Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mountain Ash
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the fuel system draws it in. If your motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and thoroughly cleaned where the vehicle sits around Mountain Ash. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Mountain Ash: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- Keys out — that way no one can power anything on.
- If you are at all near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and about how much, keep your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Our van finds you quickest with a postcode starting CF45 4, or simply the name of a street close by, and so call from the spot.
Do not do these:
- No starting your engine — not for a second, not to reposition the vehicle.
- Turning the key to ignition by itself starts the pump running on plenty of diesels. Skip it.
- Pouring in more diesel does not work: AdBlue separates out rather than thinning.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short distance up A4059.
- Don't try to drain the car yourself by the kerbside.
Get the people behind the counter to help you move the car off the island if you are at a forecourt around Mountain Ash, whether it is the Esso or elsewhere. Parked on your own driveway? Then it remains just as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the engine. Stored in a dedicated tank, it's squirted into the exhaust to clean the fumes. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it acts really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. Denser than diesel, it sinks and collects below it — the very place the intake draws from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Cwmpennar last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. It attacks certain metals used in fuel systems, attacking any part it reaches until it is removed completely. And when the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that block filters and settle in narrow passages. Where the AdBlue has reached the lines, leaving it till morning in Mountain Ash makes things worse. Inside your tank only, waiting costs nothing. Then there is the water: it brings no protection to the components that rely on it most — the injection pump and every injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is frequently more serious than petrol
Petrol pumped into a diesel on BP's forecourt leaves the fuel thin — that is the main issue. It mixes with your diesel, and while it's inside the tank it causes no damage; the damage comes from running your motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. It can't simply be run through, because it does not burn. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it cannot be weakened. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether your car is in Miskin or the middle of Mountain Ash.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the simplest job on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue stays in it — wherever in Rhondda Cynon Taf the car has stopped.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Mountain Ash?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of motors waits right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Most of the time it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the pump.
A couple of familiar ways cover the majority of them. Rushing, outside the local primary school, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, a parent refills the vehicle. Near Cardiff Road, a driver pours a container in on the drive after work. Or your car is topped up in the car park outside Aberdare Hotel, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
It takes place most in the cars motorists know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Leave it off: that is the first step to the same mistake, wherever in Mountain Ash or the remainder of Rhondda Cynon Taf you happen to be.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Mountain Ash?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. It has been drawn through the filter and the fuel lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure pump and your injectors.
You may see your engine running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Caedrawnant Recreation Ground or halfway across Mountain Ash. Stop when safe. Switch off. Keep the vehicle off rather than testing it again. Each start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the M4, under 15 miles from Mountain Ash, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
Mileage matters: every mile carries the AdBlue deeper into your system, and so driving towards Cardiff, under 25 miles away, makes a much bigger job than hopping across Mountain Ash to the car park by Mountain Ash Town Hall. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Our technicians do all of the flushing where the car has come to a stop, and once the engine has been started there is more of it. Spotted soon, it very seldom leaves long-term damage.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel around Mountain Ash: what it takes
A road beside St Margaret's Church, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt: anywhere your car has come to rest around Mountain Ash, our engineers come to it. The work depends on three replies, which our technicians get first — what went in, the quantity, and if the motor has turned over.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave as one when the tank is drained, on the spot. Residue from AdBlue will not wash out by itself, so the fuel system gets a full flush, which counts much more with urea than for petrol. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Engine not run? Then count on roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Our equipment is explosion-proof, so a live filling station is no problem, and it is quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
The final step is to bleed the system on new diesel. You drive off as soon as our technicians have started the car, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a drive around Mountain Ash or in a space outside the nearest station. We check it runs smoothly on fresh diesel before leaving. No garage is needed at any stage, with the whole job done on the spot. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers ask for.
About Mountain Ash
Mountain Ash is a town situated in the Cynon Valley in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, with a riverside setting and an elevation of 112 metres. Mountain Ash has a mix of terraced housing and is located near several smaller communities, including Caegarw and Darranlas. Mountain Ash is close to the nearby city of Cardiff, which is approximately 16.5 miles away. Mountain Ash has a population of around 9357 people.
AdBlue drains across Rhondda Cynon Taf, Mountain Ash included
Caegarw, Darranlas and Newtown are among the places near Mountain Ash that the same vans serve, together with most of Rhondda Cynon Taf further out, throughout the CF postcode area. Phone and ask instead of guessing if you are close to a county line, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
A van that comes to you suits Mountain Ash, a riverside town: you have no need to bring your vehicle to us, since our technicians empty it on the spot, on a drive, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Mountain Ash: the cost of fixing it
Since each callouts vary, a flat figure wouldn't be fair. Three things move the price: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the vehicle is. That last one turns on whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight spot behind Mountain Ash Library.
With that in mind, each enquiry from Mountain Ash opens with the identical trio — what was put in, how much, whether it ran — before a figure. With them, a range shrinks to one firm number.
You get that quote on the phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Mountain Ash: still alongside your car?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and if it ran is everything our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder throughout Rhondda Cynon Taf, Mountain Ash too.