Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Pen-y-cae
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does the motor. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. The harm begins once it's sucked through the pump — it won't burn, and it won't blend with diesel. If your motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally drained and thoroughly purged where the vehicle stands around Pen-y-cae. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
Pen-y-cae, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do at once
Do:
- Remove the keys, and that stops anyone turning the power on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- Hold on to your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what got in and about how much.
- The van finds you quickest with a postcode starting SA13 2, or just the name of a street nearby, and so call from the car.
Don't do these:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift the vehicle: your engine stays off.
- Turning the key to ignition alone starts your pump running on many diesels. Skip it.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel won't weaken it.
- Keep it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short distance down Broomhill.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, on the verge.
The staff working at any Pen-y-cae forecourt — the the nearest petrol station among them — will usually help rolling it aside if you ask. If you are on your own drive, leave the car just where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the engine. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. A fuel pump isn't made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. It is heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Velindre last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
Two kinds of damage come from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps running on the components it gets to for as long as it stays there. Overnight, a vehicle sitting around Pen-y-cae with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; where it is just inside that tank, it doesn't. The water in it causes harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is frequently more serious than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Tesco's forecourt leaves the fuel thin — that's the main issue. It mixes with your diesel, and while it is inside that tank it causes no harm; the harm comes from running your motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a problem of the wrong substance altogether. It doesn't burn, so it cannot just be run through. Nor can it be watered down, because it splits again — and the following tankful will not clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts more here, and turning your key "to see", in the heart of Pen-y-cae or out in Port Talbot, costs more than nearly any other slip.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Anywhere across Neath Port Talbot the vehicle has come to rest, an unrun engine leaves the AdBlue yet inside the reservoir: the simplest part of any fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Pen-y-cae?
It is not deliberate. Plenty of vehicles keep the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel one, occasionally under a single flap, and mixing them up is simple in poor light. It usually takes place outside the house, from a container grabbed en route home, not at the filling station.
It tends to take place in a couple of familiar ways. The top-up is rushed outside the local primary school, after the dash flashed with a warning while the children were dropped off. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Penycae Road. Or a driver new to that flap refills the car in dim light, stopped in the car park outside Taibach Rugby Club.
The least familiar vehicles see it most — hire cars, brand-new cars, fleet ones, and the spare vehicle of a home with both fuels. Wherever you are in Pen-y-cae or the remainder of Neath Port Talbot, it is the same mistake and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Pen-y-cae?
Then the AdBlue has left your tank. It has been drawn through the filter and your lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors.
Rough running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard lights or stalling: each may appear, maybe midway across Pen-y-cae or coming back from Talbot Memorial Park. No restarting to check: pull over when safe, then turn it off. Each start pulls more of it through.
Pen-y-cae sits under a mile from the M4; if you were on it, leave at the first junction and pull up safely instead of driving on.
Mileage counts: every mile carries the AdBlue further into the system, so heading for Swansea, under 10 miles away, gives a far larger job than hopping across Pen-y-cae to the car park by Talbot Athletic Ground. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
We do all of the cleaning where the car has come to a stop, and once your engine has run there is more of it. When it's noticed early, long-term damage is very uncommon.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Pen-y-cae?
A street by Seventh-Day Adventist Church, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station: wherever your vehicle has come to rest around Pen-y-cae, our engineers travel to it. Three replies decide the work, and so before anything else our technicians ask which fluid was put in, roughly the amount, and if the engine has turned over.
Next, emptying that tank on the spot takes out the polluted diesel and the AdBlue together. 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. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Most of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our engineers turn up, provided the engine hasn't run. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a busy forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
The final step is to prime the fuel system on fresh diesel. Whether it's a parking bay outside Port Talbot Parkway or a drive in Pen-y-cae, that is where our engineers fire it up and you head off. The test before our technicians go is that it runs correctly on new diesel. We do it all wherever the vehicle has ended up, and it never has to go to a garage. Afterwards, you are given the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Pen-y-cae
Pen-y-cae is a suburban area in Neath Port Talbot, situated near the coast and approximately 7.7 miles from Swansea. Pen-y-cae has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by terraced homes. Pen-y-cae sits at an elevation of 46 metres, looking out towards the surrounding landscape. Pen-y-cae is close to nearby places such as Taibach, Goytre, and Lletyharri.
AdBlue drains across Neath Port Talbot, Pen-y-cae included
Taibach, Goytre and Lletyharri are among the towns near Pen-y-cae that the same teams serve, along with most of Neath Port Talbot beyond, over the SA postcode area. Ring and ask rather than guess when you are close to a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down.
No moving is needed. In Pen-y-cae, a residential suburb, a mobile service fits: the car is drained where it stands, whether in a drive, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Pen-y-cae?
Not one single price could be honest, because each job differs. Three things move the price: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the car is. That last one comes down to whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight space behind Port Talbot War Memorial.
Before any quote, never afterwards, each call from Pen-y-cae begins with the same three checks: the liquid, the quantity, plus if the engine ran. Those answers turn a range into a straight price.
Our price is given during the call, before anyone sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
In Pen-y-cae and still alongside the car?
Then, do nothing — that is the most helpful move available. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if it ran are everything our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest across Neath Port Talbot, Pen-y-cae too.