near the communities of Penpedairheol and Glascoed, and is within commuting distance of Newport, which is approximately 9 miles away. Monkswood has a population of around 527 people, predominantly living in detached houses.
AdBlue drains around Monkswood and across Monmouthshire
AdBlue call-outs around Monkswood go to vans that serve the towns around it — Penpedairheol, Glascoed plus Little Mill — and much of Monmouthshire beyond, across NP postcodes. Assuming won't help close to a border or somewhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
Monkswood is a village, and an on-site drain suits it: whether your car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it stands, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Monkswood: the cost of fixing it
Each job is different, so not one fixed quote would be fair. The price shifts first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that got in. After that it turns on where your car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Little Mill Village Hall.
Before any quote, never afterwards, every call from Monkswood opens with three checks: the fuel, the quantity, and whether the engine ran. When those are answered, a range turns into one firm number.
The quote is quoted on the call, before a van sets off; payment happens on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
Still beside the vehicle around Monkswood?
Then, do nothing — that's the most helpful step available. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Monkswood or anywhere in Monmouthshire, after you call 0333 366 0103 saying it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and if it ran.