Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Penarth Flats
Motor off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. The trouble starts once it's sucked through the lines — it will not ignite, and it will not blend with diesel. Caught before the engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Penarth Flats. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
What to do straight away, Penarth Flats: AdBlue in the diesel tank
To do:
- Pull your keys out, so no one switches the ignition on.
- Close to moving traffic? So put the hazard lights on.
- So you can tell us which liquid it was and about what quantity, keep the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting CF11 0, or the name of the nearest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Don't:
- Don't start your engine, even for a moment to shift the car.
- Many diesels run their pump the moment the ignition goes on, and so keep the car off.
- Do not top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Even a short distance along Ferry Road is too far to drive it.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, on the verge.
On a forecourt in Penarth Flats, whether it is the Morrisons or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll the car away from the pump. On that drive, the vehicle stays just where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the motor. From a dedicated reservoir it is fed directly to your exhaust, cleaning what the engine lets out. Not one side suits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and a pump cannot deal with urea.
Inside a diesel tank it acts really differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. The pickup takes fuel from the lowest part of the tank, and that is exactly 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 the diesel, which is why a vehicle filled in Cogan yesterday and not started stays the simple one, provided no one turns your key.
It does two kinds of harm from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that crystallises in filters and tiny passages; and, since it attacks some metals, every part it reaches suffers for as long as it remains in there. Pipes holding AdBlue mean harm overnight for a vehicle parked in Penarth Flats. Just inside the tank, it stays the same. The water in it causes damage of its own: the high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Asda and you have a fault of thin fuel. Mixed into the diesel and left still, it's no threat for now; using your engine is the harm.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong liquid. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Whether your vehicle sits in Butetown or the heart of Penarth Flats, turning it over "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other mistake, and the flush matters for more. The reasons: it won't stay blended, so diluting it is impossible; and crystals and corrosion outlast the next tankful.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the easiest job on a fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever across Cardiff your car has stopped.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Penarth Flats
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many motors waits right next to the diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Usually it's never the forecourt: a driver buys a bottle heading home and tips it in outside the house.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. Hurrying, outside the local primary school, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, someone tops up your car. After work, a container goes in on a drive close to Butetown Link. Otherwise, in dim light outside Courts, the vehicle gets topped up by someone using that flap the first time.
It comes up the most in a rental, a brand-new car, a company vehicle, or the spare vehicle in a home with both fuels — the cars people use the least. Keep it off: that is the first response to the same slip, anywhere around Penarth Flats or the rest of Cardiff you are.
Started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Penarth Flats?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. Via the filter, along the lines, and — with any running — into the high-pressure pump and each injector: that is how far it travels.
You may see your engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Grangemoor Park or halfway across Penarth Flats. No starting it again to test: pull over once it is safe, then turn everything off. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
On the M4, under 10 miles from Penarth Flats, the first junction is where to exit, and anywhere sensible is where to park — not driving on.
Hopping across Penarth Flats to the car park by A Private View is one thing; driving for Cardiff, under 3 miles away, is another, since each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So distance counts. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out once your engine has been run. Noticed early, it very rarely leaves lasting damage.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves in Penarth Flats
The car stays put, whether that's a street near Vindico Arena, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt around Penarth Flats, and the van travels to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and whether the motor has been run, since those answers decide the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out as one after that tank is emptied, on the spot. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing counts: the whole system is cleaned all the way through because residue will not wash away by itself. After that, your filter: cleaned, or changed when it must be. After that fresh diesel, and then a check of your vehicle. Most of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our engineers get there, provided the engine has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Priming the system with fresh diesel comes last. Whether it's a parking bay outside Cogan or a drive around Penarth Flats, that is where our engineers start the engine and you set off. Before we leave, our engineers confirm it is running properly with new diesel in. The whole job is done where your car is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers want.
About Penarth Flats
Penarth Flats is a coastal suburban area in Cardiff, situated near the coast at an elevation of around 9 metres. Penarth Flats lies close to Penarth Moors and other nearby communities such as Llandough and Grangetown. Penarth Flats is predominantly composed of flat-type housing, reflecting its urban character. Penarth Flats is located approximately 1.8 miles from Cardiff city centre.
AdBlue drains across Cardiff, Penarth Flats included
AdBlue call-outs in Penarth Flats go to teams that cover the places near it — Penarth Moors, Llandough as well as Grangetown — and much of Cardiff further out, across CF postcodes. Close to a boundary, or anywhere tricky to explain? Checking is better than assuming, and so phone.
Wherever your car stands — your driveway at home, a residential street, a car park, a forecourt — we empty it on the spot, with no need to bring it to us; which suits Penarth Flats, a residential suburb, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Penarth Flats: the cost of fixing it
No flat figure could be honest, since each job is different. Whether the engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what moves the price. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the location of your car, since an open driveway is easier for a van to get to safely than a tight gap behind Fun HQ.
Which fluid went in, what quantity, plus whether the engine ran: each Penarth Flats enquiry begins by asking precisely that, ahead of any figure, not after. Once they are answered, a range becomes a single firm figure.
Our price is given on the call, before a van sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
Penarth Flats: still alongside your car?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to the car. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, across Penarth Flats or anywhere within Cardiff, after you phone 0333 366 0103 saying it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if the engine ran.